This myth remains frustratingly pervasive.
The truth is, its nearly impossible to lose all your moneyespecially overnightif youre investing properly.
As personal finance blog The College Investor explains, theres a difference between investing and trading.
A lot of the fear about investing comes from people who are actually thinking about day trading.
Its as simple as that.
You could invest today and see your portfolio drop tomorrow.
But to lose everything?
That is really hard to do.
In both cases the stock market didnt go to $0.
Meaning if you invested in the total market, you wouldnt have lost everything.
In both cases, the stock market returned to the pre-crash level years later.
Yes, year later, but it bounced back.
Both of these events (and almost all market events) happen over time.
These huge drops didnt happen in one day.
Meaning, you could have sold your positions and lost much less money.
Investing can be complicated and intimidating, butnot investing can actually be far riskier.
