[terry1156]

Investments have risks and the past result doesn't guarantee a future result.

It is important to educate yourself to the risks involved and to limit those risks for the returns you're trying to achieve as much as possible. No matter what you decide to invest in, there will be someone that takes a fee. Even index funds charge fees although much lower than managed funds. Pennywise has to pay fees for the trades that are made. You just have to choose carefully.

A home can be an investment if you chose it to be. When we were struggling, we rented out rooms in or place. These paid our mortgage. We did have repair bills , taxes, etc, but living there with the extra income was far less than we could have lived in an apartment. Now when we didn't have the borders, it probably would have been less expensive to live in an apartment. We were also lucky that the equity in out home rose. Again, there is no guarantee this will happen - it is a risk you take when owning a home.