Should you invest?

My answer is a definite "yes."  

More than 20 years, I have been dealing with many different types of clients.  One thing I have noticed is that some of those clients who started the investing in their early ages, most of them have been able to retire comfortably.  A matter of fact, some of them actually became very rich.  

For those who saved some money (say $10,000 to $20,000 per year) in early ages are able to invest in the real estate by putting down a down payment and generated rent income that could pay off the monthly mortgage payment, repair and maintenance and in some cases earn the free extra money for owners.  Buying two to three apartment buildings or commercial buildings for a long term not only paid off the mortgages but also the market appreciation brought them a good gain on their investments.  Even if they retired at age 65, they continuously collect the significant amount of rent income, perhaps $100,000 or more per year, inflation adjusted.  Not only they collect the income but also they can pass the rental income to their children after they die.

For those who invested in the stock market, they were able to generate a good return, say an average of 10% per year (historical annual average rate).  This means that the money invested will be double in 7.2 years.  Thus, an investor who started to save and invest $15,000 per year from age 25 until 65 will have $7,317,777 by the time of his or her retirement at 65.  Once retired and one can leave the money in the stock market to look for the same average return or put in the U.S. long-term bond at an average about 5%.  At 5%, the annual income will be about $366,000.  With this kind of income, you can go on vacation, cruise and playing golf, without ever working, 365 days per year.

Without savings and investing, one may have to continue to work well after the retirement age.

Investing in any type of investment products is not recommended.  For the real estate investment, one should make sure the cash flow is good enough to meet the aforementioned payments besides some extra free money for an owner.  For the stock market investment, buying a reliable index fund, such as the S&P 500 index fund, is the best way to go as most professional money managers cannot beat the return of the S&P 500 index fund in the long term.

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