Saving is good, but the "miracle of compound interest" is hard to believe in after a decade where you literally would have been better off stuffing your money u

Saving is good, but the "miracle of compound interest" is hard to believe in after a decade where you literally would have been better off stuffing your money under a mattress. Past returns are no guarantee of future gains, so the argument that "we're at a low point and can only go up" doesn't really hold. I mean, I hope the market will go up, I've been investing in a disciplined asset allocation rebalance once a year style for the past 8 years, but, I'm just sayin' So if you don't invest the money in the stock market, where else? Yourself. Live off savings and do a startup. Pay for education. Other ideas?