> Give the choice of waiting 40 years for not a huge payoff or gambling your 5K-10K of savings for a potential 10x return in a year or two, it's easy to rationa

> Give the choice of waiting 40 years for not a huge payoff or gambling your 5K-10K of savings for a potential 10x return in a year or two, it's easy to rationalize the latter. Indeed. For someone who can save $25/month, if they invest it on an index fund for 40 years, assuming 8% average/year, by the end they have about 87K. Adjusted for inflation 40 years from today, that's won't be much money. So if you all have left is $25/mo, it's almost more rational to buy lottery tickets with it. Sure you'll almost certainly never win but the investing won't get you much either.