Yes, thank you. This is the only sane answer. Putting money in the stock market in anything other than an index fund is just folly. Over any significant amou

Yes, thank you. This is the only sane answer. Putting money in the stock market in anything other than an index fund is just folly. Over any significant amount of time, any other stock investment will do worse than the index fund. It must, by definition (plus or minus a little bit for imperfect efficiency... but the stock market is pretty damn efficient)... plus index fund fees are just so much lower than anything else, which just increases the lead they already have. And yes, then bonds to smooth out the ups and downs if you can't afford to ride out some big swings (like 2008) without some insurance.