Yes. Madoff offered higher-than-normal returns but still something that looked plausible. Returns that could plausible food people. There must be people who re

Yes. Madoff offered higher-than-normal returns but still something that looked plausible. Returns that could plausible food people. There must be people who really think you can become rich just from trading stocks. But that's not how it works. When you have a lot of money, you can make more money by buying and trading stocks, index funds and other similar vehicles. Once you have enough money, you could certainly make millions a year in stock, but that requires you to have millions of dollars in the first place. But the idea that you could take a small amount of money and a couple of years later have almost $100 million just from buying and trading stocks is not believable to anyone who has ever bought and sold stocks. This sounds like the plot of a bad (good?) Disney movie. Most of my money is tied up in retirement accounts, but I do have some stock as well. If my individual stocks made 10% a year for several years in a row, I'd be very, very happy. With compounding interest and dividend reinvestment, that money can grow at a robust rate, but it's not going to make me rich. This story almost sounds like the reporter kind of confused this with investing in IPOs and the current tech boom. You can make a much bigger return off of investing in startups early, but most random teenagers aren't able to buy into startups.