1. Investing is more than saving To make sure that you can have the lifestyle you want in the future, you cannot spend every dollar that you earn today. It is important to sacrifice spending some of your money on immediate, short-term pleasures for the sake of having more in the future. You can help ensure your future financial success and stability by investing early in life, investing regularly, and staying invested for the long term. Investing is More than Saving To understand the reasons to start investing, you must understand that investing is more than saving: is the accumulation of excess funds by intentionally spending than you earn. is taking some of the money that you and putting it to work so that it makes you even money. Suppose that two people, Ethan and Leila, each earn $1,500 per month and spend $1,300 per month on expenses such as rent, food, gas, and entertainment. This leaves each for Ethan and Leila to either save or invest every month. Now suppose that Ethan is a saver and Leila is an investor. Ethan puts his extra income each month into an ordinary savings account earning 1% interest (APY, or annual percentage yield). After 30 years, Ethan has $83,995.58 in his savings account because of compound interest and regular savings. But Leila invests her extra monthly income in the stock market. Although the stock market has fluctuated up and down over 30 years, Leila invests wisely and manages to receive an average rate of return of 8% per year on her investments. After 30 years, Leila has $298,813.99 in her investment account