[jfresh]

[ QUOTE ]
The thread itself is making me feel unsettled... Angry.

[ QUOTE ]
(from Shoe) I think the worst case scenario is I MIGHT only gain 10% instead of the 13% i am paying in interest.

[/ QUOTE ]

ARE YOU INSANE?! If the worst thing that could ever happen to you in the stock market was that you could at worst MAKE 10% you would be some sort of GOD. Instead you are a ridiculous silly person deaf to the mountain of logic laid out before you on this thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

didn't you read the entire thread? he clarified it as 'worst case scenario on average'. duh....

anyway, whether or not OP listens to all the advice, i learned a lot from everyone who has chimed in... if that is any consolation.

also, seeing as how this a poker forum, there are just so many parallels here with gambling.

OP: "However, I may be over-confident in myself and an almost certain I can beat the market, but at the same time, do not have the records to prove it. I feel like I have constantly picked great stocks over the years, but have never had the money to invest to prove it."
--replace 'beating the market' with 'winning at poker'. does that not sound like every poker player other there ever? how many actually winning poker players are there? sportsbetting is the same thing. everyone thinks they can beat the bookies. very few do.

Finally- I just started researching the stock market/investing/etc. I don't know how many times I've read index funds are the place to invest because even mutual funds where professionals are getting paid to pick stocks, rarely beat the index rate of ~10-11%.