When politicians and business people talk about how great the economy is doing and how the stock market is booming, for most Americans, this means nothing. Since you’re not benefiting, you assume they must be lying. ‘If there’s so much wealth growth in America, how come I’m not getting any wealthier?’

Here is Why

If you never buy into the stock market, you will never benefit from American wealth growth. It is true that when the economy does well, the rich are getting richer. But buying stocks allows you to get rich with them. The invention and innovation you see from American companies is followed by an increase in American wealth. This wealth manifests itself through a rising stock market.

It may or may not manifest itself through rising wages for working people. It’s becoming less and less likely that it will, as I’ve explained in a previous post about economic evolution.

Investing in the future feels riskier than buying into the safety of the present. If you surrender to the uncertainty, however, and invest in the wild future of new ideas, you’ve aligned your interests with that of profit and progress. This time, when the economy does well, so will you.

America, being the land of the free, gives you the right but also, the choice to invest. You’re given the choice to either do what will make you wealthy or to go against your own best interests. Either way, no one can stop you.

Just as smoking has been proven to damage your health, investing has been proven to increase your wealth. Setting up an automatic transfer of funds into a stock index like the S&P 500 is something anyone can do. This is investing at its most basic. You don’t need a lot of money and you don’t need an investment advisor. You can — right here and right now — get invested.

Avoiding Risk is the Greatest Risk

Lifting heavy things is risky, but it also makes you stronger. Therefore, you benefit from increasing your exposure to risk. This also works in reverse.

Risk avoidance makes you fragile. If tomorrow we made everyone equal in wealth, within a few generations we would have economic inequality again. People willing to take calculated risks will gain a larger and larger share of the wealth, and those who do what feels most comfortable will continue to give up their share of economic prosperity.

Wealth is constantly moving around and shifting hands. Your money loses value everyday, due to the time value of money. And if you avoid taking any risk with your money, you will never make up for that lost time value. On the other hand, if you get invested, now your money is gaining value everyday.

Now, you have time and money working for you, no longer against you.