I have a small investment as part of my life insurance.
I've been paying into this thing since I was 18. I'm now 51. The investment has accrued enough money that I can live off the proceeds when I retire for about 2 years.

If i had put the money i invested and the money i paid in as fees into the bank and left it, I could retire now and live comfortably for the rest of my life!

My advice is unless you have money to burn, don't invest in the markets, invest in yourself. Invest in your dreams, your passions, your visions. Don't wait for someday. Don't scrimp and save for years only to find the person you trusted has stolen all that you have and run off to the Bahamas.

Find a way that you can earn income without getting out of bed. i.e. you don't have to go to work to get an income. Invest in that, grow that and enjoy the process of doing it.

If it fails, try something else. If it works, then you're all set.
Steemit is one of those places where, with any luck, we can all realize that dream.

That's why i'm investing heavily in me - and writing posts on here, because this is my ticket to a comfortable retirement. If it doesn't work, all it has cost me is time and effort. but I have already been rewarded for that time and effort by the interactions with my new friends here.

So no matter what happens, I can't really lose.

If you have been listening to your financial advisor for years and throwing good money after bad, and you're still doing it, then why not try something different next year?

You can still keep paying your financial advisor to have a nice holiday, but you can focus one year of your life to being creative, and engaging with other creative people. Dare to dream that you can be the architect of your own success.

Give yourself a year to make it happen, get it started. Then come back in a year and see just how far you've come. Your success or failure will be all down to you, your effort, your input, and perhaps a little luck.

And that's a lot more reliable than playing the money markets. And a lot more fun. Playing the money markets you are focused on the end game - the one big payout.

This strategy is focused on the journey, on you. Instead of dreaming about the life you will have once your ship comes in, you live your life now.

Disclaimer:
I'm not a financial advisor, and I've been broke but happy for most of my life.
That's about to change. I can see where Steemit is going. I'm n board at the right time, with the right talents, and enough spare time to really commit and get involved.
The planets are aligning, a perfect storm is brewing, and i'm going to be right at the centre of it.

Care to join me?