<prompt> Human: Hey everyone,I lurk in personal finance all the time but never post. With yesterdays news of Chinas stock market tumbling and the impact it will have on the US market, along with the issue regarding oil prices, why on earth have I been told throughout my adult life to rely so heavily on the stock market? Here is a link of a story I read that alarmed me, but admittedly Ive always thought of the market as a foolish game.I invest 10 of my income in 401K and in December I saw a substantial drop in my retirement account before yesterdays nonsense. Now Im wondering what the heck Im doing? Why am I investing my money in something so volatile? An unreliable human science that has lately done nothing but misled modest income retirees like myself?I get the rate of return of leaving my money in a savings account is less than inflation and not wise, but is there no other option? The stock market and our reliance on it just never seemed wise to me, even with my limited understanding of it. As an outside observer it just seems like its like well, this is really the best option you have, but its an increasingly horrible option.Edit: I realize I spelled reckless wrong. Thanks auto correct!Just some more info about me. My employer will begin matching 100 of 7.5 this year, I save money instead of spend it, and right now my wife and I are DINKS but will have kids in the next 5 years.Assistant: Because you are in the long game. The stock market in any given 30 year period has never NOT gone up. When you get closer and closer to your projected retirement date youll be less and less invested in the stock market and more in the more stable bond market.Human: What about the people who were so close to retirement in 2008 but then had to continue working? I understand my investments decrease in riskiness over time, but didnt those people still get screwed despite their more conservative approach?Also, I forgot to add this to my post but a report I read last night said 87 of the time the first month of the year lays the trend for the rest of the year. So I feel like my retirement account will be a total wash in 2016.  <response>: What about the people who were so close to retirement in 2008 but then had to continue working?You mean the people who were greedy and whose asset allocations did not meet their risk tolerance or investment horizon? 