<prompt> Human: Some background information: I am in my mid-twenties and am a full-time graduate student and part-time worker. I have an emergency fund with sufficient savings and I contribute to a Roth IRA. Because my employer only offers it to full-time employees, I do not have a 401k but will start contributing to one as soon as it becomes available. I have 2 debts and 1 credit card that I am capable of paying on time each month. I recently closed my savings account with the intention of transferring the balances to a CD. After walking into my bank today to discuss another issue, the customer service lady suggested that I think about other options such as index funds, bonds, stocks, and mutual funds as opposed to CDs. To be honest, I am very ignorant on the topic so I stayed away from investment portfolios. I believe that I should fully understand what the risks are and what I am doing before putting money into something like this.Therefore, my questions are: based on my situation, would it be a good idea to look into portfolios? Knowing that the market hasnt been doing so well for the past few days, is it still a good idea to look into this because this will be a long-term investment?Thanks for whatever advice can be offered!Assistant: Read the sidebar on investing. Human: Thanks but I did and the Wiki does not specifically address investing during market lows.  <response>: The whole point is it doesnt matter, because you wont be accessing the funds for 30-40 years. If you knew what the highs and lows were going to be, you could quit your job. 