<prompt> Human: Hi, I am currently a student 20y old and have a few questions about investment. I have some idea about finance and investment, however, I cant seem to wrap my head around how people can actually make a large sum of money out of investing.For explanations sake, when most people think about investment, they think stocks and the SP 500, so Ill use that as the basis of my questions. It seems to me that the average investor can expect a return of about 5-7 annually if investing in an index fund for assumptions sake in the stock market, so that even if you have 100,000 lying around to invest in stocks you would only earn about 7000 a year. I dont understand, aside from being extremely lucky, how investing would make you a significantly large sum of money relative to your already existing income because if you have 100k to invest in stocks, 7k isnt all that much without it taking an excessive amount of time? Am I missing something? Is there a way to actually even make enough money to survive off of investment returns, or is it just a spare, slowly accumulating lump of cash that grows at a snails pace? Is it worth even justifying something like sacrificing years taking a finance degree that might not actually even give you an edge in investing and making money that way?I just dont understand how investors would make enough money to even rationalise investing in the first place. I mean, sure when you invest in stocks you get paid dividends, and when you sell the stock youll make a net gain if the value has increased. If you want regular, sizeable dividends, youd invest in a mature company, but its likely that your capital gains wont be all that significant. If you invest in a younger company with potential growth, its unlikely youd make any money from dividends and the chances of making a significant capital gain from the stock price would be highly risky, and it would take another revolutionary company like Apple or Facebook to actually become rich off capital gains. I understand that stocks are not the only way to invest, and that individuals can invest in assets such as property and REITs, but from my understanding that would require a huge capital outlay and factoring the extensive holding period of an investment such as property and extra tax paid on passive income wont go into negative gearing for this example, it feels as if its a large effort with a lot of stress and headaches for a return so small in comparison with the amount invested.I guess what Im asking is...is it all really worth it, or am I missing a crucial bit of information??? The sacrifice of your cash for an extended period of time for a measly 7 return which the average income-earning citizen could probably earn working some extra shifts at your local burger-flipping joint.TL;DR Investment seems like a really slow way to earn passive income, am I missing something here or can you actually get rich off of investing?  <response>: I dont understand, aside from being extremely lucky, how investing would make you a significantly large sum of money relative to your already existing income because if you have 100k to invest in stocks, 7k isnt all that much without it taking an excessive amount of time?Good things come to those who wait. Get rich quick schemes are either scams, illegal, or very hard to come across.Please read the information found in the wiki particularly I Have X ... What Do I Do With It?! You may find Your IRA and You: Basic Information and Your 401k and You: Basic Information worth a read as well.The sacrifice of your cash for an extended period of time for a measly 7 return which the average income-earning citizen could probably earn working some extra shifts at your local burger-flipping joint.Look up compound interest and maybe play around with a compound interest calculator. It should be evident after doing so that 7 annual return is not something the average income-earning citizen could probably earn working some extra shifts at your local burger-flipping joint. 