<prompt> Human: I dont have very much in the way of savings, but what I do have is all invested in the form of mutual funds, and in a TFSA tax-free savings account, for the non-Canadians. I have about 15,000, and Ive earned roughly 8-9 a month in interest for the last 4-5 months.I have another 11,500 in a high interest savings account at my own bank. This past month I earned 11.00 in interest on that, and the month before was 10.00 when I had slightly less in the account. Can someone explain to me why my investments are making less money than my savings account? Shouldnt it work the other way? Is there anything I could be doing differently to be making more?  <response>: Investment in the stock market is volatile yet should pay off in the long run. That is the nature of risk versus return - more risk should give you greater returns in the long run. Dont freak out or try to time the market. There will be more losing years than winning years but the winning years should make up for the losses and then some. Put money in consistently.Read some of the books here to get a better understanding of why this is the case: I really recommend The Investors Manifesto. 