You remind me of when savings accounts were yielding "only" 5-6% in the mid '80s, and stocks seemed the way to go. I had great returns the first couple years. Then the market lost 22% in a single day on Oct. 19, 1987. Stocks like the ones you hold lost much more than the general market. Suffice to say, eventually you'll start trading options and lose half of all you have. I know you'll say this won't happen to you, but it will; it's human nature to learn the hard way and then to blame legitimate business people. But many professional traders especially hedge fund managers like George Soros are Marxists who, as Marxists always do, take whatever they can from people, make them poor and then exploit the poor through government programs that fleece taxpayers and line the pockets of Marxists and make them more powerful and immune to prosecution and even criticism.