The most conservative advice you'll hear from this sub: Do NOT invest money you need within the next 5 years!

I wanted to share an experience I had with my sister: A few months ago, I convinced my sister to put some of her money into index funds and ETFs. The goal was to generate some additional passive income to supplement her meager salary as a teacher. She followed my advice and put a rather large sum of money (for her) into her brokerage account. She didn't really understand what she was doing; she just followed the instructions I gave her and put money into some ETFs.<br><br>Fast forward to the present (it's been about six months): The stock market has been volatile due to global events, and her investments are down by about 15%. She was saving up to buy a house and was planning to use that money in two years, but now, she has less than she had before investing. She is heartbroken and has lost faith in investing.<br><br>The moral of the story is clear: never invest money you will need in the next five years. It took a painful experience for my sister to understand that lesson. I hope others can learn from our experience and avoid similar mistakes.<br><br>Edit: 1. She was saving for a house in 2 years, not now<br><br>2. I didn't tell her to invest everything, she did. I told her to diversify her portfolio, she didn't. It's my fault for not explaining it better.<br><br>3. She is blaming me for this mess. Understandable. I would do the same thing.