If you invested in the S&P 500 10 years ago and left it alone you would have made 54%. ... and most of that was during an Obama presidency! I would be very interested in any slot machine that can do that. With enough time an investment in the broad market will make money. The key is you need a long period of time to ride out crashes. If one is not willing to let money sit there for 10-40 years you shouldn't invest.
It's tortoise vs hare. There are some who think you have to make or lose money fast in the market (hare) while others boringly plod along and slowly amass wealth (tortoise). A person can't time the market or beat these professionals and their machines. All regular folk can do is regularly invest over long periods of time in a broad array of stocks and bonds (or just cash) and it pays off.
I’m thinking about investing in coal stocks how does that sound?