The history of the stock market stretches back as far as the 1300s, when Venetians started trading securities from other governments. They carried slates with information on the various issues for sale, and met with their clients, the way brokers do today. The only means to help educate people in finance was through word-of-mouth, in schools and universities  landprime.

Today, we have a wide variety of investments, online stock market trading courses, and other investment courses to choose from – aside from stocks, we can also go into real estate, cryptocurrency, gold, and even cash itself. It’s been noticed amongst these investments that while stocks have offered the most potential for growth, they are not very popular among today’s millennials. According to a recent survey from Bankrate, only 13% responded that they would invest money in the stock market, compared to real estate (30%), cash (30%) and even gold (17%).

Their caution in the stock market is understandable – having to grow up watching the tech-bubble burst in 2000 and the financial crisis/stock market crash in 2008 must have had a profound impact on their perspective towards it. However, we still think you should give the stock market a second thought. The stock market is a good long-term investment, and we’ll explain why here:

Stocks have offered the most potential for growth:

No matter investment you choose to venture into, returns are bound to fluctuate greatly over time. While stocks are among the most volatile, making them unsuitable for short-term investment, in the long-term they outperform every other major type of asset. Since the year 1926, the stock market has averaged a 10 percent return on investment – a significant amount higher than bonds and fixed-interest products.

Riding out stock market drops:

Despite its volatility, if you are invested in stocks for the long run you are almost sure to be able to ride it out. Some of the worst historical declines in the stock market took decades to recover from, but overall, they offer the greatest potential growth – that is, if you manage to hold your ground over the long term.

One tip to help you keep a steady hold on your investments is this: technically, your losses are just on paper unless you sell your investments. Whenever you feel like selling them away during a drop, remind yourself that you are in stocks for the long run – so you have time to ride the market back up. You can continue to add to your savings during those market dips, so when the market recovers, you can be even better positioned for growth.