In my life I've had 3 "safe" mutual fund accounts $#!* backwards on me. The last one, when I got on had a 20 year average return of 13.8%. About 4 years in the dot-com crash took most of what I'd put in. Kept going, and just about the time it was making enough money I could let the account add its own monthlies, Enron crashed. After 3 months of my deposits not keeping up with the falling, I cashed out. I would've made about 5x the money if I'd just put the monthlies under the mattress.

I love gambling, but it doesn't like me one bit. On our last weekend trip to Vegas several years ago I played blackjack in 3 casinos...
I played 27 hands total, which resulted in 7 pushes and no wins.

I've since determined that my money must be earned, no freebies