[mipnix]

It all depends on what your plan for the money is and when you might need it. Don't play with your living expenses. Don't play with your beer money.

Assume that what you play with will lose value-that is not what you are striving for but if you take that approach you're already a winner. You'll sleep better.

Pay yourself first. Avoid credit at ALL costs.

Live beneath your means:

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." -Dickens

Have some money with which to make outrageous and stupid bets on the market.

Beyond that, there is no magic. Nobody knows what the market is going to do and if they tell you they do, clench your sphincter muscle.

Diversify. Everything in moderation...including moderation.

Cheers.