[byoung2]

That's definitely something to consider. I spend an hour or two per month researching stocks. Research is easier for long term investments (since you can look at how the stock has performed over the last few years, rather than constantly looking each day). My returns have been closer to 12% since 2011. If I wanted to be more hands on (e.g. day trading, forex, etc), it would take more time, and of course time is money. If you spend 40 hours a week for a year to double that 30k or even quadruple it, you'd be better off freelancing.