“You’re not only missing out on a huge opportunity to invest and grow your money, but you are also allowing your money to erode in value over time relative to inflation,” said Carla Adams, founder and financial advisor at Ametrine Wealth. “Investing in the stock market may seem incredibly risky — and it can be if you’re investing in individual stocks — but if you invest in broad index funds, you can expect an average return rate of about 10% per year,” Adams said. “There is one major mistake that too many people make that destroys their wealth over time and that is paying high fees for their mutual funds or exchange-traded funds,” said Doug Carey, chartered financial analyst (CFA) at WealthTrace.