I cannot believe you are telling young people to borrow money to invest in stock.

Readers: do not listen to this man. His recommendation is a recipe for disaster. Do you remember the great crash of 1929? Tons of people went broke because they borrowed money to invest in stock.

If you want to take that risk, fine. But I urge you to read some history first and find out there is a very good chance you will get burnt. A stock portfolio is not like a savings account. Your returns are not regular. You may have a good year, you may have a bad year; you may wake up one morning to find out that your portfolio was composed entirely of the future's versions of Worldcom, Fannie Mae, Washington Mutual, GM, Lehman Brothers, and AIG. Seven years ago, if you told your friend that your portfolio was filled with these reputable firms, they would think you were being conservative. In reality, you were playing Russian Roulette.

Debt compounds each month. You have to pay your debts each month. It's a pain, but sometimes it is worth it. But the return on stocks is realized over decades, if at all. Most gains and losses in the stock market occur in fits and starts.

Just say no. Please do not listen.

I read an interesting computation of an investment in the stock market, long-term (let's say 20 years...) that simply skyrocketed! Yeah, it was a goldmine. The only catch was that you had to take the money out of the market just before each individual stock went down and then re-invest at the proper and precise moment. Then, yeah, you'll make a bundle. So why isn't everyone doing that? Hmmmm.