Risk is Reward.

Using the information from "Reasons to Invest in the Stock Market" by Sheyna Steiner, I will answer the question why is investing the best way to ensure longer term financial success.

Source: http://successonline.com.

Many people will say the key to financial success would be saving. People will argue that you should keep your money in a safe place and save it for the future. I would argue that saving, although secure, will not lead to ultimate wealth. The way to maximize your income is in investing. The only way saving will allow for your income to grow is through slow moving interest rates. Interest rates do not lead to high amounts of success, that is why investing is the key to long term financial success. 

    Sheyna Steiner argues her point that “The only way most people have any hope of creating real wealth is by investing in the stock market.” I would have to argue this is true. By investing you not only have the opportunity to make money but, with smart investments, you will make money. "Even though investing seems risky, not investing means taking risks, too, when you consider the long-term threat of inflation," says Certified Financial Planner professional Peter Lazaroff, CFA, portfolio manager at Acropolis Asset Management in St. Louis. "If you don't grow your money, you may not be able to afford things in the future. So, you invest to grow wealth and preserve purchasing power." Although investing is risky and many people do lose some money, the money you could be gaining, but aren’t, is an even greater risk to your retirement fund.

There are many ways to invest safely for the anxiety prone people of the world. Investing stocks in  a large, well to do company is a safe way to ensure you will not lose any money in the stock market. You can even take a safer route and invest bonds instead of stocks. But if you are looking for high returns, smaller, wobbily companies are the way to go. You can strike it rich with a underdog company and possibly could walk out with millions. Either way you go “All stocks are not equally risky and all bonds are not equally safe.” But risk is reward.
Future Research Question: What investments have the highest returns and how likely are the returns to happen?