why is the stock market so important?

[Disaffected]

22. Not all at all.

For most folks it's about want ing to make a decent return on one's savings, especially in years past when interest rates were very low.

It's also not necessarily a a scam if one is halfways smart about it i.e. stay away from speculative stocks and stock promoters. Instead buy good quality dividend paying stocks from large companies, hold on and you will almost certainly do much better in the long term than many other investments. If you wish to avoid "investment advisor" fees (as you should IMO) but are unsure about buying individual stocks, open a self-directed brokerage account and buy exchange traded or major index funds such as for the Dow Jones or NASDAQ thus avoiding the high management fees charged by "full service" (investment advisor) stock brokers.