The stock market just hit the longest bull run in its history, and that has people spooked.

Investing isn't as hard as most people think, but there's a lot of jargon to learn. Stocks and bonds are two common terms that come to mind when you think about investing. Many people don't know the difference, so we're going to break it down.

Investing your money to make it grow for the future is a good idea. Picking individual stocks to do it isn't. If you're still in the habit of investing in the future by stock picking, there's a better way.

The Australian market closed with more losses today, ending a bad week for Aussie shareholders. The S&P/ASX 200 index is a market-capitalization weighted and float-adjusted stock market index of Australian stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. This week, the index fell 4.2% and has fallen a whopping 10% since the start of 2016.

You don't want to panic when the stock market is in a slump. Remember this going into 2016, because analysts say it's going to be a slow year.

The global economy is in a delicate position, which is why so many are fixated on this month's US decision on interest rates. Read on to find out what it means for Australia.