When you venture into the stock and bond markets, you take the risk of losing part of your money. That's why you use your monthly surplus at Level Three only after you've paid all your consumer debts and only with money that's been set aside over and above your Level Two contingency fund. Of course, you may already have money set aside in an IRA or other retirement plan, and that's included here as well.
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This is big news in the mutual fund world because a fund's style determines which peer group it is assigned to. In the same way that you can pay personal bills directly from your bank account, you can have money automatically transferred to a mutual fund to purchase shares. It involves signing a form that authorizes the investment of a fixed amount of money on a regular basis. It can cause your local broker to call you pitching a stock you've never heard of. Its availability may even cause you to choose one brokerage over another.