I have 1 years' expenses saved and it just slowly accumulates because I don't know how to make a safe return on it. I don't want to invest say, 3 months savings only to lose it...
Definitely the "play to not lose" mentality rather than a "play to win" mentality but I see little reason to change that behavior.
There's a calculus to understanding how much you should have put into different vehicles (including cash in a savings account) to take on the most conservative position.
The way you're playing is you are forfeiting and losing by taking on more risk than you think. It's weird to think about but you need to factor in inflation and cash becomes worth less when it is just sitting there. It isn't volatile but it is mainly deterministic. Some diversity in your arrangements would protect you better.
I'm aware of this and can account for this loss. What I dislike is an unknown potential loss that I can't readily account for.
For example - if I invest $50k I need to account for the possibility I might lose the entire $50k, or a portion of it. Being realistic, I'm unlikely to lose it all, but even if I only lose $5,000 that puts me off from making that investment. It's very risk-averse behavior, which many people with a confirmation bias are against. Their $50k investment may have returned $150k and they begin to question why I wouldn't make that investment.
In other words, even if 3/5 people make $150k, as a risk-averse person, I see myself as already being part of the 2/5 people that lose the $5,000.
The only forms of investments I've ever done are playing the markets on MMORPG's. The markets are predictable, safe, and I can readily make a 8-10% ROI each night. If I could make investments like that in a real market I would in a heartbeat! :P
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail-Safe_Investing
It's a relatively low risk way to invest.
You're literally better off with credit card rewards and paying down the debt monthly, in many cases. That's how bad most savings accounts are.