The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), which measures expected volatility for the S&P 500, hit a seven-year low last week, and is likely to remain subdued for some time, says CNBC contributor Ron Insana.

"That's not such a bad thing," he writes in a commentary for CNBC.

While some commentators worry that low volatility presages high volatility to come, Insana says that's not a rule. "In the past, the results of low volatility were not always immediately catastrophic," Insana explains.

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"For individual investors, a low-volatility environment could be the trigger to draw them back into stocks, using a buy-and-hold strategy. The traders have had their fun after five years as the S&P 500 index has nearly tripled. It's time to give the little guy a chance to re-enter the market and take advantage of the stability that has been absent for so long."

Insana calls this environment "the old normal. . . . There was a day where the stock market was a boring place that allowed companies to raise capital and for investors to make sound long-term decisions based on the fundamental prospects of the economy and individual companies."

Some Federal Reserve officials are concerned that investors are getting overly complacent with the lack of market volatility.

"Volatility in the markets is unusually low," New York Fed President William Dudley said after a speech last month, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"I am a little bit nervous that people are taking too much comfort in this low-volatility period. As a consequence, they'll take more risk than really what's appropriate."

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