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Old 08-02-2007, 04:37 PM
jively jively is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 782
Default Re: Investing > Gambling??

You have to distinguish between investing and trading/speculating. One might define investing as buying and holding investments for some time period (1+ years), whereas trading is buying and holding investments for some short period (seconds -> few months?).

With investing, you generally earn the capital market return ~11% +/- some standard deviation. You are not going to get rich quick; and unless you are retired you are not going to generate income to live on. "Investing" in this way can require very little effort.

With trading/speculating, some may earn a higher return. Some maybe a lot larger. Generally it will require more time, and for many it is a full-time job. You may be able to generate income from it to live.

With these definitions, gambling is more equivalent to trading, and not like investing.

-Tom
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