knowledge

Investing Vs Gambling – What’s The Difference?

My brother-in-law, bless his heart, thinks that the stock market is nothing more than gambling. He thinks that it is it is impossible to use knowledge or skill to make money, that it is all just luck… and he doesn’t hesitate to tell me so.

While I know better, I can certainly understand where he is coming from. There is an element in common with both investing and gambling, and that is risk. There is the potential to lose money in both investing and gambling. If you are investing the right way, that is where the comparison ends. If you are investing the wrong way, you might as well go to Las Vegas and have a good time สล็อตออนไลน์ .

The Right Way

The best way to invest is to have a good understanding of how to make a profit from investing. The best way to do that is read the best books or take investing courses so you know when a stock is worth buying. I have said it many times — a little knowledge in the stock market goes a long way. Correct knowledge of investing minimizes the chance that you will lose money and increases the odds you will make money. Warren Buffett spoke about this when he said, “Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.” No one makes money every time and no one buys at the exact bottom or sells at the exact top. Even the best investors in history, like Mr. Buffett, have made some mistakes. But with correct knowledge, you greatly increase your odds of making money and lower your odds of losing money.

The Wrong Way

Unfortunately, the average investor in America works hard to make money, then blindly invests in the stock market with very little training or knowledge of how it works. They simply buy stocks with the vague notion that stocks go up over time and hope for the best.

This is a dangerous way to go about such a difficult and tricky environment like the stock market. It reminds me of flying an airplane with no training — taking off is easy, but if you don’t know what you are doing, it is easy to crash and burn.

I cannot recommend to you enough to go learn more about investing to make your own best decisions. No one will ever care more about your money than you. You can learn the most simple concepts for free online. After that, study what Warren Buffett did that propelled him to success — read The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis, by Benjamin Graham. Or you can take courses specifically designed for investors. But don’t just continue to fly blind.