11-11-2015, 07:31 PM
(11-11-2015, 07:13 PM)6andcounting Wrote: The difference between gambling and the stock market is that the stock market as a whole will grow. It's only a given stock or investment that may have certain chance to increase over a certain time period. In the history of the S&P500 (starting in 1871) I don't think there has been a 7 year span where the market didn't generate positive returns from beginning to end of the 7 year span. Even starting the day before the worst market crashes and economic downfalls that ever happened, within a few years - and no more than 7 - the market was still larger than where it started. Luck is investing in a stock that soon explodes. Diversifying your portfolio and seeing positive returns is less of a gamble and more a proven strategy to grow your money with the market.
Long term investors in the market are certainly not comparable to your typical gambler. Day traders, though, the type playing aggressively in the market, definitely a form of gambling.
