RE: Three months14 Mar 2023 16:52
It all depends clearly from the replies, what the term gambling means to the individual:
One definition is: "take risky action in the hope of a desired result."
For me when I have tried to understand the difference between the 2 terms, gambling and investing , I can substitute the word "spend" for investing in most any context.
I invest (spend) money in AVCT in the gamble that the share will increase in value over time.
I invested (spent) time in that relationship in the belief it would be beneficial
It is the unknown outcome for me that makes me define whether its a "gamble" or not.
"Could get run over by a bus today" because life is a gamble. Common enough saying but it highlights the uncertainty of events beyond our control, however unlikely.
I don't see how picking any stock is not a gamble. I would accept there are different levels of risk in stock picking, some with very low risk but still a risk.
Look at SVB for instance. They were successful in attracting big deposits from customers, so they (responsibly) put them in the safest secure instrument available , US Bonds, but the quick reversal in interest rates made them (SVB) go bust. (In hindsight they should have spread the risk and not been dependent on one form of security.
They gambled and lost. Or if you prefer they "invested" and lost.
However, I don't see how, when you lose out on an "investment" that sentence makes sense. It contradicts what you thought you were doing. Whats the difference between a "risky" investment and a secure one?
Surely if its risky, the outcome is not only unknown but likely to fail (hence the word risky). How is that not to be considered as a gamble?
Its all pretty academic accept the connotation is that an investor is a socially positive word whereas gambler is seen as a negative one, hence why PL and Ripley constantly refer to me as a gambler and a failed one at that, to hammer home how socially unacceptable I am and therefore my views are not to be listened to, (even though I make more than I lose and have a system where I won't be wiped out when the trades go against me. And that's important to me as I am risk-averse by nature.
Anyway, each to his own, the individual can apply any term they like to what they do, its a free country.