INVESTING = GAMBLING

Gambling is zero sum

Investing is not

I bought 20 rental properties.... is that gambling?
I bought 3 laundromats .... is that gambling?
I put my money in index funds.... is that gambling?
I bought like 50 ATM's ...... is that gambling?
surely the bar I own isn't gambling.

Yes just like science was believed to have been magic. If you're too dumb to tell the difference then "investing" isn't for you.

>PROVE ME WRONG
no thanks.
>WANT TO KNOW WHY?
not really.

>>1230205
You're right. Some investments are absolutely akin to gambling. It just depends on the EV. If the expected value is higher than the amount invested after weighing all the risks and variables, it is a good investment. If the expected value is lower than the amount invested, it is not an investment, it is gambling. Even playing blackjack can not be considered gambling if a positive EV id obtained from counting cards. This is called advantage play and is very profitable for an advanced player. Edge sorting is also an example of advantage play.

The reason the stock market is more closely associated with gambling is that there are so many variables at play that the direction of the market can change at any time. It is extremely difficult to forecast investor sentiments like fear or panic and what total affect they will have on the market. Predictions are based on amount of calculated risk rather than extreme certainties. Even blue chip stocks can tumble on bad press. Risk/reward ratios are often estimates rather than hard numbers.

Not investing is also gambling

>hurr the usd is immortal
>hurr if I put my money under my bed it won't be inflated into toilet paper
Hell, there are even inheritance taxes in some plebs states now.

>>1230212
my friend, where did you acquire all the necessary finds to purchase all of that?

are you a CEO?

>>1230571
This guy gets it. All of life is gambling. When you eat a sandwich you are invisibly running the odds of the nourishment keeping your body going vs choking to death. We make many "obvious" decisions in life based on high expected reward to risk ratios. Investing is like gambling in that you take your money and risk losing some or all of it in an attempt to gain more, but it differs in that good investments have high reward too risk ratios whereas literally all "gambling" activities expect a risk greater than their reward.

>>1230623
1) he (probably) didn't; that's a pretty non-diverse portfolio of businesses for any entrepreneur, and it typically takes years to find that many businesses to invest in.

2) Leverage. Once you get a successful cash-flowing business going, you can leverage the equity in that business plus the cash flow you're reinvesting into another business much more easily, and with less free cash flow invested. Once you're successful once, lending institutions will be much more free with their money toward you.

>>1230205
Gambling is in a controlled environment where the house, being a business, desires as much loss as possible to maximize their income.

When value of a company goes up, everyone involved benefits. The only way it would be comparable to gambling is if the odds were stacked against you, and unless you're in a situation where the bears have extreme control of a market, the market is stacked in your favor. And of course I'm not referring to individual company stocks, but rather the market as a whole. Diverse investments and/or indexing is extremely safe given the history of the US market and its stability.

File: le sad frog.jpg (4KB, 203x114px) Image search: [Google]

4KB, 203x114px

>>1230205
You're mostly right, though long term investing has some probability leverage in one's favor. Your points are valid for a lot of other things though...

Index funds no.
Investing in individual stocks would be considered speculation, not gambling. According to Graham himself, 10% of an jnvestors portfolio could be allocated to speculation. Hey maybe you get lucky with a ten bagger or you lose it all.

>>1230205
TOP KEK

Investing is based upon ownership of productive assets providing a return over time.

Gambling is betting upon the probability of a certain event happening.