A good description of investing is, it's like a game of chess that you can win (using skill) and get $1, and after every game you bet $50 on a random (unbiased)

A good description of investing is, it's like a game of chess that you can win (using skill) and get $1, and after every game you bet $50 on a random (unbiased) coin flip. Clearly, you can make money over the long run. But it's incredibly easy to go bankrupt. In addition, there's only so many chess players (trading opportunities), so after a certain point, there's nothing to be gained by investing more money (e.g. Renaissance has been returning 20% for decades, but only have a capital of about $10B - they pay out the profits because it's impossible for the to invest more money using these strategies).