4 ms·

> gamble and speculate, not to invest What is the difference between gambling, speculating, and investing? In my home country, speculant was just an epithet f

• SirLJ 10y ago
  gambling is when you do not know what you are doing and only hoping you'll win the jackpot... speculating and investing are synonyms IMHO
  • vostok 10y ago
    So by this definition, buying a broad market index with 10% leverage would be investing and advantage play or skilled poker would not be gambling?
    • SirLJ 10y ago
      I do not believe in leverage, but skilled poker is indeed not gambling, if you have risk management in place
• FabHK 10y ago
  Good question, let me give it shot: Gambling, you bet (might win or lose) on something very random (dice, roulette wheel). Speculating, you bet (might win or lose) on something "economic", "business"-like. Those two terms have a connotation of imprudence (at least for me): You might win, but that's because you're lucky, not because you're smart. And you might lose. If you invest, you try to take luck out of it as much as possible, for example, by investing in something that you have a very deep understanding of, or investing (unleveraged) very broadly in the market. It's basically a continuum, with investing on the lower return, lower variance, less luck, more prudent end of things, and speculation at the other end.