3 ms·
Well there is a meaningful difference between gambling and investing, but probably not between gambling and day-trading on limited information. Investing is a
by Closi 5y ago
Well there is a meaningful difference between gambling and investing, but probably not between gambling and day-trading on limited information.
Investing is a broad term that ranges all the way from buying a property to lease to short selling GameStop.
Investing is technically a gamble, but a characteristic of gambling in common language usage is the ability to get quick returns - we don’t usually use the phrase gambling to describe something that involves a 3% annual return. It’s also not usually called a gamble if you can spread your ‘bets’ enough to provide a high confidence of a low return (eg why the insurance industry isn’t usually called gambling, even though an individual transaction will be a win/loss from a profit loss perspective).
- pjc50 5y ago> why the insurance industry isn’t usually called gambling I feel that both the Lloyds names (https://www.theguardian.com/money/2000/nov/04/business.personalfinancenews1 https://www.theguardian.com/money/2000/nov/04/business.perso...) and the famous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-Term_Capital_Management https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-Term_Capital_Management were engaged in a gambling-like strategy - positive expected return with possible downside vastly exceeding initial investment - even if it doesn't "feel like" gambling. But there isn't really a good phrase for that. Finance people sometimes say "picking up pennies in front of a steamroller".
- Closi 5y agoYeah, I think I'm just saying if you use a broad enough definition for gambling then everything in the world is gambling through a certain lens (i.e. Apple are gambling that a nuclear device doesn't get detonated in Cupertino).