I've probably written about it a few times in various comments, but the essence of it can be found here: http://blogmaverick.com/2010/08/20/the-stock-market-is

I've probably written about it a few times in various comments, but the essence of it can be found here: http://blogmaverick.com/2010/08/20/the-stock-market-is-still-for-suckers-and-why-you-should-put-your-money-in-the-bank/ http://blogmaverick.com/2010/08/20/the-stock-market-is-still... and here: http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/08/talking-stocks-and-money/ http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/08/talking-stocks-and-money/ (I don't always agree with Mark Cuban, but most of what he says here seems pretty sensible). As far as investing goes, I always seemed to be pretty "good" - or at least, lucky. It was not unusual for me to make a few thousand dollars in a week (and occasionally lose a little). I typically never invested in very risky prospects, always things that I knew would be around for quite a while like Google and Apple. I made the foolish mistake of investing in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, companies that were once labeled "too big to fail" (and now trade OTC, if at all - have not checked since they became junk). Actually, my "mistake" appeared to be a brilliant move at first, as I made $30,000 in a few hours. But in a few more hours, that number was negative. However, I was not investing out of speculation, I invested because I thought that these companies were going to survive the recession - in fact, because of a statement from Hank Paulson (then Secretary of Treasury) who said that the government would not be taking over these entities (they were GSEs, but publicly traded). Hours later rumors turned against this, and within weeks it was trading at $0.25 or less (down from $7 to $11 a share where I originally was trading it at). But it gets better - little did I know (at the time) that Paulson was a Goldman Sachs alum: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/business/19gold.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/business/19gold.html?pagew... And that he gave advance word of their failure. Some people might call that insider trading, but, what do I know? :) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/how-henry-paulson-gave-hedge-funds-advance-word-of-2008-fannie-mae-rescue.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/how-henry-paulson-g...