One word: OIL

[Allan from Fallbrook]

stockstradr: You make my point for me. There’s a massive difference between trading and investing. Your post is akin to an engineer (day job) who is also a high stakes gambler. He’s enjoyed some success at it and debates the merits of chucking the day job in favor of gambling, or at least weighs his gambling winnings against what he makes in his day job.

Gambling is not investing and trading is not investing. Investing involves far more than playing trades. And it involves far more than reading financial media. The amount of contradictory advice found there is stupefying and the little of value that is conveyed is not enough to build a coherent, long-term strategy on.

I remember folks touting their “investments” during the dot.bomb and RE runup as well. There were some definite “geniuses” then, too.

Value based investors are the financial equivalent of distance runners, not sprinters. When you learn how to read a financial statement, and know how to track cash, do variance reporting and generally separate the flyshit from the pepper, you’ll be an investor.

Until then, you’ll be what a buddy of mine in institutional investing calls a “squirrel”: Running around from nut to nut in the forest and not realizing that the predators in the forest really control the game.

[peterb]

“investing” is speculating. Any bet on a future outcome is essentially gambling as no one knows the future. The trick is to attempt some kind of analysis that will increase the odds of any given bet being worth more in the future than when you made it. But just as important is preserving capital against loss. So these things need to be managed in concert.
If one studies the history of markets, it becomes obvious that timing is everything. Cycles and historic behavior can be very helpful at helping to increase one’s odds of making a successful bet. Knowing when to cut losses is critical as well. The books from Livermore, Barauch and O’Neil exemplify how very successful “investors” have achieved their goals in both the short and long run.

[peterb]

“investing” is speculating. Any bet on a future outcome is essentially gambling as no one knows the future. The trick is to attempt some kind of analysis that will increase the odds of any given bet being worth more in the future than when you made it. But just as important is preserving capital against loss. So these things need to be managed in concert.
If one studies the history of markets, it becomes obvious that timing is everything. Cycles and historic behavior can be very helpful at helping to increase one’s odds of making a successful bet. Knowing when to cut losses is critical as well. The books from Livermore, Barauch and O’Neil exemplify how very successful “investors” have achieved their goals in both the short and long run.

[peterb]

“investing” is speculating. Any bet on a future outcome is essentially gambling as no one knows the future. The trick is to attempt some kind of analysis that will increase the odds of any given bet being worth more in the future than when you made it. But just as important is preserving capital against loss. So these things need to be managed in concert.
If one studies the history of markets, it becomes obvious that timing is everything. Cycles and historic behavior can be very helpful at helping to increase one’s odds of making a successful bet. Knowing when to cut losses is critical as well. The books from Livermore, Barauch and O’Neil exemplify how very successful “investors” have achieved their goals in both the short and long run.

[peterb]

“investing” is speculating. Any bet on a future outcome is essentially gambling as no one knows the future. The trick is to attempt some kind of analysis that will increase the odds of any given bet being worth more in the future than when you made it. But just as important is preserving capital against loss. So these things need to be managed in concert.
If one studies the history of markets, it becomes obvious that timing is everything. Cycles and historic behavior can be very helpful at helping to increase one’s odds of making a successful bet. Knowing when to cut losses is critical as well. The books from Livermore, Barauch and O’Neil exemplify how very successful “investors” have achieved their goals in both the short and long run.

[peterb]

“investing” is speculating. Any bet on a future outcome is essentially gambling as no one knows the future. The trick is to attempt some kind of analysis that will increase the odds of any given bet being worth more in the future than when you made it. But just as important is preserving capital against loss. So these things need to be managed in concert.
If one studies the history of markets, it becomes obvious that timing is everything. Cycles and historic behavior can be very helpful at helping to increase one’s odds of making a successful bet. Knowing when to cut losses is critical as well. The books from Livermore, Barauch and O’Neil exemplify how very successful “investors” have achieved their goals in both the short and long run.

[poway_seller]

“I can pick ’em. My timing is often great. But I sell too early.”

Turn yourself off. go to an investment blog if you want to keep posting your trading ideas, not a real estate blog.

[poway_seller]

“I can pick ’em. My timing is often great. But I sell too early.”

Turn yourself off. go to an investment blog if you want to keep posting your trading ideas, not a real estate blog.

[poway_seller]

“I can pick ’em. My timing is often great. But I sell too early.”

Turn yourself off. go to an investment blog if you want to keep posting your trading ideas, not a real estate blog.

[poway_seller]

“I can pick ’em. My timing is often great. But I sell too early.”

Turn yourself off. go to an investment blog if you want to keep posting your trading ideas, not a real estate blog.

[poway_seller]

“I can pick ’em. My timing is often great. But I sell too early.”

Turn yourself off. go to an investment blog if you want to keep posting your trading ideas, not a real estate blog.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

peterb: No disagreement whatsoever. But the analysis component is key. I’ll take my chances as an accountant over a day trader any day of the week, especially since, as an investor, I’m not investing a significant portion of my portfolio in commodities.

I’m a big fan of Ben Graham’s and hew closely to his notion of spending the time and doing your homework (the analysis you mentioned). Yep, I agree that such a strategy isn’t foolproof, but over the long run it yields far better results for far longer than jumping from market to market and employing a strategy that is nothing more than thinly disguised gambling.

If I have to pick between Buffett (a devotee of Graham’s) and Jim Cramer, well, that’s an easy one.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

peterb: No disagreement whatsoever. But the analysis component is key. I’ll take my chances as an accountant over a day trader any day of the week, especially since, as an investor, I’m not investing a significant portion of my portfolio in commodities.

I’m a big fan of Ben Graham’s and hew closely to his notion of spending the time and doing your homework (the analysis you mentioned). Yep, I agree that such a strategy isn’t foolproof, but over the long run it yields far better results for far longer than jumping from market to market and employing a strategy that is nothing more than thinly disguised gambling.

If I have to pick between Buffett (a devotee of Graham’s) and Jim Cramer, well, that’s an easy one.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

peterb: No disagreement whatsoever. But the analysis component is key. I’ll take my chances as an accountant over a day trader any day of the week, especially since, as an investor, I’m not investing a significant portion of my portfolio in commodities.

I’m a big fan of Ben Graham’s and hew closely to his notion of spending the time and doing your homework (the analysis you mentioned). Yep, I agree that such a strategy isn’t foolproof, but over the long run it yields far better results for far longer than jumping from market to market and employing a strategy that is nothing more than thinly disguised gambling.

If I have to pick between Buffett (a devotee of Graham’s) and Jim Cramer, well, that’s an easy one.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

peterb: No disagreement whatsoever. But the analysis component is key. I’ll take my chances as an accountant over a day trader any day of the week, especially since, as an investor, I’m not investing a significant portion of my portfolio in commodities.

I’m a big fan of Ben Graham’s and hew closely to his notion of spending the time and doing your homework (the analysis you mentioned). Yep, I agree that such a strategy isn’t foolproof, but over the long run it yields far better results for far longer than jumping from market to market and employing a strategy that is nothing more than thinly disguised gambling.

If I have to pick between Buffett (a devotee of Graham’s) and Jim Cramer, well, that’s an easy one.

[Author]

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