agreed too! finally some one have same perspective as me. investing is for fund manager who do not afraid to loss billion. most of banker are 庄家 and most of us is 投机商. 投资商 will die most in front of everyone.
It is a silly question. Make no difference whether you are speculating or investing. One money short term and the other long term. Both are gamblers. So are all business ventures including actual gambling. Iskandar is a gamble as well except that you do not get arrested by the police!
Truth propounded by Bernard Baruch & grave error by Jesse Livermore.
Both Bernard Baruch & Jesse Livermore Completely Sold All Their Shares just before the Great Crash of October 29th, 1929 that ushered in 11 Years of The US Great Depression. Both Baruch & Livermore Sold at Peak Prices and made Millions. Jesse Livermore even shorted the Dow.
However, Baruch retained his wealth while Livermore lost back all and more later.
There is a difference between "speculation" as compared to pure gambling. As Baruch has defined the word speculation (speculari in latin) as "to spy and observe".
A speculator is one who
1) Observes -
Calvin Comments:
It means to open our eyes and take cognition of all that's going on. Be fully aware of what is going on now and ahead of us. To see "opportunities ahead" and seize it. To see "dangers ahead" and to avoid it. Bernard Baruch being a Jew, would have read Proverbs 20:13 " Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread".
Yes! we must constantly "open our eyes wide" to watch out for opportunities or dangers.
2) and acts before (the future) occurs.
Knowledge is the acquisition of facts. Wisdom is to know how to act upon the knowledge. So we must be able to anticipate future events and to "act first" long before they occur. By the time they "occur" it is too late to act.
Example: In the Singapore Navy they say, "If you can see the (enemy) missile fired; it is already too late to prepare yourself".
Value Stocks are bought long before the majority can "see" it as yet. By the time the newspaper or media highlight a stock it is often too late to chase it.
We act according to what we believe. And Baruch did very well. His name went down in history as One Very Successful Wall Street Investor who escaped the Great Depression & prospered.
Now Jesse Livermore is another story. His investment view is flawed.
These are the flawed words of Jesse Livermore,
"Investors are the big gamblers. They make a bet, stay with it, and if it goes wrong, he lose it all."
And this is how Livermore view the market. If he buys a stock and if it moves up, it's ok to buy more. But if he sells a stock and if it showed a loss. Then he thinks it is wrong to buy more.
There is a serious flaw here. It might only be true for gambling, but not true investing.
And the flawed theory of Livermore led to his total loss & suicide eventually.
Years later Ben Graham came out with "THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR".
The Wisdom from this Book has been proven in the investment lives of Warren Buffet, Walter Schloss, Peter Lynch, John Nash and many others.
True Investors don't bet by luck or chance but by calculated moves, only gamblers bet.
there is no sure way of being a successful investor in this world. Nothing is perfect. All public listed counters are subject to change. You may use all your fundamental fa, ta, in fact everything but the end result may not be what you want. Change is the law of life. Everything keeps changing. Unless we accept this 'change' factor in our investing operandi,we will always be asking what and where went wrong.
It is an art, when to go in and come out. You can put in Rm100,000 in one counter in Jan'15 till Dec'15 and make Rm20,000. Along that one year, the counter would have moved up and down a few times where you could have made Rm40,000 to Rm60,000. So, your Rm20,000 for 1 year is better or Rm40,000 to Rm60,000?
A speculator time and try to outsmart market cycles. While a investor ignores all the short to medium up and down mkt swings. Most legendary investors practices the at least almost fully invested at all times method. They also warned against mart outsmarting/timing, as it's not only futile but also foolhardy to believe anyone could possibly consistently & correctly dodge in and out of markets.
There are many "pure" billionaire investors, but i can only name one "true" billionaire speculator - Livermore.
This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
Fasterom
70 posts
Posted by Fasterom > 2012-12-13 12:10 | Report Abuse
For me I'm both...and boths at same equal well informed risk...