"Playing the stock market" is no different than gambling. Why should people gamble away their hard earn money

"Playing the stock market" is no different than gambling. Why should people gamble away their hard earn money when American corporate executives simply line their pockets with it?

Obviously, most of you are missing the spirit of this question. Doh!

Wow did you take a beating on this questions. My clients that lost their entire retirement savings in the stock market over the last 6 years would infact tell you that the stock market is a gamble. After continually listening to their high paid brokers tell them to ride it out, they now live on Soc. Sec. and their brokers are still making hand over fist. You are correct regarding the gamble and unstability of the stock market. Depending on your age, the stock market may not be the place to be. There are much safer alternatives that may not make you a millionairre, but you also lose everything you have worked your entire life for. Ask the people who invested in Enron if they would ever Play the Market Again. Unfortunately, you can do fairly well by educating yourself as the others suggest, but most folks pay someone a lot of money to use their education and advise them in good conscience, unfortunately the almighty dollar is what motivates most brokers. A lot of seniors don't have the time to wait for the market to come back. They need their money now, and are losing thousands every quarter. I see it very much in my work.

you are not out of line for thinking that way, wish more people did. We'd have a lot more baby boomers and seniors living independently with dignity during their golden years.

greed.

obviously you have no clue what the stock market is.

it's the thrill and rush people experience i guess, the same as with skydiving and other extremem sports

Life is a gamble. When you wake up and walk out the door you are gambling with your life. You may get hit by a car or shot by some lunatic. If you know how to gamble and learn all the rules your risk of losing is greatly reduced.

The stock market is a means for investing in companies you think will do well. It's no more gambling than investing in a friend's start-up company, buying a home, or picking how your 401k will be allocated. If you're educated about it, you can do pretty well. Look at Warren Buffet who is worth billions... and his primary business was stock investing.

an educated investment can and usually does produce a return on investment. it is the way companies in american get money to operate, by selling stocks

That is not true. In gambling the house pretty much always wins. Sure the market may seem like gambling to the outsider. Or do you trade? But once you watch it and learn it. You see prices tend to follow past trends in most cases. And in some cases you can predict a stocks movement. I am no super expert when it comes to playing the market. I am in the stages of learning. But Starting off with 5 k in april I have almost doubled my money. SURE I have made mistakes. Like selling a stock WAY to early (It later went up sooo much I would have made 20k off it *GRRR*) But you learn from your mistakes. Now ask me if I would rather take 1000 to the casino and loose it all. Or take 1000 and buy stocks. I would say stocks 100%. But everyone has their opinion.

Your premise is wrong. They are very different. However, putting money in the stockmarket is a gamble. But not like casinos where the house takes an average % of the gambled money to make a profit.

ITs calculated risk

Corrections gambling is only about 100% pure luck while playing stock market involves you knowing what you doing,homework, and know technical analysis coz if you depend on luck or hope and pray sure you gonna loose

People investing in stocks is a staple of the American capitalist system. If investment was banned, the system would collapse because no companies would be able to gather funding anymore. And corporate executiives cannot legally pocket any of the investors money or use it for personal purposes. Corporate executives have often invested heavily in their own companies however, which gives them much more interest in how well the company does. There is a $1 million limit on salaries of companies, the rest of the money they get is from their stock performance.

Driving in LA is no different than gambling with your life. Why should people drive to work when odds are pretty good some jackass is going to kill them on their way there or back home?

Fool School Tool.

When you invest (long term, not day trading) you put your faith in a company and its long term profitability. Owning that stock might pay dividends (not all stocks return dividends) on an annual basis, which leaves the stocks intact and at full value. Stocks might split, doubling your investments. And if you invest correctly, then you have a solid plan for for your future.

Don't believe the rhetoric. Do some research.

while playing the stock market is a gamble in some respects, over time, it is a tried and true way to make the largest return on your savings/investment. I would rather take a chance on a return of 15-40% over 5-10 years than to let my money sit in a saving account earning a max of 2% annually. Even CD's do not pay out what they used to. Bonds? Not with THIS administration!

Actually, "playing the stock market" is a hell of a lot different to gambling... just depends how much you know what you're doing.

With proper gambling, such as Horse Racing or Roulette or whatever, you don't know what the result will be until it has happened.

With the stock market, you've got lots of information to give you a fair idea how a company is going to perform...... things like the company accounts over the last 2-3 years or more...... EPS growth percentage figures, P/E ratio's, PEG ratio's... information on the management..... all of which, if researched carefully can make you a small (or MASSIVE) fortune if things go your way.

See these articles to see what I mean:
HOW TO VALUE STOCKS
http://www.fool.com/school/howtovaluesto...

STOCKS
http://www.fool.com/school/basics/basics...

ANALYSING STOCKS
http://www.fool.com/school/basics/basics...

Casino gambling has a negative expected payoff.

The stock market has a positive expected payoff.

Do the math.

You don't "play" the stock market. You invest in it, using money that you won't need for 5 years. Historically, the "Market" has increased in value on an average of 11% per year. In some years, it loses money. In other years, it gains 20% or more.

Do the research, and you'll find some low-risk stocks, like public utilities. Many stocks pay a dividend. There are also high-risk stocks, but they are a lot less risky than playing roulette, blackjack, the slots, etc.in which you stand a real good chance of losing everything.

I'm not sure if anyone has answered your actual question. You assume that "playing the stock market" is the same as gambling. You also assume that people should gamble away their hard earned money. So, given those assumptions, the answer is really simple. People should gamble away their hard earned money to have fun.

Was there suppose to be a 'spirt' to your question?