Dec
Why is investing in stocks referred to as “Playing the Stocks” I am not here to play
I agree and I dont play the stock market either. I don’t “play” the market either. Playing the stock market is a silly phrase and I don’t know where it came from. Although I have to acknowledge that it is a very common terminology, I think it is not only misleading, but a widespread cause of misunderstanding about what an investor is actually doing.
A true investor is actually taking a very calculated, well-researched and probably even mostly safe although not guaranteed position that owning a piece of a company, or piece of a group of companies, or maybe even a piece of the debt that a company or a government owes, will pay that investor enough of a return to warrant the associated risk that comes with making that move.
To profit one should consider that high-risk stocks do have the potential to go through the roof, the CHANCES of profiting are slim though. (I once had a professor in college tell my class that we each individually had a better chance of being randomly chosen to be a . President then winning the lotto!).
So then, is trading stocks something a novice should get into? I’d argue you could ask the same question of someone who’d been doing it for many years. If you absolutely have to know, NO. successful day traders are few and far between. Thinking of quitting your job to become one would definitely be a risk. If that’s the life you want, so be it, but most people are really good at something else, and if they’re really lucky, they also like doing that something else. My personal opinion is that you should do whatever you want to do.
I happen to like investing, not for anything even remotely like day trading, but because of the bigger picture of using what I know to help others get to their goals – there’s a lot of satisfaction in that, at least for me. This is my job and this is why I do it, to help people like you have financial freedom.
Another thing I hear from a few people is that since they either own their own business or are above average in their corporate career, or even that they’re in a very intellectually demanding job, that it only makes sense that they are smart enough to do their own investing. That almost makes sense, until you consider once again that good investing takes time and patience, which is what makes people successful in their day job. Long term investing is an emotional process a good investor asks you to separate your money from your emotion.
A financial advisor, an emotionally uninvolved professional will help you reach your goals faster. You don’t have to Play to be involved in your investments.
