Stock Market = Gambling?

[jayd]

Next you'll hear that it is better to put your money in a bank chequing account rather than a bank savings account. Reason is that you get no interest in a chequing accoung, but 3 to 4 % interest in a savings account. Not really kirat dhee kamai is it? Tell me, when you are buying your children's "Education Savings Plans" or your "Retirement Savings Plan", what exactly are you doing?

When you are paying your child's school fees, the belief is that your child will grow up, become a educated professional, and will take care of himself, his family, and you. Call it what ever you may, but you are investing in your child's and your future. You can think of the stock market in a similar fashion.

When you are fresh out of uni, nobody wants to hire you because you have no experience. But then a company will come along and hire you and train you. They are investing money and time into your development so that you can grow and make money for them. You can think of the stock market in a similar fashion.

So, Stock Market is not gambling, it's investing. Get your facts straight.

To a question raised in the previous post:

Q. Are they not satisfied with what they are earning because of their job?

Ans: Everybody should be satisfied with their jobs. But you have to understand how your job was created. Someone invested in the company for the company to grow and create more job oppurtunities. If all the investors and shareholders pull out their money from a company, you can imagine what will happen to 'job satisfaction".

[Guest Papi]

Friend of mine was having the same kinda discussion with me so I thought I'd ost the q's on here

1. Where do people get the money from to invest in stocks?

2. Are they not satisfied with what they are earning because of their job?

3. People don't have enough money to fulfill their increased needs?

says the person who is getting paid almost doulbe the average salary

[Simran9]

dang I was just talking to a friend the other day about buying stocks for long term investment in a stable company...

stocks are investments if you do the research and do it right. Its a gamble if you put all of your money into one comany and that company sinks the next year or whenever, then you'll lose a lot of money there.

even real estate property is an investment. Most people don't live in the same house for more than several years. When you sell it you look to make more than what you paid for it, and you try to sell when the property value is high.

rental property is also investment. would that be wrong to have that income from tenet living there who pays you monthly? Obviously you'd have the tenet paying more than what the actual mortgage payment is.

someone above mentioned bank interest. Thats investing your money in a bank so they can loan that money out to other people who are taking out loan. Nobody is going to go back to the bank and say take back the interest I earned!

[japmans]

yeah... someone private messaged me those same three questinos.. i brought up the real estate market and everything too...

it seems the problem is that people think the problem in stock markets is that it is all about wealth maximization.

i'd suggest that working overtime is wealth maximization too, then...

owning your own business is probably the same thing..

that leads me to believe that some people may think that in order to be a good sikh, you must work for someone else.

If that is the case, then I must say, I disagree wholeheartedly.

you don't invest in stocks looking at one year, two years or even three years.. that's why the analogy of betting on sports is so stupid.

In the NHL, for two years in a row, the winner of the stanley cup has been from the southeast division... if you only took that as your research, it would be so stupid to put all your money in the atlanta thrashers or tampa bay lightning just cuz they're from that division....

stocks are much different.. if you don't wanna see the difference, that is your perogative.. don't be so closed minded to say that there is no difference, you're not fooling anyone.

[rinku_sikh]

If you get allocated free shares from your company and then wait for the share price to rise until you sell is this gambling? Should we not accept such benefits from our employers?

[proactive]

If you get allocated free shares from your company and then wait for the share price to rise until you sell is this gambling? Should we not accept such benefits from our employers?

I think that by taking the shares you are investing in the hard work that you and all the other employees are doing. It's not gambling in my opinion.

[smartsingh24]

Next you'll hear that it is better to put your money in a bank chequing account rather than a bank savings account. Reason is that you get no interest in a chequing accoung, but 3 to 4 % interest in a savings account. Not really kirat dhee kamai is it? Tell me, when you are buying your children's "Education Savings Plans" or your "Retirement Savings Plan", what exactly are you doing?

When you are paying your child's school fees, the belief is that your child will grow up, become a educated professional, and will take care of himself, his family, and you. Call it what ever you may, but you are investing in your child's and your future. You can think of the stock market in a similar fashion.

When you are fresh out of uni, nobody wants to hire you because you have no experience. But then a company will come along and hire you and train you. They are investing money and time into your development so that you can grow and make money for them. You can think of the stock market in a similar fashion.

So, Stock Market is not gambling, it's investing. Get your facts straight.

To a question raised in the previous post:

Q. Are they not satisfied with what they are earning because of their job?

Ans: Everybody should be satisfied with their jobs. But you have to understand how your job was created. Someone invested in the company for the company to grow and create more job oppurtunities. If all the investors and shareholders pull out their money from a company, you can imagine what will happen to 'job satisfaction".

I think it's worth mentioning that when you invest your money in a bank, the bank is going to turn around and use your money on the stock market. This is the reason why banks will only let you immediatley withdraw up to $10,000 at one time (any longer and they require a waiting period). It's also why U.S. banks will only insure accounts up to $100,000 ($200,000 if you have a joint account with someone else ). In any case, if the stock market was indeed a form of gambling, then what would that make us? The guy that spots his friend an extra $10 in a daring round of poker? If you really wanna go down that road, I'd avoid putting your money in a bank.

dang I was just talking to a friend the other day about buying stocks for long term investment in a stable company...

stocks are investments if you do the research and do it right. Its a gamble if you put all of your money into one comany and that company sinks the next year or whenever, then you'll lose a lot of money there.

even real estate property is an investment. Most people don't live in the same house for more than several years. When you sell it you look to make more than what you paid for it, and you try to sell when the property value is high.

rental property is also investment. would that be wrong to have that income from tenet living there who pays you monthly? Obviously you'd have the tenet paying more than what the actual mortgage payment is.

someone above mentioned bank interest. Thats investing your money in a bank so they can loan that money out to other people who are taking out loan. Nobody is going to go back to the bank and say take back the interest I earned!

You raise good points. Buying a house is a huge investment, and you are going to be taking a huge chance when or if you decide to buy one or sell one. But is it gambling? You're spending time developing your home, making it better and better, until you decide it's too small or you need a change of scenery, and you sell it. But why sell it immediatley? Wouldn't you rather wait until it's a "buyer's market"? The point in real estate is to make more money, and it's only going to end up benefiting you in your quest for a bigger house elsewhere. Would this be the same as gambling? No, because it's an investment. Just more tangible than the stock market, another form of investment.

If you get allocated free shares from your company and then wait for the share price to rise until you sell is this gambling? Should we not accept such benefits from our employers?

No, it's free money. Take it :umm:

[Heera Singh]

i would like to invest $100,000 in Japman International... $50 k in bonds... $50 k in equity... $25k of that $50k in convertible preferreds, and the rest in common..

[proactive]

At the end of the day it all boils down to whether you feel comfortable that investing in the stock market isn't gambling. The people who have been investing have given some very good points as to why they don't consider it as gambling.

I don't want to make this into a share tipping thread but it would be nice to know what all you guys have invested in. Not specific companies but probably sectors and how well you're investments have been doing and what you're views are on the long term.

I'll kick off

Good decisions

I invested in oil companies a few years ago so did pretty well there. Held positions in US Oil futures and currencies futures $/£ and $/Euro which went well as well. Brought a house in need of renovation last November, now tenented while I get planning permission to convert into 2 two bedroom flats.

Bad decisions

Brought google but pulled out at a loss.

[davindervirk]

How are u guys comparing investment with stocks? When u buy bonds or stocks its a gamble because the price change all the time. My example for investment, when u invest in land the price will will not drop that not consider gambling becasue u know the price will increase and its not a gamble.

Am i Right?