[bitJericho]

When I worked for a large internet company I would make about 2-3000 a year in stock options. Years later I could have probably bought a house had I not offloaded them immediately. Had the company done poorly, that money would be gone. I spent it on living expenses. Who's right and who's wrong? The one who ends up ahead of course. Can you tell the future?

The stock market is a gamble and you're not the house. You'll lose if you try to play. Sure you might make some money if you hold on, but only the house (the investment companies) are really guaranteed to win.

If I didn't need that money, I would have placed it into savings, invest in my own company or buy a house or something. Having had a stint as a gambler, I can say that gambling is for fools.

[zardo]

Financially, the right decision is the one with the greater expected value, while accounting for the marginal utility of money. Your understanding of the stock market is fundamentally wrong, owning a stock is owning a piece of a company, a company where people spend most of their lives trying to make a profit, for you, the shareholder. It's a gamble to put all your money on one company, because some companies fail. Buying shares in a large number of companies is the best long term expected value you'll find.