[pedrocr]

>investors "invest" in hedge funds that engage in speculation via trading strategies across a continuum of risk profiles

This is precisely the opposite of what I'm suggesting. Instead of implementing these trading strategies just buy the average of the market at low fees and don't trade anything.

>investing does not refer only to "value investing", which is substantially what you're referring to. Investors are, in the abstract, people who seek a positive return on their capital relative to another benchmark

Again a misrepresentation. I'm definitely not arguing you should be value investing or trying to get alpha by beating any benchmark. Quite the opposite. I'm arguing you should just hold the market average which requires no trading besides the initial purchases.

>if we act as though trading and investing are different concepts. A much better way to frame your point here is to use terminology such as "passive investing" versus "active investing."

I'm definitely arguing for passive investing but also in strategies that quite actively do not trade. Ultimately this is just splitting hairs on terminology but you'll be hard pressed to find the term "trading" in actual use for someone that just passively invests in the total market. I doubt you'll find anyone on bogleheads.org that will identify with the term. Trading is a term usually reserved for people who will actively trade in and out of various securities on a regular basis.