[TheAlchemist]

This is only partially true. For day traders and short term gamblers - yes.

But a lot of those highly intelligent folks are making a lot of money - I think there are roughly 2 big groups:

- some kind of algorithmic trading (market making for sell side, arbitrage for prop trading) - mostly playing on market inefficiencies and technicalities

- long term, value investors - Buffett etc.

Most of the other guys are just chasing some impossible dreams.

I really recommend to anybody interested in finance and investing to study Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger - their wisdom is simple yet amazing.

[kbenson]

> long term, value investors - Buffett etc.

Isn't Buffett's (Berkshire Hathaway's) strategy to actually take over companies where they see a way to cut expenses, change direction, synergize with other companies, etc and markets to make them more profitable?

If so (and I admit to having mostly a vague understanding of the specifics of Berkshire Hathaway's strategy), and if that's indicative of that group, then it's interesting that those groups making money aren't really making "bets" as much as they're actively working to make their investments pay out.

[TheAlchemist]

Absolutely not !

Buffett buys business - usually family run, and … does absolutely nothing - he let them run as they did before. He only provides a financial power of Berkshire if needed and wanted.

But thanks to his reputation and operational mode, the hood businesses select him when they sell. It’s a kind of virtuous circle by now.