[far_far_away]

This is so true and I am glad that I am not the only one who thinks that way. In addition to that one could argue that investing in stocks (whatever the industry may be you are investing in) is a bad thing if you are not an insider. My brother who is a hacker and economist at the same time showed me studies that determined/proofed that the stock market is very irrational (I mean we all knew that but those studies showed this with scientific methods). I will ask him about those studies again - may be interesting to others as well.

[mdkess]

I think the strategy of buying a diversified portfolio of large, boring companies doing core things that everyone needs is a pretty safe bet.

If you're investing, I think that you should have a gambling account too, because it's fun and keeps you interested. It should be far less than 10% of your portfolio, and you should recognize that it's play money instead of real savings.

[6thSigma]

The day to day of the stock market is irrational, but long term investing isn't. If you're putting money in the stock market and not looking out 5+ years, you are simply gambling.

[far_far_away]

This heavily depends on how the companies you are investing in perform in the mid-term. It is true that the stock market out performs other kind of investments but this is only true if you are not investing in let's say 2-3 companies but rather in an index or something similar. Investing in an index is much much less exciting than investing in 2-3 companies.

[6thSigma]

> It is true that the stock market out performs other kind of investments but this is only true if you are not investing in let's say 2-3 companies but rather in an index or something similar.

It depends on what those 2-3 companies are. An index is certainly safer, but if you are good at determining growth prospects then you should absolutely be picking your own stocks.