Gambling Or Investing?

  One of the biggest loads of garbage told by upline diamonds was that the stock market was essentially gambling.  As if buying shares in a solid company was like betting on a hand of blackjack or red or black on a spin of the wheel on roulette.  This is extremely dangerous teaching on the part of the diamonds.  I often wonder if the diamonds themselves are invested into the stock market themselves? Let’s face it, for an average middle class person, investing at a young age can be a means to grow wealth in the long run.

I can agree that day trading can be a form of gambling because you aren’t giving the stock and the company to overcome short term setbacks and problems.  But let me give you food for thought about something I figured out a in the late 1990s.  It seemed like every so often when you read the news, Bill Gates kept getting wealthier and wealthier.  It wasn’t because he was putting his money in a bank.  He owned billions of dollars in Microsoft stock.  Having had that revelation, I bought shares of Microsoft as well and I haven’t sold a share yet although I am now retired.   The stock took some damage due to the covid 19 hysteria but has recovered nicely since April 2020.  If you look back historically, Microsoft stock outperforms the broad market itself, averaging (even now) returns of more than 20% annually, which means you can double your investment every 3-4 years.  

Now I’m not claiming to be uber rich because of that investment, but I have a fairly nice small fortune because of it.  I also own shares in other companies as well (such as Nvidia) but I won’t discuss that here.  I do recall a tape made by a diamond named Dave Severn where he downplayed investing and said a broker gave him a hot tip on a stock and he said something like (not verbatim) “listen here Ace, I’ll put up as much money as you are”.  As if stockbrokers aren’t willing to invest in their own advice.  Or as if stock brokers were charlatans.  

Let’s look on the other side of the coin.  Diamonds advise prospects and IBOS to invest in tools and functions. I’d say that’s a much greater gamble since you can research Amway’s own numbers on their website and extrapolate that only about 1/4 of 1 percent ever reach platinum and out of those, only a small fraction ever reach diamond.  I’d venture to say confidently that you can invest in most companies with a proven track record, and you’ll make positive gains in the stock as well as dividends in many cases.

Smart investing is not gambling but I’d say pouring money into an Amway business plus buying into the tools and functions gives you a worse chance of making a net profit than a day in Las Vegas.   Don’t believe me?  Who are among the richest men in the world?  Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Warren Buffet?   They didn’t make their money with Amway.  While the Amway owners are billionaires, you can note that they are not Amway distributors.  They own the MLM company, which can be lucrative when you have armies of distributors working for commission only and no benefits such as medical insurance.

Serious food for thought.