Why is day trading referred to as “Playing the Stocks” I am not messing around
Of course you don’t, I understand that completely. Playing the market is something you can count on me not to do. I don’t even know where the phrase “playing the stock market” even comes from. This often common terminology is misleading but actually undermines what Good investors are doing.
A true investor is actually taking a very calculated, well-researched and probably even mostly safe although not guaranteed position that owning a piece of a company, or piece of a group of companies, or maybe even a piece of the debt that a company or a government owes, will pay that investor enough of a return to warrant the associated risk that comes with making that move.
If you are a long-term investor you understand that gambling is for the Horses Casino and lottery. It is NOT for YOU. (I once had a professor in college tell my class that we each individually had a better chance of being randomly chosen to be a . Football player then we had of winning the Lotto!).
Trading stocks is not something for a novice? I’d argue you could ask the same question of someone who’d been doing it for many years. No if you have nothing else to do, NO. successful day traders are few and far between. Thinking of quitting your job to become one would definitely be a risk. If that’s the life you want, so be it, but most people are really good at something else, and if they’re really lucky, they also like doing that something else. In my opinion, they should do that thing, whatever it is.
The joy of being a financial advisor is seeing my client benefit from a long term investing goal and reaching it sooner then they think. That’s why I do it.
Another thing I hear from a few people is that since they either own their own business or are above average in their corporate career, or even that they’re in a very intellectually demanding job, that it only makes sense that they are smart enough to do their own investing. Please understand good investing takes time and patience. Good investing is not and can not be an emotional thing for you.
The bottom line is that you need a coach, a mentor, an emotionally uninvolved professional who can take a step back and help you see the big picture for yourself, help you define your goals, and help you reach them. You can do this by being involved in things like the stock market, while at the same time not “playing the market”.
