Like real gambling it’s all fixed by the mob.

Yeah, when you are a politician you can legally cheat the system. And many do. Trump and his cronys of course, but Democrats like Pelosi too.

Glad you asked!

While this has changed, used to be you could look at the financials of a company and determine whether it was a reasonably good long-term investment, so you could pretty consistently build wealth with a diverse array of investments. With algorithmic trading down to the millisecond, much of this has gone out the window

Yeah, I was going to say something similar. What job you take, where you decide to live, friends you make all have a risk/reward element to them.

That being said I do believe there is a big difference between polymarket/prediction markets and stocks (or at least some stocks). Prediction markets is either betting on pure chance or against insider knowledge. Technically stocks should be seen as investing in a company (especially ones that pay dividends). Could a company run into hard times and lose you money, sure, but there is at least a bit more freely available information on that available to you.

Thanks for sharing!

It's not gambling for the House, because the odds are already stacked in your favor.

It's not gambling for the state, because this is guaranteed tax revenue and campaign contributions, off the backs of people who are more than willing to feed the beast.

It's not gambling for the players, either. In the end, they always go to zero.

I keep writing and deleting this same post a lot, because there're so many facets to it, but I swear it's not really that complicated once you understand how much of it is about tax efficiency. It turns out that answering the question you asked is the best place to start: "tips on starting."

Tips:

• Pick a brokerage that isn't Robinhood. Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and Vanguard are big names with zero trading fees; Schwab probably has the best user interface since they got ThinkOrSwim when they bought TD Ameritrade.
• Get comfortable with the idea that you'll want to do direct bank ACH transfers to your accounts with the brokerage. You should at least have a normal brokerage account that doesn't have tax advantages or rules, and a Roth IRA.
• Learn about Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). You can buy shares of $VOO (if I use a dollar sign it means it's a stock "ticker symbol") and get a slice of the entire S&P 500. A share of $VT buys a slice of (one of Vanguard's interpretations of) the entire world market. You can be diversified with just one fund.
• Find good websites to research. Bogleheads is a good one that I like. $RDDT had several subreddits that looked at the topic from all different aspects, but now that's just another thing they've stolen from the world.^1^
• Ask questions if you have them and find good websites to research. Most of the buy-it-and-hold crowd's advice won't have changed at all across decades (that strategy is where you buy the stock, and then hold it), but search engines tend to push newer websites, and it's kind of pointless to set up a new website that just always says to buy and hold.

Some links:

• https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Roth_IRA
• https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/ETFs_for_Bogleheads
• https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=443260
• https://www.etfrc.com/funds/overlap.php
• https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Emergency_fund
• https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/investing/dead-investors/

[1] Since we know they do marketing campaigns that will push certain topics/movies/whatever if they're paid to, AND we know they have carte blanche with shadow bans/hiding posts/etc, has anyone done any analysis to see if they're being paid to push certain stocks in whatever tattered remains are left over from their investing forums? I guess you'd have to pay them for access to scan their comments now with any kind of speed, and I'll also guess you wouldn't be able to buy a product from them that would prove they're doing it.

1. Don't seek advice on a meme forum
2. Use common sense, a company that has had profits for the last 5 years is probably a good investment.
3. Seek information online, with the biggest grain of salt imagineable. If an investment bro or comment online seem manic or urgent, it is a bad investment. Those are the people you are suppose to be profiting from.

This is the best, most consistent strategy for the past 50+ years:

Step 1: Open an account. If you have a 401k, you already have a retirement account, probably with Fidelity. If you don't have a 401k, Fidelity is still a fine choice. You could also choose Schwab or Vanguard. Don't overthink it, though, because it doesn't really matter.

Step 2: Put everything into $VOO.* Every time you get a paycheck, put some of it into your account and buy more $VOO.

Step 3: Don't touch it. Don't. I know you want to. I know you want to look at that number. Don't. Don't do it. I know you heard about trading options somewhere and you saw the posts of people who turned $10k into $10 million. That's not going to happen. Don't touch the money. Leave it alone.

Step 4: When you have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of your life, start selling it to buy bonds.

*Everything else you do might get more money, but it is worse on average. For example, you might be feeling smart, and decide that all these big tech stocks are overvalued. So you'll buy $RWL instead. That might get more money, but it probably won't. If you insist on doing something fancy, at least put most of your money in $VOO.

Roth IRA. put 10% in each paycheck.

If you're instead looking to trade stocks like Pokemon cards, there are plenty of apps that let you do that. And just like Pokemon cards, you'll put more in than you'll ever take out if you trade like that.

Buy the dip, hold. You'll either eventually come out ahead or the company you bought will dissolve.

What happens when the AI companies get into the indexes? Big tech is already heavily represented and the AI bubble popping will probably destroy sensible index fund portfolios.

a fellow boglehead 🤝

I'm having trouble looking up all those acronyms. I know about roth 401ks, but not the other stuff.

The way stocks are meant to work, it isn't gambling. It is an investment in a company in order to help them grow and gain a return from that.

The way people use it now, it is gambling.

As a futures trader, I can confirm that trading futures is gambling. Like poker, if you know what you're doing, you can make a living. Most people can't make a living playing poker, and 95% of traders are not profitable.

it's educated gambling where the house has significantly less of an edge (or at least appears to)

Spouse was just watching something on some free streaming app and all the ads are ai generated and scams aimed at old people. This one was about some fake life insurance claims when it flashes a 1-2 second picture of this at the end where it tells you if you call they will add your information to their databases and sell it and you choose to void your rights and take yourself off the national do not call list..

I am in Denmark

No, because you still have to do work and make a product when farming. The same can’t be said for gambling.

I'm pretty sure hunting and foraging is gambling too.

It’s flip but the AI bubble makes me feel like it’s not totally out of pocket. Nasdaq changing it’s rules to let recently IPO’ed companies in sooner seems wildly reckless to me.

/s ?

Ya, it should probably say NYSE.

I didn't even notice loot boxes. Jfc.

Yeah the coins on Nasdaq are all closed-source, wtf.

Hey kids! We heard you like video games! How would you like to foster a gambling addiction while playing them?

We'll make them free-to-play and help you develop these lifelong habits in your youth! Yay!

Yes, in the manufacturing of the cartridge, but once it's made, it doesn't need an atmosphere containing oxygen to activate. The explosive charge behind the projectile is ready to go and just waiting for prime time.

Going into space?

Belive it or not, also gambling.

Laughs in mayer amschel rothschild

true...
also atleast TF2 you can buy the items separately
edit: also keyless cases or crates exist