If You Think Investing Is Exciting, You Are Doing It Wrong

Wealth inspiration part 28.

image by Atul Choudhary on pexels

Wisdom can often come in small packages, and wisdom about building wealth is no different.

Today’s quote is from Paul Samuelson, the celebrated economist:

“Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.”

This is a concept I’ve had to learn over and over again in my investing journey.

I used to think investing should be exciting, like what is seen on TV.

“Buy!”

“Sell!”

“Flip for a profit!”

But what I’ve learned over time is that what is exciting is speculation, not investing. When you buy a stock because you think it will jump after earnings next week, you are not investing.

You are speculating that the price will go up. This is gambling.

If you buy a house hoping you can fix it and sell it for more because you believe house prices are going up, you are speculating, not investing.

Speculating is gambling because your success relies on your ability to predict the movement of the…