Is there a hard threshold? Do high risk investments such as penny stocks qualify as gambling? Do low risk investments? Annuities? Bonds? CDs?

This comment got me wondering.

Is it more to do with the venue? Stock markets and real estate vs casinos and the lottery?

Were the MIT Blackjack Team gambling or investing?

Or Jerry and Marge Selbee?

Is this just another semantic hotdogs are sandwiches discussion or is there an agreed threshold?

  • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    6 months ago

    It’s technically not a guarantee, it is certainly possible for the entire market to take a dump at once. Over the long term – decades – it has been profitable to invest in the US stock market even counting these downturns. Like they say in all the stock prospectuses, though, past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

    Still, I’ll take my chances with the market. At least if it goes to zero, I’ll have a lot of company at the homeless shelter.

    • Scratch@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      And this assumes the line will always trend up. Forever. Which we don’t know if it will or not.

      • Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
        5·
        6 months ago

        We can’t know for sure, but its historically been the case. In addition, the expectation for infinite growth stems a lot from continued research and development. We continue to make processes more efficient making products cheaper and easier for more people to buy. You can say that the econmy will stop growing at some point, but we just don’t know when that may happen.