Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
All people investing in stock/bond/commodities are gambling.


Not really.

It's the nature of the process.


Depends on how you define the terms, but if there is any
better place to put money you don't want to spend right now
than in well chosen stocks, 150 years of economic history
has failed to uncover it.


I, on the other hand, never gamble on something I can't put my hands
on.

I never gamble, period.

Well, actually, I play nickel ante poker... but that is more
like entertainment that actually pays me a very very small
wage for my time.


... The only stocks I own are IBM
(big dollars - bought really low)

Like around $45/sh?

Big Blue is looking OK right now, although I think their
divesting of money-making divisions is making some people
nervous.

... and a couple of oil companies.


Hard to go wrong there. I expect them to start paying
dividends in oil any day now.


My new investment strategy is if I can't put my hands on it, I ain't
investing in it.


Can you put your hands on applied business technology? Can
you put your hands on an energy distribution network?

Ideas are the most valuable thing of all... well, make that
ideas and hard work... but both are rather slippery to enter
in a spreadsheet.


Real estate - in particular multi-family homes.

Can't go wrong - everybody gotta live somewhere. :)

You heard it here first- real estate across the board is
going to lag inflation for the next few years at least. If
people are paying more for energy, they will of necessity
have less to spend for rent & groceries.

My capital (what of it is not in no-load index funds) gets
invested in business sectors that show high growth in their
lobbying expenditures. It's a cynical outlook, but so far
has paid off... hey I'm in it for the money!

Regards
Doug King