There is a very fine line between speculating and guessing, that's for sure. You have to consider who is doing the speculating though and either go with it, based on that source, or not.

Rob101 wrote: I remember this scene from the movie Wolf of Wall street with Matthew McConaughey telling dicaprio that no one really knows how the stock will perform. It is really a guessing game?

It's speculative. People "speculate" on how something will perform, and others buy, sell and trade on that speculation. All speculation is, really, is an educated guess.

Yes absolutely. It certainty does take a lot of time and effort to be able to be successful. Also unfortunately that does not mean you will be successful.

In my experience the people who are really successfully managing their own stocks have both a keen interest in the topic and the time to spend on research.

I agree with you. I for one do not know enough about stocks and the stock market to invest my money on my own. I hire people for that. I wish I knew exactly what I was doing so that I could be an incredible investor too. Right now I just have to trust the firm that I have working for me.

I would not necessarily agree that people do not know what they are doing. Finance is extremely broad and have so many careers that relate and do not relate to the stock market. My view is some people know exactly what they are doing and are incredible investors. There are also jobs tied to the stock market, but those people have no clue. Specifically, the example you mention with Matthew McConaughey is he is a broker. Brokers are sales people and work off commission. They are not investors.

I would also argue the stock market is not necessarily a gambling mechanism. Some people use it that way, but you cannot broadly put that label on it.

There's a certain amount of risk involved, of course, but professionals know how to research every aspect of a stock to be able to have a reasonable expectation of how it will perform. Of course, even they're only right half the time, so yes, it's definitely a gamble no matter what.

I think some people are more savvy than others when it comes to seeing the future of the stock market, but it's still a crap shoot at the end of the day. I can tell you that I have no idea what I'm doing!

I remember this scene from the movie Wolf of Wall street with Matthew McConaughey telling dicaprio that no one really knows how the stock will perform. It is really a guessing game?