Yeah, it was gambling. I remember thinking to myself that had I bought ____ shares of ____ at ____, it would be worth ____ now. But this thinking excludes so many other factors. For me, one of the biggest things is that I know that I wouldn't likely buy it the stock at that low price, nor would I sell it at the high price.
Or in this guy's particular case, when would be the ideal time to cash in your chips? He gambled a few times and that paid off, but then it seems that he got eager for more.
I am in Vegas for a few weeks each year and it has been many, many years since I've laid down a single bet. For me, this isn't about will-power, it is a pure rational decision. The last times I gambled I was miserable, because if I won a $100 then I wanted more, if I lost $100 I wanted to win it back. At the end of the day I was never satisfied, and odds are I was a lot poorer as a result.
My company's owner used to be a huge speculator in the stock market and lost a boatload on it. He would be investing in companies that he didn't know anything about, or day-trade. What's sad is that if he had simply just put his money into an index fund, he would have an absolute fortunate put aside. What's worse is that he would spend some days at the office glued to his computer, watching the market, rather than focusing and investing on new products and trying to garner more business.
