Should investing be fun or a grim, relentless, chore?
There’s a lot at stake depending on how we answer:
- If it’s unpleasant, maybe we won’t do it.
- If it’s fun, maybe it’s a waste, like lottery tickets.
What is fun to you?
- Losing money predictably – The lottery is fun, in its own way, but often has a chance of winning of around 0.00000057%. If you compare a daily lottery habit to investing the same small amount and funding your retirement, the lottery becomes less fun.
- Losing money unpredictably – Great as the stock market is, you can day trade your way to poverty. Day trading is impressive in its ability to bring out the worst in us.
- Making money pretty predictably – Even though the market is unpredictable in the short term, it gets more predictable over time. If you automate your investing and only check on progress infrequently you can make great progress and spend very little effort getting it.
Regardless of where you start, you can educate your tastes.
- Losing my money is not fun
- Making money is fun
