In a recent post at 0 to IPO in 7 Years, I made a comment that I did not see enough of a difference between speculation and investment and asked for a clarification. Rocky promptly presented the following crisp definition:

“My definition: A speculation is a holding (of whatever sort) where the success or failure is determined by the expectation that ANOTHER MARKET PARTICIPANT will move the price in a particular direction…

My friend sent me a funny link about CNBC that brought forward a few thoughts about assets. What I am about to write you can and should safely ignore as it is likely to have little to no impact on your life. If you know me, you already know I don’t know anything and carry my cross like everyone else in the world. If you don’t even know me, how can you take what I say as anything of value, anything to use as basis for even a simple decision…

Heavily used machines are considered great when the quality of their output is constant with no statistically significant variances over time. In other words, they consistently produce according to their exact specifications especially long after the of expected useful life. We, on the other hand, cannot simply maintain good quality in what we produce. We must continuously show improvement in our results (such as progressively advancing resumes, higher levels of education and achievement, etc.)…

While reading a post from Daily Speculations, I thought of many reasons why the markets are so fascinating. I think it important to be fascinated for the right reasons. Here’s the partial list for me…

Assorted United States coins
Many families in the US are going through difficult times lately mainly because of the effects of the revaluation of real estate. Every day I hear about people being negatively impacted by the current downturn. I feel that with additional preparation, the struggling families would weather this storm better. I have already said that teaching finance, discipline and especially financial discipline should be a priority for our school system but that’s not going to happen overnight. In the meantime, here are my tips on preparing for a …