Le discussioni sull’essenza di investimento vs. trading vs. speculazione sono vecchie come il mondo. Questa distinzione di Alfred Berkeley, all’epoca presidente del Nasdaq, riassume molto bene quelle che è anche la mia visione:
"There are always three games going on in the market at any time: a game of chance, a game of skill and a game of strategy. Games of chance are gambling; games of skill are speculating; and games of strategy are investing. The best way to understand this is to look at the definitions. Investors, like Warren Buffett, want to find the underlying value of a company. The time horizon is the same time horizon it takes to work out the company’s strategic plan, usually years and decades. The speculator doesn’t care about the underlying value of the company. He cares about the underlying demand of buyers and sellers in the stock. He is looking at the beauty-contest aspect – will people like the stock and bid it up or not. And the gambler is just a more speculative speculator, making a bet because he’s got a hunch that he knows what’s going on."
