guys your opinions on difference between traders and investors

[john_1]

Sure LG the thing you have never been able to define is what tells you, you are wrong? What gets you out..Everybody has loss making trades what makes you sell...If you cant define that then as far as I am concerned it is only a matter of time before you wipe out long term or not.

[louisg]

JBoy. Tells me what? What am I wrong about? Define what? If you mean WHEN do I sell then I would answer as follows. Sell when you believe Mr Market is significantly overvaluing the company or the reason/s for buying the share initially, has/have changed fundamentally. Long term does NOT mean hold forever. Like any good businessman you must watch over your business. When things change, ADAPT. BUY, SELL or HOLD. If you BUY well it should allow you to SELL well, ie. BUY QUALITY. Of course no strategy will ever be perfect. We all make mistakes, just some less than others. And that could be the difference between success and failure.

[louisg]

JBoy, I own MTN, MSM, MPC, SBK, RMH, ASA, PWK, ALT and the like, with no gearing. If you believe that ALL these companies are going broke then I guess you are right. I will "wipe out" ...... however I doubt there are many on this forum who will agree with you. Perhaps you should just accept that YOUR way is NOT the only way. Short term or not.

[louisg]

John???

[john_1]

I would say that a long term investor can control the growth aspect to a certain degree qote from your earlier post....please explain how as a minority you have any controll on a companies growth.

[Werner_1]

my view is that we do proper analysis and only buy shares that are consistently providing growthin in earnings, dividends, revenue, etc and also put huge focus on the management of the company, e.g. we try to find out as much as we can about them, ask a few questions and see if they are guys we would trust with our money, then over long term they should be able to effect the growth...

[louisg]

Jboy your attempt at redirection is cute, but futile. Please explain WHY you think I will "wipe out".

[louisg]

We have no control on the growth of the company itself. I was alluding to the fact that we have influence over the growth of out capital by the companies we choose to invest in. Choose the companies that are growing their earnings in the long term and your capital will grow in the long term..

[john_1]

So exactly what are we in controll of..

[Werner_1]

we control where we place our money...

[BRE]

IMHO trading is work, investing is holidaying. As a group, neither makes more money than the other? Traders have the potential to make more money in a bull market but they also have the potential to wipe out. Investing at the right time has the potential for easy money without the risk of wipe out. So if you've developed a trading system that works and you've got the discipline to stick to your system then yeah, trading is the way to go; otherwise investing is your best option.

[BRE]

PS. at the end of the day both investors and traders are interested in the money. You don't invest in a company; you invest in their potential to make you money in the long run.

[Russ]

Hullo,LN.I hope your question has been answered.

[john_1]

If you have no controll over the growth of a company how do have controll over the growth of your capital...once you have bought that is???

[john_1]

just repeat the question ...what can you do to grow your capital once you have bought...

[#16]

Investor (N) The justification a lousy trader uses to hang onto losing positions.

[Werner_1]

Trader (N) A hyper-active investor that churns their portfolio

[Werner_1]

Investors are those who purchase financial instruments with a long-term objective of earning a profit. An investor is different from a speculator who enters the market with the sole objective of making quick, short-term profits.

[HiSo]

Here's another question for you guys. Which one ,investing or trading, requires more skill ? .... I would guess from whats been said that trading requires more skill. I mean given the average returns stock markets over long periods of time I would think you could have picked any stock randomly and still make a shirt load of cash whereas short term trading would require alot more precision?

[Werner_1]

I would guess most of the guys online here would say trading requires more skill. It does take more time and precision in selecting trades, etc. but to really get the best long term trades also requires skill, e.g. if you just randomly select any share, you are not investing, but speculating, and using a well defined strategy for long term investing, you can get substantially better results than just random selection, Louisg, whats your view?