Reply #10: Never "invest" what you can't afford to lose

[Tansy_Gold]

And I put that "invest" in quotes because there are so many people who use the term when what they're really doing is speculating.

In my book, one invests when one is going for the slow steady and virtually guaranteed return that means security when one isn't going to be able to continue to earn wages. When one goes for the quick buck, the fat return, then one is speculating. I have very little sympathy for speculators.

Invested for the long haul, even in CDs at 1%, that million dollars would return $10,000/year. People who wanted to "invest" for a 10% return (which is what Madoff was claiming) wanted $100,000K per year. To me, given the current economy, that's greed. No sympathy.

And since I don't know how they "made" their money in the first place, I'm skeptical. Was it money they "made" from prior investments? Inheritance? Stock options? If they didn't earn it the old fashioned way, I have no sympathy for greed.



Tansy Gold, hard ass