It's not gambling for the House, because the odds are already stacked in your favor.

It's not gambling for the state, because this is guaranteed tax revenue and campaign contributions, off the backs of people who are more than willing to feed the beast.

It's not gambling for the players, either. In the end, they always go to zero.

Glad you asked!

I keep writing and deleting this same post a lot, because there're so many facets to it, but I swear it's not really that complicated once you understand how much of it is about tax efficiency. It turns out that answering the question you asked is the best place to start: "tips on starting."

Tips:

• Pick a brokerage that isn't Robinhood. Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and Vanguard are big names with zero trading fees; Schwab probably has the best user interface since they got ThinkOrSwim when they bought TD Ameritrade.
• Get comfortable with the idea that you'll want to do direct bank ACH transfers to your accounts with the brokerage. You should at least have a normal brokerage account that doesn't have tax advantages or rules, and a Roth IRA.
• Learn about Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). You can buy shares of $VOO (if I use a dollar sign it means it's a stock "ticker symbol") and get a slice of the entire S&P 500. A share of $VT buys a slice of (one of Vanguard's interpretations of) the entire world market. You can be diversified with just one fund.
• Find good websites to research. Bogleheads is a good one that I like. $RDDT had several subreddits that looked at the topic from all different aspects, but now that's just another thing they've stolen from the world.^1^
• Ask questions if you have them and find good websites to research. Most of the buy-it-and-hold crowd's advice won't have changed at all across decades (that strategy is where you buy the stock, and then hold it), but search engines tend to push newer websites, and it's kind of pointless to set up a new website that just always says to buy and hold.

Some links:

• https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Roth_IRA
• https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/ETFs_for_Bogleheads
• https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=443260
• https://www.etfrc.com/funds/overlap.php
• https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Emergency_fund
• https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/investing/dead-investors/

[1] Since we know they do marketing campaigns that will push certain topics/movies/whatever if they're paid to, AND we know they have carte blanche with shadow bans/hiding posts/etc, has anyone done any analysis to see if they're being paid to push certain stocks in whatever tattered remains are left over from their investing forums? I guess you'd have to pay them for access to scan their comments now with any kind of speed, and I'll also guess you wouldn't be able to buy a product from them that would prove they're doing it.

This is the best, most consistent strategy for the past 50+ years:

Step 1: Open an account. If you have a 401k, you already have a retirement account, probably with Fidelity. If you don't have a 401k, Fidelity is still a fine choice. You could also choose Schwab or Vanguard. Don't overthink it, though, because it doesn't really matter.

Step 2: Put everything into $VOO.* Every time you get a paycheck, put some of it into your account and buy more $VOO.

Step 3: Don't touch it. Don't. I know you want to. I know you want to look at that number. Don't. Don't do it. I know you heard about trading options somewhere and you saw the posts of people who turned $10k into $10 million. That's not going to happen. Don't touch the money. Leave it alone.

Step 4: When you have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of your life, start selling it to buy bonds.

*Everything else you do might get more money, but it is worse on average. For example, you might be feeling smart, and decide that all these big tech stocks are overvalued. So you'll buy $RWL instead. That might get more money, but it probably won't. If you insist on doing something fancy, at least put most of your money in $VOO.

1. Don't seek advice on a meme forum
2. Use common sense, a company that has had profits for the last 5 years is probably a good investment.
3. Seek information online, with the biggest grain of salt imagineable. If an investment bro or comment online seem manic or urgent, it is a bad investment. Those are the people you are suppose to be profiting from.

Step 1 is to never get any advice from a meme community

Roth IRA. put 10% in each paycheck.

If you're instead looking to trade stocks like Pokemon cards, there are plenty of apps that let you do that. And just like Pokemon cards, you'll put more in than you'll ever take out if you trade like that.

Buy the dip, hold. You'll either eventually come out ahead or the company you bought will dissolve.

Yeah, when you are a politician you can legally cheat the system. And many do. Trump and his cronys of course, but Democrats like Pelosi too.

Could not find a less jpg version :/

Like real gambling it’s all fixed by the mob.

The way stocks are meant to work, it isn't gambling. It is an investment in a company in order to help them grow and gain a return from that.

The way people use it now, it is gambling.