When the market is going up, everyone's a genius and no one is fearful of risk.   But when the market goes down, it hurts.    And then you find out what kind of "investor" you are.

 

It's good to try it when you're young.   That way, when the market finally punches you in the nose, real hard, and you decide you made a mistake to try and beat the market, you have plenty of time to become a real investor, and not a speculator. 

 

Just remember, if it was easy, we'd all be rich.  There are a lot of people a lot smarter than you are trying to beat the market, and they are moving around huge amounts of money, and when they roll over, you get squashed.  

 

I'm writing about my personal experience here.  A long time ago, I thought, hey, I'm a smart guy, I have an accounting degree, I can read a financial statement, why can't I beat the market.   And then I can get rich.   But if you do that math, you don't have to beat the market to get rich.   What you have to do is work and save as much as you can and invest it systematically over a long period of time.   That is a for-sure way to get rich that doesn't involve much risk at all.   I don't know why anyone would screw around trying to beat the market when they can get rich without taking that kind of excessive risk.  

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