Why invest in stocks? Every one of us should have invested, but what exactly are we investing for? For society? For an ideal? For responsibility? For a dream? For entertainment? There may be a variety of answers, but one must be the most important, to make money. Let's go back to the stock market, which has its ups and downs, and many stories of sudden wealth and bankruptcy are widely circulated. Is this market a profitable market? What kind of people can make money in this market? How can we avoid the fate of being wiped out? Everyone knows that casinos are bound to make money. People who enter casinos have a much greater chance of losing money than of winning. But the casino is still bustling with people, and there is an endless stream of gamblers giving away money. Why? If they are all irrational gamblers, casinos will not be able to operate because these gamblers will be eliminated soon, and the rate of rebirth is far less rapid than the rate of elimination. Therefore, the vast majority of gamblers are rational. They gamble even though they know they will lose. The only thing they play for is their heartbeat. If you lose, it’s just entertainment and doesn’t affect your life. What if you win? The mentality of stock investors is far inferior to that of gamblers. Most people enter the market with the mentality of making big money. They hear about the glorious deeds of civilian investors who made tenfold or hundredfold profits. They always hope to follow the teachings of the sages and follow The footsteps of the sages make the myth repeat itself in themselves. Everyone has many sources of information and everyone believes he is smart. Be greedy today, fearful tomorrow, keep buying and selling, and in the end it is the securities companies and the IRS who are having fun. Speculation has costs. There are 240 trading days throughout the year, with an average daily turnover of 25 billion yuan, a stamp tax of 1‰, and a handling fee of ‰. This is still a relatively conservative estimate. The cost of the entire market for the whole year was 30 billion yuan. Last year, the dividends of all listed companies were about 80 billion yuan, and less than 30 billion yuan was distributed to shareholders of tradable shares. From this perspective, the stock market is also a zero-sum game. Playing mahjong is a zero-sum game. If someone wins, someone must lose. One advantage of the stock market is that when the index rises, the total market value increases, everyone wins, and everyone is happy. It will take some time, when the tide goes out, for the losers to emerge. You can make money in the stock market, but you must understand what the stock market is before you can make money in the market. Just like speculation, speculation is not terrible, but you must know what you are doing when speculating. You must be risk aware, manage risks, and use money you can afford to lose. Risk is not all bad. Where there is risk, the annualized return is expected to be greater, and investment will bring surprises. For those who don’t understand, it often brings tears. Looking at the "Forbes" list of the world's richest people, there are only three or five people on the list who came from the securities market. The vast majority of them made their fortune by running companies that meet the three representative directions. How many smart people around the world are fighting in this market, which shows from another aspect that speculation is not easy. If you are lucky, it is not difficult to make some money in the securities market. What is difficult is to make money continuously for a long time. There are stocks that rise well every day, but in the long run, most stocks are like riding a roller coaster, with only fluctuations and no increase. From an entertainment perspective, yes, life is fulfilling, but useless. To find an investment method that suits you, doing too many transactions can only mean that your costs are high and have nothing to do with expected annualized returns. It is difficult to make money in the short term, so look at the long term. But there are long-term problems. If you encounter the big bear market from 2001 to 2005, you will be lucky to be able to protect your capital in a few years, let alone return. This is a test of confidence, patience, and perseverance in holding shares. Many people have vowed never to enter the stock market again. But overall, the long-term is definitely better than the short-term. The stock market is just like life. There are few days of great joy and few days of great sorrow. Most of them are ordinary days. It is luck to encounter a happy day. When encountering great sorrow, it is a bit embarrassing. Masters only show their skills in ordinary days. In the long run, the securities market is not comparing who is smarter, but who makes fewer mistakes. It is indeed not easy to be able to stand up for what is right and correct what is wrong, to be able to endure and to hold on. In a race between the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise must win in the end. Buffett has been investing for forty years and has an expected annualized return of 22% each year. He has become a god respected by everyone. His level is difficult for ordinary people to achieve. John Templeton, the founder of the Templeton Fund, has an expected annualized return of 14% per year for fifty years (1946-1996), 700 times. It seems simple, but it is difficult to achieve, and it is even more difficult to sustain it for a long time. Investment is risky, how about depositing it in the bank? The risk is greater. Inflation is devaluing your assets. To defeat inflation, maintain and increase value, you must invest. If you want to become extremely rich, you can play futures or financial derivatives, or you can train companies to go public, but stocks are not suitable. But if you want to have something to depend on and have something to support you when you grow old, the stock market is a good place. The securities market is a place for financial management and a place for keeping money. Why invest? Make money, have fun, and of course, learn.