Investors who construct a globally diversified portfolio of index funds understanding that market prices incorporate all publicly available information (the Efficient Market Hypothesis) can expect a positive return over time commensurate with the risk they take.
Speculators, on the other hand, utilize individual stock picking, style picking and market timing in an attempt to “beat the market” and generate abnormal profits. Some classify speculating as excessively risky “bets.” In other words, speculating can be seen as gambling. Although you may beat the house every once in awhile, the odds are always in the house’s favor. French mathematician Louis Bachelier published his thesis “The Theory of Speculation” which concluded that the expected return of speculation is zero before costs (which implies negative return after costs).
