A brother asked, what is the essential difference between speculation, investment, and gambling? Why am I still trapped in holding value coins for a long time Do I keep an eye on the market every day, make contracts, and consider investments Behind these issues, there are actually three completely different rules of the wealth game that have been confused. Let's break down this mystery through three life scenarios 🔺 The first scene: Old Liu's apple orchard Lao Liu spent three years investigating the climate and soil, and took out loans to contract the planting of apple trees in barren mountains. He studies grafting techniques every day, records rainfall, and even personally ignites antifreeze on frosty nights. In the fifth year, the orchard finally had a bountiful harvest, and even in the face of market price fluctuations, it was still able to obtain stable returns through quality. This is like a value investor building a safety margin with deep understanding, making time an ally. As Graham said, "Investment is based on in-depth analysis, ensuring the safety of principal and obtaining appropriate returns 🔺 Second scene: Xiao Li's fruit stall Xiao Li discovered that the typhoon caused a sharp rise in banana prices and immediately borrowed money to stockpile mangoes. He doesn't need to know the variety of mango, nor does he care about planting techniques, he just calculates how to quickly sell it at a price difference. This kind of "drumming and passing flowers" operation is exactly Keynes' "castle in the air theory" - as long as you find a dumber receiver. Just like typical altcoins, when the music stops, the last holder often pays a painful price. 🔺 Scenario 3: Xiao Wang's Lottery Dream Xiao Wang spends 30% of his salary on buying lottery tickets, firmly believing that 'wealth and prosperity are in high demand'. He didn't know that the mathematical expectation of each lottery ticket was negative, nor did he study probability distributions, purely entrusting his fate to a random number generator. This behavior pattern is no different from that of a gambler sitting in a Macau casino betting big or small - exchanging certain losses for uncertain profits, which is essentially a chronic suicide in statistics. These three scenarios reveal essential differences: investors are creating value, speculators are transferring value, and gamblers are consuming value. Just like the baseball bat on Buffett's office wall - he only swings it in the sweet zone. But in reality, many people hold the banner of value investing but engage in speculative buying and selling, even falling into self numbing gambling without realizing it. When you are ready to buy a certain target, you may ask yourself three questions: Do I know its true value? Does my income come from business growth or market sentiment? Can it withstand losses in the worst-case scenario? The answers to these three questions will reveal the essence of your behavior like a magic mirror. Encouragement together!