• MacAnus@sh.itjust.works
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    21 hours ago

    Could you elaborate? I don’t really understand the stock market and don’t see how investing in them would make it free.

    • PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      17 hours ago

      Don’t bother, this is terrible advice. The idea I guess being “if you bought some of their stock each month, it’s gone up enough that if you sold it at some point, it would cover the subscription”.

      As if that’s a thing people can know ahead of time and use for decision-making. The only people who try to do stuff like this routinely get fleeced by “the market”. Random average consumers are not out here using stocks to their advantage in this way, it’s not a thing.

      It’s very similar to saying “if you just throw X dollars into a casino every month, Y thing becomes free!” - no, no it doesn’t lmao. It could, maybe, but of course it never does cuz that’s not what a casino is for, it’s for other people to profit, not you. Stock market is surprisingly similar.

      • locuester@lemmy.zip
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        17 hours ago

        This is terrible advice.

        Investing in companies whose products you enjoy is a very reasonable and successful strategy of investing.

        The entire stock market is not a casino where random shit happens. There are conservative investments too.

        Are you trying to prevent people from enjoying the fruits of capitalism? I don’t understand why you’d do that.

        • PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          16 hours ago

          Your comment above implied an active investment strategy, which is for losers and suckers.

          I’m not saying the “random” nature of the casino is the similar part. I’m saying the baked-in way the average Joe loses in comparison with the casino operators - that’s the similar part.

          Either you’re advocating active investment (“I have a hot hand today at the casino! Or any day I choose cuz I know how to do it!”), or you’re saying “well a conservative investment strategy is a useful thing for most folks” - which has fuck-all to do with paying for a specific monthly expense? Namely the Netflix subscription from your comment?

          Your original comment was fucking stupid and misleading, now you’re just doing the thing where you instead say fairly reasonable stuff that isn’t half as controversial. Take the L on your bad take, is what it is, apologize for it or just be quiet.

          • locuester@lemmy.zip
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            14 hours ago

            I disagree. I think my original comment was spot on. If you find a product that you like, investing in the company that makes it is an informed strategy.

            • PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              12 hours ago

              For one thing, by today’s standards that kinda stuff sounds like the investment advice equivalent of “just walk into businesses, give them a firm handshake, and ask for a job”. Anachronistic to the point of sounding like satire.

              Market value is untethered from business fundamentals, has been for a long time, anyone telling you otherwise can go listen to Jim Kramer or whatever. You as a consumer thinking a product is good has fuck-all to do with a company’s stock price (and therefore, fuck-all to do with that stock being a good buy - anything that you’ve observed that happens to line up is closer to happy coincidence than “informed strategy”).

              And regardless, the comment I’m talking about had you claiming one could simply offset Netflix’s rising price by buying their stock - there’s just so, so many things to disagree with in that statement. I chose the one that the person who seemed to take that seriously needed to hear, so as not to burden the thread with my ideas about all of it.

              I can do that now, though, if you really insist.

              • locuester@lemmy.zip
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                11 hours ago

                Sure am happy to listen. Fundamentals always bubble and burst but in the long run, products consumers like do well. That’s my experience.

    • locuester@lemmy.zip
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      17 hours ago

      By investing some extra money with them, you’re owning a piece of the company.

      If/when the company goes up in value, your shares in the company are worth more. The inverse is true as well.

      If you’re in the US, check out brokers like Charles Schwab or robinhood. You don’t have to have thousands of dollars to get started.

      • MacAnus@sh.itjust.works
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        13 hours ago

        Thank you for the explanation, I get it now!

        And thanks for the advice but I wouldn’t do that… I don’t believe investing is ethical.

        The company you invest in has to turn your money into more money somehow, and more often than not that ‘somehow’ is by fucking over workers, nature, or customers.

        I know you only meant to help and I could be wrong, but I do believe we should try to prevent people from ‘enjoying the fruits of capitalism’ as you put it.
        Or atleast let them know that capitalism doesn’t grow fruits and all you can do is enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labor.

        There’s no such thing as free money, and 90% of the world population would be a lot better off if people would quit trying to get some.

        • locuester@lemmy.zip
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          13 hours ago

          Investing is simply loaning capital to someone so they can build and pay for things which generate production.

          It’s like if your town wanted a park, but you didn’t have the money, you’d borrow it from someone and pay interest. You’re borrowing from investors, who lend to you with expectation of yielding extra for them assuming the financial risk. That scenario is more like a municipal bond, but similar scenario for the stock market.

          If you want to start a farm, or buy a house, or build an apartment building for your town, you’d need investors to pull together capital to pay for it. In most small business scenarios, the investor is a bank. But for some small businesses starting up, who need large amounts of capital and are high risk, they raise money through others in exchange for a piece (shares) of the business. Over time, the business if successful would go public - which means opening up those shares for the general public to trade.

          I understand the “people shouldn’t make money” argument, but it’s a proven effective way to grow. Its flaws seem centered around when politicians are in bed with the investors. Then crooked shit happens. We have systems in place to protect and prevent, but they simply aren’t working in the United States anymore due to widespread corruption of our government.

          • MacAnus@sh.itjust.works
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            12 hours ago

            Thanks for taking the time.

            I do understand the principle of investing and agree on some level that it can be a good thing for starting a business.

            You’ll surely agree though, that his is not how most see investments, and not what you were describing either;
            Netflix does not need more help getting started.

            People who invest in that type of business do I purely with speculative intentions.

            • locuester@lemmy.zip
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              11 hours ago

              that his is not how most see investments

              Sure they see the retail investor side of it, business do good, number go up.

              not what you were describing either;
              Netflix does not need more help getting started

              Netflix isn’t raising money anymore. They are in publicly traded growth mode. If you want to own a slice of Netflix, you can buy it. No different than buying an interest in the ice cream shop up the road from you (if the current owner wants to part with a portion of the company in exchange for cash). You buy an interest in a company because you think the people that work for it do well and the opportunity for growth exists.

              When a publicly traded company is finished growing and instead changes its strategy to simply making income - it starts paying dividends. For instance, General Mills, Pfizer, and Verizon are some examples. All of them are paying dividends equal to about 5-6% of their value. So if you think they’re good companies, you can make more interest on your money by purchasing shares of those companies whom pay nearly double what a high interest bank account does (with added risk!)

              People who invest in that type of business do I purely with speculative intentions.

              I mean, in my income based stock example - sure they’re speculating that the company won’t die, but they aren’t speculating on massive growth. Just steady income.

              I would argue that many speculate buy simply holding USD vs Gold - you assume the United States won’t default on debt or make money printer go crazy, devaluing your investment in the “good faith” of the us govt.