Mutual funds versus blackjack
Dear Mark,
I've always felt that being in the stock market is the same as
playing blackjack. They're both gambling. I might as well do something
I love instead of giving some investment company my money to flush
down the toilet. You're in gambling, do you agree? Ralph G.
Your analysis of comparing the stock market to blackjack is
way off the mark. Entering the world of blackjack as a profession
(investment) takes enormous work and you're playing against, if
not for a better term, a financial institution that not only has
a built-in house edge but is there exclusively to beat you. Come
on, Ralph. How many people do you know who win at blackjack-consistently?
Compare that to what a market like NASDAQ has done over the past
10 years. Gone up, up, up! Give me a dart board and the Wall
Street Journal and I would have averaged 12% over the past
30 years.
I'm sure your next argument will be that of becoming a sophisticated
card counter. Sorry, it's not worth spending hours in smoke-filled
casinos, performing tedious mental calculations and disguising
your play so you won't be thrown out-just for a one percent edge.
Finally, Dr. Edward Thorp, who wrote the classic Beat the
Dealer was, as a professional, in the investment business.
Even he conceded it is far easier to make money in the financial
markets than at blackjack. Unfortunately, gambling is a poor man's
way of investing, and even for the poorest of investors, a $500
wager in a mutual fund is a much better bet.
Dear Mark,
When the state lotto gets over $20 million here in California,
my mother wants me to buy $10 worth of lottery tickets and then
mail them back to her in Michigan. Is it legal for me to mail
her the tickets? Roberta G.
Congratulate your mother for me, Roberta, for waiting till
the lottery reaches $20 million before she purchases her tickets.
Because the true odds of hitting the California lottery are 18,009,460
to 1, she's actually playing the game smart.
As for the legality of sending tickets through the mail, sorry,
Roberta, using the United States Postal Service for this particular
ruse is against the law. Millions do it, unknowingly, but I have
yet to hear of one individual who has been charged, or convicted
for sending lottery tickets by mail; NOT ONE! But if you want
to play it straight, it's perfectly legal to use a service like
Federal Express or Airborne Express.
Where individuals and businesses have gotten into trouble is soliciting
you to play a foreign lottery. Ever get one of those plain white
envelopes enticing you to play the Canadian Lottery, Roberta?
Don't! It's against the law, again for the same reason. U.S. Postal
regulations state that using the U.S. mail to solicit people to
play the lottery, or even to distribute any type of lottery material,
is strictly illegal.
By the way, there's a reason why their envelope on the outside
doesn't give away what's on the inside. With a Canadian Lotto
return address, it would be confiscated by the USPS before it
reached you.
Dear Mark,
On a recent trip to Branson, Missouri, I stopped along the way
in Kansas City and gambled for the first time. I was surprised
to see both loss limits and two-hour cruises. Is that common?
Bill K.
The loss limits and cruise times are in place to prevent problem
gamblers from spending more than they can afford to lose. Currently
Missouri is the only state with these restrictions. It is the
wisdom of the Missouri legislature that by setting limits you
won't blow your trip bankroll, you will have time to get religion
and still have enough money to see Wayne Newton in Branson.