This post is not about gambling at all, but about free newsletters to help us invest better. My problem with how do-it-yourself investing is going these days is that inexperienced, ill-informed average Joes walk in and walk out of the stock exchanges virtually, creating more chaos in an already chaotic arena. The newsletters should help, but Dude are gambling or investing?

A certain African proverb goes like this:

No matter how long a wall gecko runs around outside, it shall never be called a lizard

I am usually surprised how many people are keen on attempting to throw away money in the so-called, so-hyped day-trading on the various stock exchanges across the globe. With the internet and globalization, it is so easy to do it from the convenience of your living room. One of the major companies, E trade claims up to 1000 new customers a day. That is a whopping 365000 new customers a year.

If these customers are average like me, they have very likely not spent time studying the stock exchange system in school, they have most likely obtained some other college degree and they have most likely a steady source of income, or maybe!

The business of stock trading is minimally understood by the ‘experts’ themselves, the traders who go to the floors. they use other people’s money to buy stocks and sell stocks and make commissions. Because it is not a science and there is no method to the madness, there is no single company that has consistently beat the market for decades except maybe Madoff’s company. So why do innocent taxpayers allow themselves to get conned into opening accounts and trading? Duh you are gambling and you have minimal information.

I came across this post of 50 newsletters that come to you free of charge and that will help you get more informed with your investment decisions. It is the most comprehensive list that I have seen recently. The sites are in alphabetical order and my favorites include Kilpinger, MSN Money and The Motley Fool. I have not checked all of them out, but if you are managing your retirement potfolio yourself or if you are a ‘daytrader’ this is a must-read post. It was written by Linda G and she has a few other top 50 lists on the site over at Bankling.com

Enjoy and keep on investing wisely. The truth of the matter is that some people have had comprehensive training for investing and so if you have not, the odds are against you that you will one day ‘make it’ by doing this ‘pseudo-online gambling’ called stock trading.