Stocks and Shares

I certainly would yes howver much depends on how addicted the person is to gambling. Whether it be slots, roulette or horses or stocks / shares, any betting to an addict can be serious

My first answer would be a no. I don’t think it’s gambling in the same way at all especially if it’s long term and done wisely. Most of everyone’s pensions are invested in the stock markets broadly. You can look at it as investing in humanity and growth. It will probably pay off or we are all screwed anyway. But then I would say yes.. it can be if the motive is short term gain. Spread betting on commodities etc is very similar to gambling and you would get similarities with that. So I think yes it can be but also no not always.

Yes which is why neither I nor Mr L have any.

well yes it is and I am always wary about such a debate on a recovery forum. Often its asked or debated from the point of view that oh well I can go and do that then because the big boys do it and its sensible.

It still carries an element of risk and the banks have departments who play the overniight and long term markets with our money. Hint didnt they need a bailout not so long ago as essentially they were playing with equities and false insurance packages that the market could no longer cover. When there is a crash the back up insurance portfolios were worthless.

Thats just putting it simply but much of the market relies on bubbles which are artificially created.

A fact is that not everybody makes money on shares and share values do go down. I dont want to go into it here because it is a form of gambling where perhaps the risk is more calculated in certain areas.Then again if people dont have a risk capped scheme they can lose everything as has happened

Again I wouldnt call it an income scheme or nobody would go to work

I dont do it because I dont have any money to risk and I am a recovering gambling addict, Gambling has become deeply rooted in our society and the forms of gambling most advertised are the worst risk

Best wishes to everyone on the forum

Thanks for the responses.

I'm looking at ISA's for the next financial year and debating whether to put it in a stocks and shares ISA or just put it into a standard saver.

I would say looking at responses that it's not necessarily an idea that encourages gambling or drives on the addiction such as things like roulette or horse racing betting but there is still that element of risking your own money, albeit a much safer option which may even bring you a profit in - again unlike gambling.

From your posts you seem quite attracted to the idea of controlled and/or 'lesser risk' gambling. There's no safe level of gambling for a CG. There's no safe form of gambling for a CG. The value of stocks and shares ISA's fluctuates and there's no guarantee you'll get out what you put in. If you use one think whether it might lead to obsessively checking your share prices, switching in and out of bonds. Are you going to want to chase potential stock market losses? The addiction can and does switch to whatever outlet is available to it. Mr L doesn't do his company's share option scheme. He doesn't even do a school T*****a. It all has the potential to reawaken or feed the addiction.

I agree that its dangerous. You can lose money but the danger moves beyond the amount you put into it. For me it would feel no different to having a live in play bet constantly. As a compulsive gambler i would obsess with it. Allowing one form of gambling to be acceptable in the mind is so dangerous to recovery once there is a problem. The only reason i see to choose one over a standard savers account is for that same buzz of the "maybe" money movements.

Lethe is correct and thats why I said its not a subject Im comfortable with on a recovery forum.

With respect Big Brad you are moving the goalposts and a basic individual savings account is not what I would call high risk. Then again Im not sure I like the angle you are coming from if indeed I know what you are aiming at.

We could sit here and debate that life itself is a risk but I dont think your decision about savings accounts automatically recovers you and make you super sensible overnight. You will get 3 to 5% with no real risk but anything above that will increase risks. Nobody is really offering a free lunch as you tie your money up for them to build a balance sheet and earn interest on themselves

If you have been a gambler its a learning process of understanding why and how the addiction works.

This is not really a financial advice line and you should go and get proper financial advice from the experts with no real agenda.

So no offence and you are free to say what you want on here but I feel you are skirting around the real issues and we are not an advice line for ISAs

Best wishes to you

Yeah I think for me with what this forum is for and with a compulsive gambler mindset, it is clearly another medium where one can flex their CG muscles. Have to agree with joydivider when this context is considered for sure. Scott

Although I am new to this forum I can remember having this debate at a GA meeting 29 years.

Sadly I lapsed (but that's another story).

I think the danger for many is becoming obsessive about any shares you own, checking prices a dozen times a day, looking for qucik growth stocks, switching from one stock to another. It becomes pretty much no different from 'normal' forms of gambling.

Against that, people need to save for retirement and a cash isa probably isn't going to help.

The solution for me is justing putting my SIPP / ISA into a fairly dull investment trust, and forgetting about it. The idea is that its there for me in 30 years - not how its done in the last 30 minutes.

At the tail end of my cg gambling period in life, I surely have thought about other ways to grow money. I wonder; if I dug a hole and buried thinking it would grow, would that leave me with more money than investing? Lol. Maybe so. Because at least I'd still have the money if I buried it, even if it did not grow. I am compulsive by nature and I think that I'd begin to be compulsive about investments and also get into higher risks over time. Yes, the thought has crossed my mind. I do not have much to start investing but I've thought about it. An investor told me that if I had 10 grand I could turn it into 100 in 10 years in a fairly safe way. hummmm ???????????? Over all, I think that the losses I experienced in casinos such as losing my entire pay check regularly and trimming down my life savings to nearly zilch... I think that investing could take everything I have in one small period of time ... at least at this point..because I have been reckless and compulsive and have not gotten myself on a different track. I plan on putting my energy into other avenues. No, I'm not going to bury money in the ground but if I had alot of $ and a place to store it that was safe... well, at this point I might. lol tara2

I think there is a massive blurred line between the terms gambling, risking and investing. I think these lines are much clearer for a rational, 'normal' person than a CG - it's easy for us CG's to get emotionally involved in anything that gives us a chance of profit - and sometimes it's hard to see the difference between an investment and a gamble.

I won't tell you what to do, but if you do decide to do it, tread carefully friend. In another post I just saw someone "lost £150 in Bitcoin" and that set him off to lose thousands more on the roulette, so there's definitely a link between the two.