$AMD Case Study - Investing vs Speculation

I saw @rollandthomas' post Advanced Micro Devices Isn't A Short, Don't Believe The Hype and it made me remember that I used to work there 20 years ago. I was an intern in the Spring of 2000 and was able to participate in the employee stock purchase plan.

I ended up with stock I couldn't sell for a year right into the face of the dot.com bubble bursting. I think I ended up selling the stock at about break even. If I had held it for 20 years, I'd be up 50%. Why? Because there aren't any dividends.

Are you investing or speculating?

To me, investing is putting money to work in order to obtain a yield. Speculating is betting that the price of something will increase over time. Investing is a cash flow sport. Speculating is a capital gains sport.

Both have their uses and their places in a well-managed portfolio. The key is to recognize what it is you are doing and why you are doing it.