:: Being Mormon ::

How is investing in stocks different from gambling?

Here are some thoughts from church leaders that helped me understand the difference.

What is gambling?

“The attitude of taking something from someone else in order to enhance our own position — the essence of gambling — leads us away from the giving path of Christ and toward the taking path of the adversary.”
(Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, June 1987)

“Gambling degrades human dignity and saps moral strength as it promotes a philosophy of getting something for nothing.”
(William D. Oswald, Ensign, Feb 1986)

“Gambling is simply a process that takes money and does not offer a fair return in goods or services.”
(Gordon B. Hinckly, General Conference, April 2005)

Each of these quotes (emphasis added) stresses the idea that gambling is all about getting wildly disproportionate returns. A perversion of the natural law of the harvest.

What is investing?

“Of course, there is a place for wise investments, but generally temporal investments are at the mercy of forces beyond our control — the death or defection of a key executive or salesman, the patenting of a new invention that replaces our company’s product, the sudden change in the price of oil, the unexpected shift in interest rates, the fraud or embezzlement of a trusted partner, or the precipitous fall of the stock market.”
(John Groberg, Ensign, April 1986)

“Interest never sleeps nor sickens nor dies; it never goes to the hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes a vacation; it never visits nor travels; it takes no pleasure; it is never laid off work nor discharged from employment; it never works on reduced hours… Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you.”
(J. Reuben Clark, Conference Report, April 1938)

Where’s the quote about how investing is the best way to protect your assets? About how wise it is? These quotes both highlight the tremendous risk involved. Is the answer to just not invest?

I think the parable of the talents suggests otherwise. We are to be active, doing good things with the money we have. But we must not do it in a spirit of greed or covetousness. We must accept that we may lose what we invest, and that we invest to help others.

And then we must have faith that the Lord will help us as we do our best to help others.