Investors look to invest in the things that earn them a profit in the future. The rate of profit increases in proportion with risk. That means higher profits equal higher risk.
Investors, thus, must be careful in deciding how much to invest, and the amount of risk they’re willing to undertake.
Therefore, they try to find a middle ground between profit and risk. The profit is enough to entice them to invest and the risk level is manageable so that they can recover from the losses.
Say, if the investor decides to allocate $10000 from his capital into various investments. No smart investor would invest his whole capital into one place. Therefore, he diversifies his portfolio and invests in different sectors.
In this case, he invests $5000 into shares of one of the top performing fortune 500 companies, $2000 into various currencies, $1000 in tech-startup, and the rest in gold.
Each arena has a different rate of return. In the best-case scenario, every investment of his turns out to be profitable and he manages to double his capital to $20000.
But in reality, this rarely happens as there risks and uncertainties involved with any form of investment. Say, some of his investments turn out profitable and some end up being a loss, and he earns $13000.
In this case, he scores a net profit of 30%. This is still a decent return. However, there are certain things to keep in mind while investing.
Investing is done on a long-term basis where they don’t need to actively monitor the progress. However, it will take months or even years to get the desired return.
Moreover, investing requires a huge investment of capital, so it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Now let us compare this the earnings of a trader.