non dividend paying stocks do not generate income .neither does my art work . i only profit when i sell . investments do not have to spin off income , they can just be something that appreciates over the years.
for the most part anything you buy that you think will go up in value can be an investment .
i market time my gold buying and selling , personally my view is i am speculating more than investing in my gold but many would still consider even market timing , investing .
All true, but I think there are some fundamental differences:
Buying stocks means putting tens or even hundreds of thousands of employees working to make money for me. To the extent they are successful my investment will grow in value. I like that, especially when I'm well diversified in stocks.
Real estate can be profitable due to leverage, due to location (near a growing city, for example), and as an inflation hedge. Residential real estate, for example, will basically track personal income over the long haul. It also has the advantage that they aren't making any more of it. I have 25 years' experience in owning small residential real estate that generated profits due to leverage and inflation protection.
Art is a speculation, though with the advantage that dead artists aren't competing with you for sales. The supply is capped but the value isn't driven by anything tangible. Same-o for baseball cards. We have some art, though not bought with any appreciation expectations. I haven't owned baseball cards since junior high.
Gold and other precious metals really don't have any of these characteristics. Gold is being mined more or less continuously to meet demand so supply (at least for the near future) is unlimited, and industrial uses AFIK do not drive its price. So we are left with speculative demand, jewelry demand and potential future scarcity as the only fundamental drivers. On the behavioral economics scene, though, gold is a bubbling vat of excitement and volatility. So we can sail in there armed with a good bag of luck (we hope!) and make money on volatility. Or not. We have some gold as jewelry but not bought with the expectation of profit.
So, yes, from 10,000 feet they are all "investments" of some sort but IMO there are important and fundamental differences. My definition of "investment" excludes items that are almost purely speculative like art and gold. Speculation can be great fun, too, and sometimes profitable but I do not consider it to be "investment." YMMV.
