When I buy stocks to get dividends, I also speculate that the company will make profit and can pay dividends.
If you are buying them on the principle "oh, gee, this stock seems to pay dividends, let's buy it", then, yes, you are speculating. If, however, you research the company, examine its history of paying dividends (is it a long history? are the payments reliable? do they increase with time?), if you understand its business model -
then you are investing.
There is risk associated with investing, of course. But the main difference between speculation and investing is that speculation relies on the immediate observation of something (the word "to speculate" comes from the Latin word "speculare", which means "to observe"; the word "spectacles" has the same origin) and its extrapolation to the near future. Investing, on the other hand, relies on research and understanding and basically on buying a long-term source of cash flow. If you buy a rental property, you are investing, because you are paying for a long-term source of rent - despite the fact that you are running the risk that rents will fall or any other business-related risks. When you are buying a house, hoping to sell it at a higher price, you are speculating. And when you are buying a house to live in, you are making a consumer expenditure. Of course, there can be overlapping between these three activities.
When I buy bread, I also speculate, that it won't be already gone bad, when I want to eat it
When you buy a consumer good, you are making an expenditure. That's not even speculation and is most definitely not investing.
You are just a good example, that the people who call everybody else to dumb to understand such things, just don't know how it works them self.
And you are a good example of how ignorant people tend to react when somebody who knows better than them points out their ignorance.
I don't even want to correct you anymore. There is so much wrong about what you just wrote. But sure, you know it better, I am just ignorant.
