The boundary between long-term wealth accumulation and short-term speculation has officially dissolved for a vast segment of the investing public. 

Frankly, I feel like many of us more grizzled veterans have tried to demonstrate that “gambling” while calling it “investing” is OK to do with money you can afford to lose. 

But don’t fool yourself into thinking it is the same as building a financial future that you can count on. You can take the high-percentage shot, or stand at the half court line all day, and tell your friends you made one… after four hours of trying.

Betterment’s 2026 Retail Investor Survey quantifies just how deeply gamified trading, prediction markets, and…