Waiting on the next crash

Do you gamble? I don't mean slot machines or cards or roulette wheels, I mean real gambling. I mean the stock market. It's slow motion (most of the time) and seemingly senseless.

I dabble. That is, I gamble in the market like I used to do in junior high (when we pitched nickels and played poker around Christmas time), just a little bit and only with money I don't really need. For a few years, I found cheap and volatile stocks that I could realize quick gains in a few days... nothing much long term. The problem was that I could also realize quick losses in the same amount of time. A bit like bellying up to the craps table in a casino.

My mother loved to roll the dice but she didn't like to gamble that much. She had an amazing talent to keep the dice "in the air". She'd roll for 15 or 20 minutes sometimes without making her point or crapping out. Bettors at the table loved her. But I digress...

Now I look for high dividend stocks. Some of them are risky, REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) especially. The higher the dividend the greater the risk, it seems. I do not understand how REITs make the money they do. According to the news, banks aren't lending much and, when they do, the rates they charge are historical lows. Yet, they are paying dividends in the 6-15% range.

And, right now, they seem popular.

But don't listen to me... I could be in the poorhouse tomorrow.