Now that we see the game, do we still want to play?

Rather than AI edit this, I'm going stream of consciousness and I'll try to structure this somewhat. If you're an investor, you've seen the news. Citadel tells everyone the interest rates are going to go up, and a 25 year old hot shot winds up getting wiped out to the tune of multi-multi-billions of dollars. South Korea was on fire for so long and then it turned out they were all degenerate gamblers leveraging 2x and 3x before getting wiped out the moment it turned around. The market is moving to 23 hours a day, I've been told, because too much of the market moves are taking place after the market is closed. I could go on and on and on and I'm not crying in the casino. I got out before the AI plunge, or the Korea plunge or any of the other plunges. But here's where I think I'm getting worn out. There is trading and there is investing. Trading gives people the illusion that they have a chance of winning consistently in the casino. And perhaps some do. Most likely, those that are winning are trying to sell you a course. Investing is, I believe, where you rise above it, put your money into solid compounders and step outside of the trading floor. Can your investments be messed with? Sure. But over time, gold and stocks are likely to keep moving up and to the right. Just really, really slowly compared to the fever pitch and dopamine spike that comes from going long on a penny stock that has a massive short position sitting on it. Here's the problem, I think. If you want to get wealthy, slowly compounding likely doesn't get the job done. Diversification means you always have some dogs holding back your ponies. I'm getting older and my chance to make some big moves appears to be closing quickly. I don't have a lot of compounding time ahead of me. Wish I had started investing (investing, not trading) seriously in my 20's. Or 30's. Or 40's, really. My focus was never on investing. It was always on earning. Not sure I've added anything other than a weekend grimace at the state of the markets. I don't like market manipulation. I don't like leverage. I don't like after hours trades that move the market more than during trading hours. I don't like naked shorts. I don't like a lot of things about the market, I guess.