In today’s financial world, the line between investing and speculation are often blurred. What is the real distinction between the two? Jason Zweig endeavors to answer that on The Wall Street Journal’s Total Return blog.

“As Josh Brown at the Reformed Broker pointed out earlier this week, nearly all commentary about the financial markets is tailored to speculators, not investors,” Zweig writes. “That can contaminate the mind of even the most intelligent investor with speculative thinking. How can you keep your head clear?”

Zweig notes that up until the 20th century (and for a good chunk of that century), all stocks were considered speculative. Bonds were considered investments, because they guaranteed a return of capital. The late, great Benjamin Graham helped change that. “He wanted people to see things differently,” Zweig writes. “Graham insisted that stocks could be investments and bonds could be speculations – all dependent on the…