I totally agree with you nursery. I started a SMSF a few years...

I totally agree with you nursery. I started a SMSF a few years ago because managed funds were losing my money so rapidly.
I did a heap of research to find some companies whose shares seemed to be a fair price, and that I would like to invest in. I quickly learned that share prices have very little to do with the value of a company, and trading shares is far more similar to gambling than investing.

My understanding is that the stock market is supposed to provide a common market place to facilitate companies finding investors and visa versa. Unfortunately, what we have doesn't work in this way. If I had to find someone with shares to sell and personally negotiate a price, I believe share prices would not fluctuate anything like they do, but would rather reflect true value.

Hence I totally agree that the system needs to be reviewed.

For what's it's worth, I buy bonds rather than shares now. The company needs some money. I want to invest in the company. They pay me a fixed dividend for the use of my money. It seems to me to be more like how the stock market is supposed to work, except the value is locked in rather than being flexible as the value of the company changes.