Perhaps you could enlighten me as to the difference? As far as I understand, as it relates to finance, speculation is defined as "The act of trading in an asset, or conducting a financial transaction, that has a significant risk of losing most or all of the initial outlay, in expectation of a substantial gain." The line that people use to distinguish between a bona fide investing opportunity and a speculative one is largely arbitrary. An example would be buying a house to rent out (considered bona fide) vs buying a house with the intention of flipping (speculative). Both are calculated risks, but since the likelihood of earnings have more of a "guarantee", and there is a longer holding period with the first scenario, it is considered less risky.
The pejorative nature of the term speculation is largely misleading, particularly due to the role played by speculation in preventing the formation of asset-price bubbles.
This being said, I would ask how you are applying the term to this concept? With three ways to grow, and value backed by both market performance and consumer demand, there is a much higher likelihood of continuous growth, with a higher degree of security, than just about any other opportunity. The only way for an investment in SimpleFund to become worthless would be if the market loses 100% of it's value (not probable), while at the same moment every member of the exchange stops trading, and there are no new members signing up. even if any two of those happen simultaneously (statistically impossible) the fund still does not lose it's value. What other investment has those safeguards, as well as the chance to consistently perform 30-80% higher than the market average, with just a 1% total cost ratio, and essentially impossible to defraud from inside or out? If you know of one, let me know so I can buy in.
I understand that it, SimpleFund, is a very different way to think about investing, but that's kind of the point. Here's a statistic about one of the most common forms of investing today, the 401(k).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXSX7Jw3h8sEven if SimpleFund only performs at the same market rate in that example, the total fees would be $5,000 or less!! Isn't that a better investment?