Trading and investment are very close. Yet few differences exist. My intention in saying the two are close is that we expect to profit. That profit can come from both trading and investment. The difference, as far as I'm concerned, is the risk and the time. The risk is higher in trade and lowers in investment. The investment is usually for a long time and the trade is for a short time. But there is no obstacle to that. Some trades are for a long time.
You bring an important point, trading and investing are similar but the main difference strives in the amount of risk that you are going to take between those two activities, trading is way more riskier while investing is safer, now this means that you can make more profits when you trade than when you invest but at the same time it means that the probabilities of success are way lower.
So which path should we take? It is my belief that every single person that has decided to come to this market should begin as an investor so they can reduce their risk and take the time to learn more about the markets in general, and then after a few years in which they have become successful investors they could try trading if they want but I'm pretty sure that at that time many people will just refuse because they like the idea of keeping their success intact, but many people do not do this and begin as traders and they lose most of their money because of this.