Category: Behavioral

Experience is not the same as expertise. Confusing the two creates the potential for mistakes as smart investors approach retirement. In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that it takes 10,000 hours of experience to become an expert in a particular field. Smart investors spend thousands of hours saving and investing during their […]

…The most optimistic psychology is always applied when things are thought to be going well, compounding and exaggerating the positives, and the most depressed psychology is applied when things are going poorly, compounding the negatives. This guarantees that extreme highs and lows will always be the eventual result in cycles, not the exception. Howard Marks, […]

“Few if any of us have the courage to change from a finite mindset to a more infinite one alone. We must find others who share our sense of responsibility, who share our beliefs that it is time to change and who share our desire to work together to do it.”   Simon Sinek, The Infinite […]

“The three stages of a bull market: the first stage, when only a few unusually perceptive people believe things will get better, the second stage, when most investors realize that improvement is actually taking place, and the third stage, when everyone concludes things will get better forever.” Howard Marks, Mastering the Market Cycle The entire […]

We all feel caught off guard. The financial professional, the Do-It-Yourself investor, and the 401(k) participant three years from retiring. You might feel like only a few weeks ago you “coulda, woulda, shoulda” done something different with your investments. There is never enough safety when fear takes hold. If we had 10% in stocks a […]

Yesterday, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team advanced to the finals of the World Cup. The heroics of Goalie Alyssa Naeher in saving a penalty kick late in the match against England sealed their fate. Imagine being inside the head of a goalkeeper facing a penalty kick. Your job is to be the last one, […]

There are two ways to measure investment performance: In percentages or in dollars. Which of the following feels worse? For a $1,000,000 portfolio those are one and the same. However, much more frequently I hear down investment moves described in dollar terms. Why? Because it feels like actual money lost. That focus makes sense. Percentages don’t pay […]

Sometimes the stock market has been referred to as a “casino”.  As investors, then, who better to learn from than a champion poker player like Ms. Duke?  Book Review: Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke Truthfully, Annie Duke has written a very well-researched book on the role of skill and chance in determining any outcome. […]