Beer Balancing Behavioralism
Perusing the literature on behavioural finance you might be inclined to the thought that although this stuff is all very interesting and even occasionally amusing it’s not much use when you come to actually investing. It’s a bit like posture – it’s easy enough to point out to someone that they slouch like a sloth with a dose of haemorrhoids, it’s entirely another to explain to them how to retrain their muscles to start balancing pitchers of beer on their head on the way back from the bar.
Digging deeper, though, what becomes apparent is not that we're especially bad at understanding investing but that the way we go about constructing our portfolios is radically different to what theorists expect. Whether it's the theorists who are wrong or the investors is entirely dependent on your perspective. Either way recognising what's going on is an important step on the way to getting a beer balancing musculature.
Perusing the literature on behavioural finance you might be inclined to the thought that although this stuff is all very interesting and even occasionally amusing it’s not much use when you come to actually investing. It’s a bit like posture – it’s easy enough to point out to someone that they slouch like a sloth with a dose of haemorrhoids, it’s entirely another to explain to them how to retrain their muscles to start balancing pitchers of beer on their head on the way back from the bar.
Digging deeper, though, what becomes apparent is not that we're especially bad at understanding investing but that the way we go about constructing our portfolios is radically different to what theorists expect. Whether it's the theorists who are wrong or the investors is entirely dependent on your perspective. Either way recognising what's going on is an important step on the way to getting a beer balancing musculature.