Jeffrey Weiss

Many important rules of investing in the stock market, the arena of financial gladiators, are non-financial in nature. They do, however, have to do with behavior. Knowing oneself, and how you’ll react to rapid changes in the investment landscape and market volatility (and a host of other investing variables) when your hard-earned capital is on the line is often a key determinant of investment success or failure. Emotions are a crucial and underdiscussed component of the investment process, and this presentation will review some key questions investors should consider asking themselves before investing. Remember, not everyone is suited to invest in the stock market, and no investor is 100% immune to the behavioral issues that arise in so many types of investing climates which test the temperament of investors around the globe each day. Always consult with your investment professional, financial advisor, and accountant when formulating your own investing and financial plan.

Despite a myriad of technological advances in analytics and trading methodologies over the years, there’s one thing that has not changed or will not change over the course of investing history – human emotions. Investors’ reactions to monetary occurrences, and their thinking when it comes to making equity purchase or sale decisions, has remained static. Whether it’s a desire to extend a holding to receive more favorable tax rate treatment, to hold shares purely for their seemingly attractive dividend yield, to refuse to sell a holding at a seemingly large loss, to maintain a position simply because it’s been a long-time family holding, to buy shares according to their price, to “dollar cost average”, or other reasons as old as investing itself, human emotions and investing decisions are inextricably linked. Therefore, they must be addressed as one. Always consult with your investment professional, financial advisor, and accountant when formulating your own investing and financial plan.

Description: On Wall Street, just because an investment-related phrase is uttered frequently doesn’t make it true. In fact, while they may sound sensible, these phrases often make little market sense (especially in the midst of a bear market), and have the potential to cost you dearly in financial terms. Living through multiple market downdrafts and bear markets has etched this lesson into my market soul. Realizing their potential for steering you down the wrong investment path, I wanted to include some of the most common sayings, and at least suggest that you don’t accept them as infallible investment facts. I certainly don’t. We’ll be reviewing 35 phrases. As always, however, you’ll want to consult with your investment professional, financial advisor, and accountant when formulating your own investing and financial plan.