The Psychology of Investing


Book Description

A supplement for undergraduate and graduate Investments courses. See the decision-making process behind investments. The Psychology of Investing is the first text of its kind to delve into the fascinating subject of how psychology affects investing. Its unique coverage describes how investors actually behave, the reasons and causes of that behavior, why the behavior hurts their wealth, and what they can do about it. Features: What really moves the market: Understanding the psychological aspects. Traditional finance texts focus on developing the tools that investors use for calculating risk and return. The Psychology of Investing is one of the first texts to delve into how psychology affects investing rather than solely focusing on traditional financial theory. This text’s material, however, does not replace traditional investment textbooks but complements them, helping students become better informed investors who understand what motivates the market. Keep learning consistent: Most of the chapters are organized in a similar succession. This approach adheres to following order: -A psychological bias is described and illustrated with everyday behavior -The effect of the bias on investment decisions is explained -Academic studies are used to show why investors need to remedy the problem Growing with the subject matter: Current and fresh information. Because data on investor psychology is rapidly increasing, the fifth edition contains many new additions to keep students up-to-date. The new Chapter 12: Psychology in the Mortgage Crisis describes the psychology involved in the mortgage industry and ensuing financial crisis. New sections and sub-sections include “Buying Back Stock Previously Sold”, “Who Is Overconfident,” "Nature or Nurture?”, "Preferred Risk Habitat," "Market Impacts," "Language," and “Reference Point Adaptation.”




Beyond Greed and Fear


Book Description

Even the best Wall Street investors make mistakes. No matter how savvy or experienced, all financial practitioners eventually let bias, overconfidence, and emotion cloud their judgement and misguide their actions. Yet most financial decision-making models fail to factor in these fundamentals of human nature. In Beyond Greed and Fear, the most authoritative guide to what really influences the decision-making process, Hersh Shefrin uses the latest psychological research to help us understand the human behavior that guides stock selection, financial services, and corporate financial strategy. Shefrin argues that financial practitioners must acknowledge and understand behavioral finance--the application of psychology to financial behavior--in order to avoid many of the investment pitfalls caused by human error. Through colorful, often humorous real-world examples, Shefrin points out the common but costly mistakes that money managers, security analysts, financial planners, investment bankers, and corporate leaders make, so that readers gain valuable insights into their own financial decisions and those of their employees, asset managers, and advisors. According to Shefrin, the financial community ignores the psychology of investing at its own peril. Beyond Greed and Fear illuminates behavioral finance for today's investor. It will help practitioners to recognize--and avoid--bias and errors in their decisions, and to modify and improve their overall investment strategies.




Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom


Book Description

Long before the financial meltdown and the red alert on climate change, some far-sighted innovators diagnosed the fatal flaws in an economic system driven by greed and fear. Across the global North and South, diverse people - financial wizards, economists, business people and social activists - have been challenging the "free market" orthodoxy. They seek to recover the virtues of bazaars from the tyranny of a market model that emerged about two centuries ago. This widely praised book is a chronicle of their achievements. From Wall Street icon George Soros and VISA card designer Dee Hock we get an insider critique of the malaise. Creators of community currencies and others, like the father of microfinance, Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus, explore how money can work differently. The doctrine of self-interest is re-examined by looking more closely at Adam Smith through the eyes of Amartya Sen. Mahatma Gandhi's concept of 'Trusteeship' gathers strength as the socially responsible investing phenomenon challenges the power of capital. Pioneers of the open source and free software movement thrive on cooperation to drive innovation. The Dalai Lama and Ela Bhatt demonstrate that it is possible to compete compassionately and to nurture a more mindful market culture. This sweeping narrative takes you from the ancient Greek agora, Indian choupal, and Native American gift culture, on to present-day Wall Street to illuminate ideas, subversive and prudent, about how the market can serve society rather than being its master. In a world exhausted by dogma, Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom is an open quest for possible futures. This fully updated and revised UK version of the 2009 Vodafone Crossword Book Award winner for non-fiction is a rare and epic narrative about those who have been quietly forging solutions and demonstrating that a more compassionate market culture is both possible and desirable.




Beyond Greed and Fear


Book Description




Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them


Book Description

Protect and grow your finances with help from this definitive and practical guide to behavioral economics—revised and updated to reflect new economic realities. In their fascinating investigation of the ways we handle money, Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich reveal the psychological forces—the patterns of thinking and decision making—behind seemingly irrational behavior. They explain why so many otherwise savvy people make foolish financial choices: why investors are too quick to sell winning stocks and too slow to sell losing shares, why home sellers leave money on the table and home buyers don’t get the biggest bang for their buck, why borrowers pay too much credit card interest and savers can’t sock away as much as they’d like, and why so many of us can’t control our spending. Focusing on the decisions we make every day, Belsky and Gilovich provide invaluable guidance for avoiding the financial faux pas that can cost thousands of dollars each year. Filled with fresh insight; practical advice; and lively, illustrative anecdotes, this book gives you the tools you need to harness the powerful science of behavioral economics in any financial environment.




A Behavioral Approach to Asset Pricing


Book Description

Behavioral finance is the study of how psychology affects financial decision making and financial markets. It is increasingly becoming the common way of understanding investor behavior and stock market activity. Incorporating the latest research and theory, Shefrin offers both a strong theory and efficient empirical tools that address derivatives, fixed income securities, mean-variance efficient portfolios, and the market portfolio. The book provides a series of examples to illustrate the theory. The second edition continues the tradition of the first edition by being the one and only book to focus completely on how behavioral finance principles affect asset pricing, now with its theory deepened and enriched by a plethora of research since the first edition




Ending the Management Illusion: How to Drive Business Results Using the Principles of Behavioral Finance


Book Description

The bestselling author of Beyond Greed and Fear puts behavioral concepts into corporate practice Psychologically smart companies manage both the pluses and minuses of human psychology through well-structured systems and processes. In Ending the Management Illusion, behavioral finance pioneer Hersh Shefrin addresses the biases that can take you or your organization off course and shows how to run psychologically smart businesses-specifically as it affects your bottom line. Shefrin explores the psychological barriers you experience, and delivers concrete debiasing techniques for breaking through these barriers. This allows you to integrate your processes for accounting, planning, incentives, and information sharing-the main elements for optimizing corporate value.




Fear and Greed


Book Description

The early 21st century has been a period of extreme fear and greed in the world's financial markets. Vast sums of wealth have been lost by some, but also made by others. Faith in the investment industry is now at its lowest-ever ebb, and the crisis remains far from resolution. Fear and Greed aims to prepare investors for the financial challenges and opportunities of the next few years. Having successfully guided his firm's investors through the turmoil since 2007, leading investment manager Nicolas Sarkis draws upon the lessons of history in order to illuminate the way ahead. In particular, Sarkis explores the plight of equities in the developed world since the millennium and considers when they might finally recover, as well as the likely effects of reducing government indebtedness upon markets. He also offers his insights into the outlook for stocks in emerging nations, for gold and for the single European currency. In addition to the prospects for the leading asset classes, Fear and Greed examines some of the biggest issues confronting the financial world as a whole. Sarkis focuses on the behaviour of central banks, regulators, and financial wrongdoers, especially in relation to their contribution to the current crisis. In this lively and engaging book, Sarkis offers a clear vision of the coming years and plenty of inspiration for investors.




The Little Book of Behavioral Investing


Book Description

A detailed guide to overcoming the most frequently encountered psychological pitfalls of investing Bias, emotion, and overconfidence are just three of the many behavioral traits that can lead investors to lose money or achieve lower returns. Behavioral finance, which recognizes that there is a psychological element to all investor decision-making, can help you overcome this obstacle. In The Little Book of Behavioral Investing, expert James Montier takes you through some of the most important behavioral challenges faced by investors. Montier reveals the most common psychological barriers, clearly showing how emotion, overconfidence, and a multitude of other behavioral traits, can affect investment decision-making. Offers time-tested ways to identify and avoid the pitfalls of investor bias Author James Montier is one of the world's foremost behavioral analysts Discusses how to learn from our investment mistakes instead of repeating them Explores the behavioral principles that will allow you to maintain a successful investment portfolio Written in a straightforward and accessible style, The Little Book of Behavioral Investing will enable you to identify and eliminate behavioral traits that can hinder your investment endeavors and show you how to go about achieving superior returns in the process. Praise for The Little Book Of Behavioral Investing "The Little Book of Behavioral Investing is an important book for anyone who is interested in understanding the ways that human nature and financial markets interact." —Dan Ariely, James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics, Duke University, and author of Predictably Irrational "In investing, success means¿being on the right side of most trades. No book provides a better starting point toward that goal than this one." —Bruce Greenwald, Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management, Columbia Business School "'Know thyself.' Overcoming human instinct is key to becoming a better investor.¿ You would be irrational if you did not read this book." —Edward Bonham-Carter, Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer, Jupiter Asset Management "There is not an investor anywhere who wouldn't profit from reading this book." —Jeff Hochman, Director of Technical Strategy, Fidelity Investment Services Limited "James Montier gives us a very accessible version of why we as investors are so predictably irrational, and a guide to help us channel our 'Inner Spock' to make better investment decisions. Bravo!" —John Mauldin, President, Millennium Wave Investments




Fear, Greed and the End of the Rainbow


Book Description

For fifteen years the bull has wrestled the bear into submission. But I am convinced that the bear's time will come. This century began with a bear market, which started in December of 1899 and hit bottom in June 1900, and it could very well end with one too. -- Andrew SarlosNorth Americans are frenetic about stocks, convinced the markets have nowhere to go but up. Each month, more and more novice investors pull their money out of stagnant bank accounts and low-interest GICs and plough them into mutual funds and similar investments. No one wants to be left out in the cold.As we approach the end of the twentieth century, the stock markets are enjoying an unprecedented period of growth and prosperity. Since the start of this most recent bull market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has recorded an extraordinary 800 per cent gain. In just two short years, it has smashed through the 4000, 5000, 6000 and 7000 barriers. But the market is increasingly volatile, swinging up and down from week to week.In Fear, Greed and the End of the Rainbow, Andrew Sarlos sounds a prescient alarm. History tells us, he says, that the market is based on a cycle of upswings and downswings, and that now the market is about to turn once again. By examining statistical data such as history and market trends, Sarlos makes a convincing argument for a coming market correction of immense proportions. He predicts this inevitable bear market will last into the next millennium.Those lucky enough to heed Sarlos's warnings, however, will be able to avoid what could be the biggest mistake of their investment careers. By protecting your money and preparing for the future, Sarlos shows you how not only tosurvive, but to prosper through the next stock market crash.Fear, Greed and the End of the Rainbow is arguably one of the best financial books of the late 20th century.... -- Quill & Quire...a provocative, immensely readable book. It's an essential for every investor. -- Quill &QuireSarlos' book is level-headed and thoroughly researched. -- Maclean's magazine