To learn from mistakes, we have to overcome the psychological biases.
- Self-attribution Bias: it is our habit of attributing good outcomes to our skill as investors; while blaming bad outcomes on something or somebody else.
- Hind sight Bias: this simply refers to the idea that once we know the outcome we tend to think we know it all the time. Monday morning Quarter-backing.
- ADHD investing. Today’s investors appear to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder when it comes to their portfolio.
- Action Bias: Greater fool’s theory.
- Confirmatory Bias: Gathering evidence to support one’s position and oblivious of the opposing view points
- Narrative Fallacy: Capitalizing hope. Not obvious with the benefit of hindsight.
- Illusion of Control: The idea that if we can quantify risk then we can control it is one of the great fallacies of modern finance.
- Self-serving Bias: Don’t ask the barber if you need a hair cut!
- Inattention blindness: We simply do not expect to see what we are not looking for.