Never follow advice blindly

Never follow advice blindly. Don’t even follow my advice blindly. There is likely to be advice on this site that isn’t applicable to your specific situation. You should also never allow yourself to be bullied into following anyone’s advice.

Be cautious when you receive a hot tip

Do your research before making an investment decision. It doesn’t really matter if the hot tip comes from your broker or from the taxi driver that took your cousin to the airport – it is just a tidbit of information that you probably want to hold up to scrutiny before you act upon it.

Professional investors often become overconfident

never trustCognitive bias makes it easy to remember and focus on certain events and forget about others. In the context of investments, it is not unusual for professional investors – such as advisors and fund managers – to remember success and forget about failure. This can easily lead to overconfidence, where professionals operate under the assumption that they have amazing stock picking skills etc.

Feeding into this problem is the cyclic nature of our economy. In a booming economy, professional investors can enjoy seeing most of the stock they picked soar. A rising tide lifts all boats, but it is, of course, nicer to believe that one is a stock picking mastermind. With that mindset, a pro might start promoting increasingly risky investments and investments strategies.