Page 57 - Ready Set Retire

Ready. Set. Retire!

average investors to the 6.73% yielded by the Barclay’s Index.
These numbers are staggering!

Why does this happen? According to Jay Mooreland on The
Emotional Investor website, May 11, 2015 (emphasis his):

There are lots of reasons investors perform
poorly, but the bottom line is that many
investors are incapable of investing. Rather,
they cross that fine line from investing and into
speculating. Investors are more concerned with the
price movements of the underlying security than in the
enterprise value of the company. This is
demonstrated by the average mutual fund
retention rate.

We seem to be our own worst enemies. We can’t get the
promised rates of return because we can’t tolerate the risk
associated with it – the very activity – that produces those
returns. We are creatures, after all, of emotion, in this case fear
and greed, which cause us to make bad decisions in the face of
very confusing situations. These are primal instincts that have
served us well since sabre-tooth tigers were circling our
campfires. It’s hard to resist them. But isn’t there more? Isn’t
there that persistent little feeling that maybe something we
don’t quite comprehend is going on?

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