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Don’t Make Me Say I Told You So 149
Although there are countless examples of greed causing
investors to make poor investment decisions, the easiest
way to illustrate the effect that greed can have on otherwise-
thoughtful investors is to look at the technology stock boom
of the late 1990s. The desire for great wealth and quick riches
was ubiquitous in the 1990s as the stock market soared and
technology and Internet companies made many people
wealthy in a big hurry.
As the boom exploded, investors poured billions of dollars
into technology stocks and mutual funds that invested in tech
stocks. As the value of these stocks and mutual funds went
higher, investors only wanted more. Almost everyone knows
someone who took a bath in tech stocks in the early 2000s as
investors chased get-rich-quick schemes. Here are some of the
best known flops:
Pets.com
Business Model: Pet food and supplies home delivery.
Launched: November 1998
Closed: November 2000
Total Losses: $147,000,000
Chapter 4: The Most Common Investor Mistakes
