Monday, October 2, 2017

What I've learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0118

5851.  It’s never wise to fall in love with an investment;
5852.  The best investors know they’re vulnerable to confirmation bias and, accordingly, do everything they can to counter this tendency.  The key is to actively seek out qualified opinions that differ from your own.  Of course, you don’t want just anyone with a different opinion, but rather someone who has the skill, track record and intelligence to give another educated perspective;
5853.  One of the most common and dangerous investing mistakes is the belief that the current trend will continue.  And when investors’ expectations aren’t met, they often overreact, leading to a dramatic reversal of the trend that previously seemed inevitable and unstoppable;
5854.  Investors project out into the future what they have most recently been seeing;
5855.  Recent experiences carry more weight in our minds when we’re evaluating the odds of something happening in the future (i.e., “recency bias”);
5856.  Humans have a perilous tendency to believe that they’re better (or smarter) than they really are.  There’s a technical term for this psychological bias: it’s “overconfidence.”  To put it simply, we consistently overestimate our abilities, our knowledge and our future prospects;
5857.  Countless studies have described some of the wonderfully absurd effects of overconfidence.  For example, one study found that 93% of student drivers believe they are above average.  In another study, 94% of college professors considered themselves above average in the classroom.  There was even a finding that 79% of students believed their character was better than most despite the fact that 60% admitted they had cheated on an exam in the previous year;
5858.  Men are especially prone to overconfidence when it comes to investing.  In fact, men traded 45% more than women, reducing their net returns by 2.65% a year;
5859.  Diversification is an admission that you don’t know which particular asset class, which stock or bond, or which country will do the best.  So you own a bit of everything;
5860.  We all have a tendency to want the biggest and best results as fast as possible rather than focusing on small, incremental changes that compound over time.  The best way to win the game of investing is to achieve sustainable long-term returns.  But it’s enormously tempting to swing for home runs especially when you think other people are getting rich faster than you.  The trouble is you’re more liable to strike out when you swing for the fences;
5861.  When it comes to investing, people tend to stick with whatever they know best, preferring to trust what’s most familiar.  This is known as “home bias.”  It’s a psychological bias that leads people to invest disproportionately in their own country’s markets and sometimes to invest too heavily in their employer’s stock and their own industry;
5862.  Human beings have a natural tendency to recall negative experiences more vividly than they do positive ones.  This is known as “negativity bias;”
5863.  Psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky demonstrated that financial losses cause people twice as much pain as the pleasure they receive from financial gains.  The term used to describe this mental phenomenon is “risk aversion;”
5864.  Losing money causes investors so much pain that they tend to act irrationally just to avoid this possibility;
5865.  Having financial wealth doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be wealthy as a human being;
5866.  When people dream of becoming rich, they’re not fantasizing about owning millions of pieces of paper with pictures of dead people on them.  What we really want are the emotions we associate with money: for example, the sense of freedom, security or comfort we believe money will give us or the joy that comes from sharing our wealth.  In other words, it’s the feeling we’re after not the money itself;
5867.  The first step to achieving anything you want is focus.  Whatever your focus goes, your energy flows.  When you put your entire focus on something that really matters to you, when you can’t stop thinking about it every day, this intense focus unleashes a burning desire that can help you obtain what might otherwise be out of reach.  A part of your brain called the reticular activating system is activated by your desire and this mechanism draws your attention to whatever can help you achieve your goal;
5868.  You have to give.  If you don’t give, there’s only so much you can feel inside and you’ll never feel fully alive;
5869.  You make a living by what you get.  You make a life by what you give;
5870.  The true nature of human beings isn’t selfish.  We’re driven by our desire to contribute.  If we stop feeling that deep sense of contribution, we can never feel truly fulfilled;
5871.  Becoming financially rich is not the key to fulfillment;
5872.  People often chase after money in the delusional belief that it’s a kind of magic potion that will bring joy, meaning and value to their lives, but money alone will never give you an extraordinary life;
5873.  Money doesn’t change people.  It just magnifies who they already are: if you have a lot of money and you’re mean then you have more to be mean with, if you have a lot of money and you’re generous, you’ll naturally give more;
5874.  Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure;
5875.  If you’re not fulfilled, you have nothing;
5876.  A person is but the product of her/his thoughts.  What s/he thinks, s/he becomes;
5877.  We can’t control all the events in our lives, but we can control what these events mean to us and, thus, what we feel and experience every day of our lives;
5878.  When you feel love, joy, gratitude, awe, playfulness, ease, creativity, drive, caring, growth, curiosity or appreciation, you’re in a beautiful state.  In this state, you know exactly what to do and you do the right thing.  In this state, your spirit and your heart are alive and the best of you comes out.  Nothing feels like a problem and everything flows.  You feel no fear or frustration.  You’re in harmony with your true essence;
5879.  When you’re feeling stressed out, worried, frustrated, angry, depressed, irritable, overwhelmed, resentful or fearful, you’re in a suffering state;
5880.  Most achievers prefer to think they’re stressed than fearful, but “stress” is just the achiever word for fear;
5881.  The mental and emotional state in which you live is ultimately the result of where you choose to focus your thoughts;
5882.  If you have trouble getting a good night’s sleep, try taking ZMA before going to bed;
5883.  Watch out for birds pooping outside of Bourbon Street Bar & Grille (BourbonNY.com) in New York City;
5884.  Apparently, pound cake is traditionally made with a pound each of flour, butter, eggs and sugar;
5885.  The difference between a cheese pie and a cheesecake is the crust;
5886.  I can say I’ve had New York cheesecake in New York (City);
5887.  You’ve got to love (the) sideboob on the New York City Subway (especially at the Fulton Street station);
5888.  When there’s several open seats together on a (New York City) subway train, there’s probably a good reason (why).  Be on the lookout for vomit;
5889.  A stone is fourteen pounds;
5890.  Apparently, Adam Duritz (the lead singer of “Counting Crows”) is an Iron Fist fan;
5891.  Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone;
5892.  The best way to predict the future is to create it;
5893.  Your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development;
5894.  Whatever you’re feeding, your mind will become what you send back into the world;
5895.  Joe Sumner sounds like his father (i.e., Sting);
5896.  Joe Sumner is a backup singer for his dad;
5897.  Acknowledge setbacks, but focus on the future;
5898.  Research shows that positive, optimistic people “get paid more” and the reason behind that compensation, including metrics showing “they will actually succeed” more often than their more dour coworkers.  Because they believe in a better future, researchers believe that they actually work hard to create it.  So it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy;
5899.  Physical energy is important for staying positive.  You’ve got to eat enough of the right things to keep energy in the tank and you’ve got to find a way to keep your body engaged.  Exercise is essential to positivity.  And so is a good night’s sleep.  You will not be at your best without adequate sleep which is a problem these days because Americans are getting a lot less sleep than they need;
5900.  Concentrating on your successes at the end of one day puts you in the right mindset to wake up the next day ready for something great to happen and the fire to help it along;

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