Let’s give away a couple free books, shall we? Got an email about this newish one that just came out back in Feb, and from a quick glance over it seems pretty promising.
Here’s a little more about this book by James Montier, followed by the directions on how to enter today’s contest:
The Little Book of Behavioral Investing: How not to be your own worst enemy
Here’s a clip from Amazon: “Ben Graham, the father of value investing, once said: “The investor’s chief problem-and even his worst enemy-is likely to be himself.” Sadly, Graham’s words are still true today. Bias, emotion, and overconfidence are just three of the many behavioral traits that can lead investors to lose money or achieve lower returns. Fortunately, behavioral finance, which recognizes that there is a psychological element to all investor decision making, is now firmly embedded in the mainstream of finance. Applying behavioral principles to an investment portfolio can help investors avoid some of the mental pitfalls that so often cost them, and financial institutions, billions.
In The Little Book of Behavioral Investing, behavioral finance expert James Montier takes you on a guided tour of the most common behavioral challenges and mental pitfalls that investors encounter, and provides you with strategies to eliminate these traits. Along the way, he shows how some of the world’s best investors have tackled the behavioral biases that drag down investment returns, so that you might be able to learn from their experiences.”
Look good? Tell us a time when emotions played a big part in one of your financial decisions – either for the good or bad. Or just tell us why you want the book, that’ll work too. We’ll Random.org the winner this Sunday, and we’ve got 2 to give away so your odds are good!
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More from Amazon: The Little Book of Behavioral Investing: How not to be your own worst enemy (Little Book, Big Profits)
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*GIVEAWAY NOW OVER* Winners are… Jennifer & Leilani – Congrats!
When I first moved to Colorado, I wanted to act like a "grown-up" finally. For me, this meant no longer scrounging for used furniture or discovering my bed in my rentals attic. Although this was probably a good move (who knows what was in that mattress), I also felt free to spend too much money on furniture, which landed me in credit card debt for the second time in my life.
Sometimes I just want to invest in something because I like one single product and I've lost money because I didn't feel like really getting to know the company before I threw money at them
For a brief time, I got caught up in the hoo-plah about how the sky was falling during the economic crisis and so I missed an opportunity to invest. Instead I let my emotions get in the way and cause me to keep a decent amount of retirement money in cash so I missed out on the huge 20-40% gains most faired.
My husband and I bought our house with very little down because we fell in love with the place. It would have been a much smarter move to simply wait longer, save more and find a different place.
My husband and I were very inexperienced when we bought our first car (new!). The used 1972 (this was in 1998) Dodge Dart Swinger we had been driving was practically losing a part a day. So, we did a little research, drove to a Toyota dealership and bought the first car we test drove. We were just anxious about the whole process! We wanted to be out of there as soon as possible. When the salesman requested a $1000 down payment, we looked at him and told him we obviously weren't ready for this because we only had $500 (we weren't lying, we were just going to leave)…but he dragged us back in and we ended up paying for that car (still our only car — just hit 200K miles! woo) for about 8 years. But, fear was the big emotion here!
Leilani
one18fifteen@aol.com
I got my first credit card when I was in my teens, and I was thrilled to be able to afford all the clothes, shoes, makeup, going out, etc. that was previously out of reach to me (we didn't have much money when I was growing up), so I went a bit overboard buying stuff I wanted but didn't need because I felt like I could finally have some fun with money like everybody else. That's how I started racking up too much credit card debt!
Thanks for the giveaway! I want to read this book because some of my financial decisions were subject to preconceived notions, fear, greed and overconfidence. I want to avoid or at least manage these emotions.
Our house was a huge emotional investment too, because we got married before living together so the sooner we got our house, the sooner we lived together :) Luckily it’s been seven years and I still like my house *whew*
The emotion-like thing that caused me to spend a year’s worth of student loans on clothes and shopping was the need and desire to fit in…yes, a bad financial decision
Interesting comments guys! Looks like we all get caught up with our emotions sometimes :) *The giveaway is now over* and the 2 lucky winners are….
1) Jennifer (commenter #4)
2) Leilani
Congrats! Jennifer – please email me so I can get your information (dinks finance blog (at) yahoo (dot) com). Lisa, I got yours thanks :)
Stay tune for another giveaway soon…