The Only Thing the Smart Money Is Smart About

Image Credit: Alex Nabaum

To err is human; to get paid for it is divine.

That could be the motto of professional portfolio managers who rack up high fees for results that a blindfolded chimpanzee would be ashamed of—if chimps could blush. Several new studies show that the so-called smart money is prone to many of the same errors as amateurs. Everyone can learn from such mistakes.

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This article was originally published on The Wall Street Journal.


Further reading

Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor

Kelly Shue and Richard Townsend, “Can the Market Multiply and Divide? Non-Proportional Thinking in Financial Markets
(excellent short video presentation if you scroll down here)

Vadim S. Balashov and Andrei L. Nikiforov, “How Much Do Investors Trade Because of Name/Ticker Confusion?

Essentia Analytics, “The Alpha Lifecycle

Terrance Odean, “Do Investors Trade Too Much?