Love Your Emotions--But Don't Trade Them

This Element is an excerpt from Never Buy Another Stock Again: The Investing Portfolio That Will Preserve Your Wealth and Your Sanity (9780137071555) by David Gaffen. Available in print and digital formats.

How to control the emotions and cognitive dissonance that get so many individual investors in trouble.

More than 80% of U.S. drivers consider themselves above average. This cognitive dissonance appears in the stock market as well, in the guise of investors who believe they are superior traders. The ability to consistently outsmart the markets is exceedingly rare. The attitude that we’ll somehow be able to avoid the pitfalls allows savvier types to capitalize on our mistakes.