MICHEL PIREU: Talent, luck and thrill of the chase make investing in stocks a game
It is a myth that emotions are at the root of all problems in the market, says psychologist
People who claim to know jackrabbits will tell you they are primarily motivated by fear, stupidity and craziness. But I have spent enough time in jackrabbit country to know that most of them lead pretty dull lives; they are bored with their daily routines: eat, f**k, sleep, hop around a bush now and then. No wonder some of them drift over the line into cheap thrills once in a while; there has to be a powerful adrenalin rush in crouching by the side of a road, waiting for the next set of headlights to come along, then streaking out of the bushes with split-second timing and making it across to the other side just inches in front of the speeding front tyres." — Hunter S Thompson. Let’s face it, passive investing is boring. It makes a lot of sense — it’s low cost, it saves you the bother of trying to beat the markets — but what if that’s not all you’re after? "I don’t care whether they’re big investors or little investors," wrote Adam Smith in The Money Game. "If they make a little mon...
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