Increasing numbers of today's mutual fund investors remind us of channel surfers who, with remote control in hand, never watch anything for more than a few minutes . . . It's the magazines, it's CNBC, it's all the information on the Internet . . . The availability of information really creates a temptation. These tools tempt people to trade their funds, since they highlight short-term performance.
Ken Gregory in "Industry Colored by a New Impatience" from the LA Times (4/12/99)The entire mutual fund industry and its attendant press, from financial magazines to CNBC, put huge emphasis on shorter-term performance. In our media driven world, the tendency to focus on recent performance or market conditions and extrapolate them into the future is inescapable. But that doesn't mean it's good. Focusing on the short-term is a bad investment habit. And while it doesn't always lead to long-term failure, it certainly increases your odds of doing poorly over time.
Jim O'Shaughnessy in Five Years Late... And a Few Dollars Short
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