Investors often develop a cultlike devotion to one investment guru or another. And when they do so, objectivity goes out the window. That isn't to say that the investors' psychological needs should be dismissed. After all, investing is an arena filled with uncertainty; it's only natural for people to seek approval and affirmation in such an environment. But it is hazardous to one's wealth to seek such psychological security at the price of objectivity.
Mark Hulbert in Wearing Your Heart on Your Portfolio (RR) from the NY Times (2/6/00)In general, the flow of information helps educate investors and certainly provides them with at least the same information, in most cases, that professionals are getting. If, however, investors misinterpret the usefulness of that information and start thinking that because they are getting it frequently they should trade their portfolio frequently, that would be a grave error. It would be a mistake if investors all of a sudden started thinking that frequency of information somehow meant that they had to engage in high-frequency trading of their portfolios.
Gary Brinson in Beyond Wall Street
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