Your brain doesn’t like to lose
Loss aversion, or the reluctance to accept a loss, can be deadly. For example, one of your investments may be down 20% for good reason. The best decision may be to just book the loss and move on. However, you can’t help but think that the stock might comeback.
This latter thinking is dangerous because it often results in you increasing your position in the money losing investment. This behavior is similar to the gambler who makes a series of larger bets in hopes of breaking even.
Your brain remembers everything.
How you trade in the future is often affected by the outcomes of your previous trades. For example, you may have sold a stock at a 20% gain, only to watch the stock continue to rise after your sale. And you think to yourself, “If only I had waited.” Or perhaps one of your investments fall in value, and you dwell on the time when you could’ve sold it while in the money. These all lead to unpleasant feelings of regret.
Regret minimization occurs when you avoid investing altogether or invests conservatively because you don’t want to feel that regret. (more…)