Title: Market Problems? Blame Investors
Headings: Market Problems? Blame Investors
Market Problems? Blame Investors
Key Takeaways
Following the Crowd
We Can't Control Everything
Holding Out for a Rare Treat
Xenophobia
A Handy List
The Bottom Line

Content: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, for example, took a severe beating due to its namesake's alleged insider selling. So bear in mind that it is a market of risk. Holding Out for a Rare Treat
Gamblers can always tell you how many times and how much they've won, but never how many times or how badly they've lost. This is the problem with relying on rewards that come from luck rather than skill: You can never predict when lucky gains will come, but when they do, it's such a treat that it erases the stress (psychological, not financial) you've suffered. Investors can fall prey to both the desire to have something to show for their time and the aversion to admitting they were wrong. Thus, some investors hold onto a stock that is losing, praying for a reversal of their falling angels; other investors, settling for limited profit, sell stock that has great long-term potential. The more an investor loses, however, the larger the gain must be to meet expectations. One of the big ironies of the investing world is that most investors are risk averse when chasing gains but become risk lovers when trying to avoid a loss (often making things much worse).