#SFTW: Investing is not a competition

Posted by Robin Powell on September 25, 2015

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

Competition.

I may have mellowed over the years, but believe you me, this placid exterior masks a fiercely competitive temperament. I bang on at staff meetings about the need to keep our business ahead of the rest. I love to see my children win that dancing trophy or make that crucial penalty save. Heck, I even enjoy the looks on the faces of my fellow dog owners as my pride and joy Millie the whippet tears round our local fields like some canine Lewis Hamilton.

But I’ve learned there are certain areas of life in which competitiveness is counter-productive; where the harder we try, the more we want to succeed, the worse we do. There’s no better example of this than investing.

Many investors are hugely competitive. There’s no better motivator, particularly for men, than hearing of a friend or colleague who’s made a fortune buying this or that. We love to be a winner.

In fact, as Charley Ellis famously asserted in the mid-1970s, investing as most people experience it is a losing game. Largely because of the explosion of funds in the intervening 40 years it’s even more of a losing game today. The only surefire winner is the industry itself.

Read the full article here

 

Previously, on TEBI..

Hargreaves needs a rethink. Its business model is broken

Is Pension-gate the next big scandal to rock financial services?

Don’t know what you’ll pay? Walk away

Time to explode the City of London myth

 

The best of the rest..

Investing $500k for 30 years could cost you $1 MILLION in fees (Bernice Napach)

There are too many maybes not to invest passively (Michael Batnick)

Investment clocks and asset allocation: Do you feel lucky, punter? (Monevator)

How to improve your odds of a lucky break (Ben Carlson)

Overconfidence: You’re probably more cocky than you think (Lukas Neely)

Why you need to start saving in your 20s (Morgan Housel)

How to tell a financial adviser from a scam artist (Ben Steverman)

Investment education — the best defence against those who prey on ignorance (Rick Ferri)

Study finds passive investors DO have a positive impact on corporate governance (ValueWalk)

Frugality and the myth of the endless more (Simple Living)

 

Dimensional Week..

Next week is Dimensional (as in DFA) Week on The Evidence-Based Investor.

The Austin-based firm just posted its 77th consecutive month of positive sales and is fast becoming a major player in global investing.

In a five-part series we’ll be looking at how Dimensional started, what its philosophy is and how its focus on rigorous research is helping to deliver net returns that should make the brand-name active fund houses blush with embarrassment.

 

No SFTW next week..

The next Something for the weekend will be on Friday October 9th as I’m away in the States next week, working on a new documentary aimed at the US market. Sorry, I can’t give any more details. I hope it will be online by the end of November and I’m really very excited about it!

 

And finally..

Several advisory firms have been asking how to subscribe to branded versions of my blogs and videos for their own use. There are a number of options available, and all the content is tailored for specific geographical markets. For subscription details, please make contact with us via the Regis Media website, or contact my colleague Sam Willet on +44 (0)121 285 2585 or at s.willet@regismedia.com

We also have content available in German. For advisers interested in German-language content in their own branding, please contact Christina Wider on the same number, +44 (0)121 285 2585 or at christina@regismedia.com.

 

Robin Powell

Robin is a journalist and campaigner for positive change in global investing. He runs Regis Media, a niche provider of content marketing for financial advice firms with an evidence-based investment philosophy. He also works as a consultant to other disruptive firms in the investing sector.

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