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psychology

There’s plenty of nice things money can buy, but there are also lots of things where more money makes no difference.

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The investor sentiment cycle

Bored? Anxious? Excited? Melancholy? You might think you’ve got some sort of mental condition, but don’t worry… you’re just a normal investor.

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Some people are stricken by investing paralysis, unable to commit and waiting for an ideal tomorrow that never comes.

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Rich friends, poor friends

Having rich friends may make you richer. But as ever, don’t count on that making you any happier.

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Discover how personal vulnerability to financial BS can affect your financial security

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Covid restrictions were easing, and I was mildly thrilled to be in the garden of some dear friends – a couple I’ve known for decades. Thanks to lockdown building works, their house had grown since I’d last seen them. So had their twin boys. But my friends still had some personal growth to do. They’ve [...]

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Money is stored energy

I’ve thought about money so long this way I assumed everybody did.

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Stress management

Keeping our monkey brains in check isn’t easy at the best to times. It’s even harder when you invest…

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The facts of investing life

Skill might let you play in the deep end of the pool, but knowledge enables you to stay safe in the shallows.

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Shifting to a spending mindset to run down your capital, plus the rest of the week’s good reads…

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Something to lose

Don’t cry for me Argentina…

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Visualizing investors’ emotions

Investors swing from fear to greed. It’s easy to see the cycle in retrospect, but here’s some images to help us understand it while it’s happening.

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Money is power

Or: Why you should never bright your holiday tan to my house…

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Mental accounting is the reason why people treat some kinds of money or assets as intrinsically different to others. It can lead to strange outcomes.

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Even with the soundest investing strategy, you’ve got to believe in and stick with it over the long term…

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Do you have a money mind?

Are you mentally prepared to be an good investor? Todd Wenning puts you on the couch and looks inside your brain…

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I, Robot

Investing is a soap opera that provokes return-wrecking emotions. So reduce your emotional involvement to that of a car factory robot via automatic investing.

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Coming across a cache of documents dated to the start of my investing journey made me melancholy…

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Investor, are you fooling yourself? Probably, but you’re in good company! Here’s what we all have to look out for…

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Help, the market has gone up!

Worried that a fast-rising market might cost you in the future? Here are some simple steps you can take to lower your risks.

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Are you in love with money? Plus the rest of the week’s good reads…

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How to score an own goal

If you want to achieve a big goal (financial or otherwise) making it something you can get your head around first.

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Martin Lewis is giving millions to charity, and I think there are lessons in how he’s doing it for everyone…

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Stock markets go up and down — sometimes sharply — and so will your emotions. Make sure you have a plan to cope with it all.

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Hearing a few differences of opinion might be confusing in the short-term, but I believe it’s the way to long-term wisdom.

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Passive investing can be so dull that you just can’t stand doing nothing all the time. So learn some mind control to avoid doing anything daft.

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Do you save too much because your in thrall the compound interest? Even Warren Buffett had that problem, but he’s seen the light.

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There’s not One True Way, but there are things that successful private investors seem to have in common (besides noughts on their bank account…)

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There’s nothing wrong with regulators lowering financial expectations, except the timing. The time to be afraid is when everyone is happy, not when they’ve given up.

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I haven’t learned as much as I could have from my lifelong fascination with games. If I’d been paying attention to how I win at Monopoly for example – remortgage aggressively, buy the mid-priced, well-placed orange squares, and then build, build, build – then I might have profited from last decade’s property boom. Alas, I have just [...]

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Don’t overdo it, and don’t shove it down other people’s throats, but enjoy it when you get the chance – and never be ashamed of it.

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If DIY investing is your hobby then you’re not alone. The Monevator massive is hooked on investing and we’re not embarrassed to admit it.

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What happens when you despair that your financial goals look so far away? It’s time to reaffirm where you’re going, and why.

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Do you have a childhood belief or some other hang-up about money that’s restricting your income?

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I’ve got a confession to make: The economic meltdown of 2008 was thrilling in some twisted way, and I miss it.

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A bad time to fear the worst

Lots of people have been left on the sidelines by the stock market rally, hunkered down in a bunker waiting for a bomb that’s already exploded.

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If efficient market theories are flawed, we might well ask whether behavioural finance offers a practical alternative for private investors.

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Rather than whimpering, if you’re well positioned you should be whooping with joy that you’ve got an unlooked for chance to buy the same shares you were buying last month for 10%, 20%, or even 50% less than you expected to pay.

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