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Weekend reading: Financial TV stresses you out, even when the market is rising

Good reads from around the Web.

One of the things I’m least proud of – aside from my D grade in French and my habit of laughing aloud at my own “hilarious” jokes – is my fascination with the financial media.

I read the news websites and blogs avidly, and watch a fair chunk of CNBC and Bloomberg, too.

If you’re an active investor (for your sins) then I’d argue the former can be a good source of ideas, although only as a starting point for doing your own research.

But I can’t remember ever making money from an idea I got off the TV.

I’ve consoled myself that I watch CNBC and Bloomberg like other people watch football, or that I use the endless procession of talking pundits as a contrary-indicator.

(Seriously: I think they put Nouriel Roubini (a.k.a. “Doctor Doom”) in a cupboard under the stairs between market wobbles).

When rising markets bring you down

It seems though that even this light telly watching could be dangerous, according to researchers from Kansas State University’s Financial Planning Research Center.

As reported by Advisor One [1], these academics found:

… stress go up when watching financial news, and hearing that the market went up causes stress levels to rise even higher.

“Specifically, 67% of people watching four minutes of CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business News and CNN showed increased stress, while 75% of those who watched a positive-only news video exhibited an increase in stress,” they wrote.

Yes, you read that right – stress levels actually rose with the market for most people. So making sure you switch off during a meltdown might not be enough to protect you from rising anxiety, and all the poor investing decisions that could come with it.

The researchers believe that this rising stress is caused by the fear you’re missing out on even better gains.

Hmm. I’ve had a great year from my investments, and I’m reluctant to tamper with a winning formula. Who knows? Perhaps the bouts of Bloomberg watching is contributing in some unseen way to my returns?

However if it’s also contributing to me having a heart attack at 50, I might have to think again!

Be a passive investor [2] for wealth and health it seems.

From the blogs

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Product of the week: I can’t find any interesting financial products to flag up this week. And I’m not alone, according to This Is Money [18], which says all the best rates have been slashed.

Mainstream media money

Highlights from the wall of noise…

Passive investing

Active investing

Other stuff worth reading

Book of the week: Investec fund manger Alastair Mundy seems to be highly-rated, but who knows how long his run will last? He’s also a very funny writer, though, as proven by his new book You Say Tomayto [31]. It’s a collection of monthly notes to his investors. Buy it and you can enjoy his wit without paying to take a chance on his stock picks.

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