Marketpsych

MarketPsych While you may not think that your investment performance is affected by who you are, think again. Recent research has uncovered startling information regarding the relationship between who you are, how you invest, and what that ultimately means for your wallet. For the past two decades the psychological mistakes of investors have been rigorously defined by experts in the fields of behavioral finance and experimental psychology. The problem with this is that investors haven't been told what they can do to overcome these innate errors of judgment. It's time to find an appropriate road to recovery, and that road starts by understanding who you are as an investor: your Investor Identity. That's why authors Richard Peterson and Frank Murtha of MarketPsych LLC--an innovative organization that offers psychology-training services for the financial industry--have created this timely guide. Written with every investor in mind--from mutual fund dilettantes to penthouse portfolio managers--MarketPsych will put you in a better position to improve your investing by helping you honestly answer questions such as: Fundamentally, why am I investing? Who am I trying to be when I buy or sell stocks? What are my deeper "emotional" objectives? How am I deceiving myself in the markets? And while the book does not recommend a specific method of investing, it does assist you in understanding your financial personality style, emotional triggers, values, and assumptions, and it reveals how to invest comfortably within your newfound investor identity. Investing appears to be about the markets, but it's not, it's really about you. By adressing the major psychological underpinnings of strong and weak investment performance--from personality traits and emotion management to values and beliefs, thought traps, and stress management--and showing you how to institute lasting behavioral change and maintain motivation in pursuit of your goals, MarketPsych will improve your investing mind-set and help you excel even in the toughest markets.

Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Chapter 1 Your Investor Identity: And Why You Need One 1
Chapter 2 Investor Identity Fundamentals: Frames, Motivations, and Goals 15
Chapter 3 Your Investor Personality: Your Character and Style 49
Chapter 4 Your Investor Emotions: The Hidden Drivers of Behavior 69
Chapter 5 Your Investor Values: What's Most Important to You? 99
Chapter 6 Your Investor Blind Spots: Identifying (and Avoiding) Mental Traps 115
Chapter 7 Your Investor Stress: Smoothing Out the Ups and Downs 151
Chapter 8 Being Your Best Self 179
Appendix A Summary of Meditation Techniques 205
Appendix B Gratitude List 209
Notes 213
About the Authors 219
Index 221