What if the rich get richer because they know how to invest their money more effectively? New research shows that this may be a factor behind the rise in inequality.
Different investors have different levels of sophistication. Why?
It might come from varying levels of education. For example, I know what diversification is, and why it works. But other people might not, and might just pick one or two stocks, increasing their risk without boosting their expected return. Research shows that this is one of the biggest mistakes that people make, if not the biggest.
Differences in education are dangerous because unsophisticated people generally don’t realize they’re unsophisticated. When you’re ignorant, you also usually don’t realize how ignorant you are. In psychology, this is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. People might learn investment basics from their parents, or from their jobs, or from their hobbies. But if you weren’t lucky enough to learn about investing, how would even know what you were missing?
This is a problem no matter where you are in the spectrum of financial sophistication. I probably know one or two Wall Street traders who don’t realize how much more they have to learn.
Another reason for information differences is that you can actually buy information with money. The wealthy and the well-funded have access to expensive financial data, which will generally help them earn higher returns. The poor, unable to buy data, will earn lower returns. Thus, the initial differences in wealth will compound over time, with the rich getting richer faster.
More here – Bloomberg
Obviously I don’t know what I don’t know.
Yet, in spite of / because of, that I trust my mentors to guide me.
So I do things like follow Chris’ example of re-reading
Market Wizards.
This doesn’t automatically make me
a top trader … however, I figure it moves the odds
ever so slightly in my favour.