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How Fear and Greed Affect Investing Decisions

The ride is volatile; the decisions do not have to be. FinEdge's published position is that managing your own behaviour through the cycle — rather than reacting to it — is one of the most important aspects of successful investing.

Mayank Bhatnagar·Co-Founder & COO·12 October 2023

What this covers

The two failure modes named in the published note are greed and fear. Both convert a market movement into a portfolio decision, which is the moment a long-term plan usually breaks.

The counterweight is a rational frame: decide against the goal, not against the last quarter. That is also what makes a review different from a reaction.

Judge the plan against the goal. Market movement on its own is not new information about your goal.