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Pastimes : The Justa & Lars Honors Bob Brinker Investment Club -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (1923)	11/1/1998 2:11:00 PM
From: DD™	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15132

Did The Bear Market Make You Depressed? Psychoanalyst Says Your Emotions Can Hurt Your Bottom Line Date: 11/2/98 Author: Adam Shell During the recent bear market, when your heretofore top-rated mutual fund was in free fall, did you feel powerless? Were you worried that your spouse would hate you because you allowed 20% of your retirement nest egg to vanish? Did you beat yourself up and say, ''What a dope I was to invest in that stupid fund in the first place.'' If you answered yes to any - or all - of these questions, you might have been suffering from what Harvard psychoanalyst, money manager and investment newsletter editor John Schott calls ''Bear Market Depressive Syndrome.'' Schott says it's a common ailment that affects investors of all types, ranging from the ''I Can't Stop Worrying'' investor to ''The Gambler.'' (See box.) ''In bear markets, many investors suffer from despair,'' said Schott, author of ''Mind Over Money,'' a Little Brown book that focuses on the psychology of investing. ''People get overly depressed,'' he added. ''They get out of the stock market in order to avoid any further emotional trauma. Unfortunately, many swear off the market when it's time to buy.'' Indeed, fleeing the market when it looks like the world's coming to an end often does more harm than good. Investors who don't ''master their emotions,'' Schott says, end up making horrible investment decisions that actually ''hurt their investment returns.'' Even the smartest, most-experienced investors (including fund managers)will do poorly if they let their anxieties dictate when they buy and sell financial assets. ''That's why investment systems were designed,'' Schott said. ''It's an attempt to take emotion out of the investment process.'' Schott attributes much of the irrational decision-making to unresolved childhood issues. For some investors, it's the quest for power. For others, it's the longing for security. And for a few, it's about the search for love. How one reacts to adverse market conditions depends in large part on one's personality, Schott says. Worriers, for example, invest differently than gambler types. That's why Schott says you should understand your own psyche. Some people's temperaments are more attuned to growth investing while others are better suited to more conservative strategies. So what steps can you take to combat self-destructive behavior? When you buy a fund, jot down why. Getting your expectations down on paper is a key psychological tool. Why? ''It gives you the impetus to follow through with selling if your expectations aren't met,'' Schott said. Test the ''world is coming to an end'' fantasy. Ask yourself what it would really take for you to get wiped out. A nuclear holocaust? Political revolution? Martian invasion? Remember, Schott wrote, ''Bear markets don't cause good companies to go bankrupt.'' Create a wish list. Start searching for new investments that could soar when the market rebounds. How come? ''It'll remind you that opportunities lie ahead and prepare you to react immediately when your target price is reached,'' Schott wrote. Ask yourself why you're waiting to get back in. Waiting for the market to bottom? If so, all you're doing is setting an unrealistic goal. Instead, force yourself to act before you're emotionally ready to buy. (C) Copyright 1998 Investors Business Daily, Inc. Metadata: E/IBD E/MMUT investors.com DD

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (1923)	11/1/1998 7:14:00 PM
From: Investor2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15132

I'd like to nominate Mr. Edward Yardeni, chief economist for Deutsche Bank, for the Honor Roll. ''This is a very dangerous market,'' Edward Yardeni, chief economist for Deutsche Bank, said. ''Too many things in the world have not been fixed and this flurry of buying in stocks could be a setup for creating a false sense of confidence that the worst is over.'' Yardeni is betting the Dow will tumble to 6,400 in the second quarter of next year. ''It is likely to go even lower by the end of 1999,'' he said. biz.yahoo.com Another interesting quote from the article: "Three years ago on Friday, the Dow closed at 4,747." Best wishes, I2

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (1923)	11/3/1998 4:36:00 PM
From: Lars	Respond to of 15132

MrGreenJeans, >>> Frequently Asked Questions About the Honor Roll 1.Why Post an Honor Roll? To honor those who had the most insight and vision of economic events especially related to the financial markets. >>> Yeah right. I don't know about idiot savants in this case but for sure idiots. HA. >>> 2.What Point are you trying to Prove? Just want to make the point that most investors mark their opinion to the market very authoritatively, dare I say arrogantly (there I said it), without careful thought...and quickly forget, or want to forget, that they made them. >>> Good point. >>> 3.Are You giving out prizes? Yes, I will take the grand prize winner out to lunch after they visit bankruptcy court for adhering to their own advice when they were clearly wrong and when they clearly should have changed course but of course...their egos got the best of them. >>> We used to have a chain of restaurants around here called the "Hungry Hobo". That would seem fitting. HA!