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    Understanding psychological biases that can impair your investments

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    Feb 12, 2024
    5 Mins Read

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    Investing is not just a numbers game; it is profoundly influenced by various psychological components that affect an individual’s investment decisions. Thus, understanding the psychological factors of investing is crucial to navigating the financial markets effectively.

    The most common psychological components that can affect an individual’s investment choices are as follows:


    1. Fear and Greed:


    Investors may be apprehensive during market downturns, leading to impulsive selling or not investing at all out of fear. Example: During a financial crisis, investors might panic and quickly sell their stocks at incredibly low prices to avoid further losses.

    On the other hand, greed can push investors to make investment decisions that could affect their financial position in the markets. Example: Investors are lured into investing in high-risk assets, and the same is followed in the anticipation of higher returns, without conducting proper due diligence. Read our blog on Tulipmania here.


    2. Herding Behaviour:


    Investors usually choose to invest based on what people around them are doing, thus failing to make decisions independently. Example: If a specific stock or asset class suddenly becomes popular, investors may choose to indulge in buying into it without thoroughly evaluating its fundamentals. During periods of market exuberance, such as the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s or the housing bubble in the mid-2000s, herding behaviour was prevalent. Investors rushed to buy overvalued stocks or real estate because others were doing the same, contributing to inflated asset prices.


    3. Confirmation Bias:


    Investors prefer to utilize information that reaffirms their existing beliefs and choose to brush aside information that disputes them. Example: If an investor believes a stock will perform well, they will convince themselves they are right by only considering the optimistic news and disregarding warning signs about the company. Confirmation bias can manifest in the way investors interpret data. They may selectively focus on data points that support their views while neglecting or rationalizing away data that challenges their beliefs.


    4. Overconfidence:


    Investors tend to blindly believe in their investing decisions and think they have more control over their investment outcomes than anyone else. Another way this bias can manifest is what is explained by the Dunning-Kruger effect. It refers to a cognitive bias in which individuals with little experience and knowledge in a given field overestimate their abilities, leading investors to make suboptimal decisions due to their overconfidence in their knowledge and skills. Example: Overconfident investors might trade arbitrarily, with the mindset that they can precisely time the market and pick the right stocks or take concentrated positions. If the market turns for the worse, this could lead to serious losses.


    5. Regret Aversion/Conservatism:


    Investors quite often make their investment decisions to avoid any regrets in future, thus leading to ineffective investments. Example: Some investors, driven by regret aversion, may have an excessively conservative portfolio. While this approach minimizes short-term volatility, it may lead to lower long-term returns compared to a more diversified strategy. On the other hand, investors might be reluctant to sell stocks or other investments that have incurred losses, fearing the regret of realizing a loss if the market turns around. This behaviour can lead to holding onto declining assets longer than is financially prudent.

    Understanding these components of human psyche is pivotal for investors as it helps understand biases and emotions that affect decision-making. Developing a rational approach can alleviate the influence of these psychological factors on investment decisions.


    The views expressed in this article are for knowledge/information purpose only and is not a recommendation, offer or solicitation of business or to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any investment strategy. Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Limited (“ABSLAMC”) /Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund (“the Fund”) is not guaranteeing/offering/communicating any indicative yield/returns on investments.


    Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.



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