Quote of the day...

From Investing Psychology: The Effects of Behavioral Finance on Investment Choice and Bias by Tim Richards:

Most sensible people don't really believe in horoscopes even if they occasionally glance at them for amusement. Yet when it comes to investing we're happy to rely on the financial industry's equivalents: newspaper articles, stock-tipping magazines, and investment reports.

It's a bit of a shock to realize that these expensive and professionally produced pieces of stock analysis are about as reliable a way of forecasting the future as the mystic divining of astrologers, soothsayers, and necromancers. They all rely on a simple behavioral trick, known as the Barnum effect, using your brain's own preferences to fool you.