Weekend Reading: Why Investor Behaviour Needs To Change Edition

One of my favourite personal finance writers is Carl Richards, the Sketch Guy, and author of The Behaviour Gap.  He has a knack for using humour and simple napkin sketches to point out our dumb habits when it comes to money and investing.

In this video, Mr. Richards explains why investor behaviour needs to change – particularly when it comes to timing the markets.  He looked at how much money flowed in and out of mutual funds each month and noticed the disturbing trend of investors buying at the top of markets and selling at the bottom – and then waiting until the markets were back to new highs before jumping in again.

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Weekend Reading

The Five Thirty-Eight blog shared a fascinating look at what baby boomers’ retirement means for the economy.

For some, the dream of Freedom 55 has morphed into the nightmare of Survival 65.  That’s why retirement blogger and recent retiree Joyce Wayne says living in retirement in all about pensions.

Young and Thrifty asks the question, Would you rather have time or money?

Helaine Olen, author of Pound Foolish, wrote an essay for Bloomberg about how our brains are not to blame for our financial woes.  She says our problem with savings and investments have more to do with the outside economy than our inner psyche.

Ben Carlson shared an important piece about vetting your sources of financial advice.  He says to look for balanced opinions that examine both potential rewards and potential risks. Avoid context-driven, very specific advice.

Dan Bortolotti explains what young investors need to know with a review of William Bernstein’s new e-book.

Dan from Our Big Fat Wallet says to avoid bank fees and instead buy shares in the banks to reap the benefits.

A blogger talks about personal finance and how she managed to pay off $60,000 in student debt in just 18 months.

Friend of the blog Barry Choi discusses some of the money mistakes that he’s made.  The one that stood out for me was thinking my bank knows best.

Finally, the Loonie Lover blog reviewed the consumer review sites and determined that when looking up opinions and reviews online, it’s definitely caveat emptor.

Have a great weekend, everyone!