October 6, 2016 Editor New York Times Re: September 15 New York Times article, “At BlackRock, a Wall Street Rock Star’s $5 Trillion Comeback” Madam/Sir- As an investment professional, past adjunct faculty of finance, and international speaker on human behavior, I am compelled to comment on your article published September 15Read more
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It is not okay to formulate opinions based on fragmented facts. Think about Hillary Clinton. You say she is a crook, but how much do you really know? Have you spoken to her personally and reviewed her many thousands of hours of testimony and compared her dealings with others in similar roles and readRead more
A fascinating reflection on Buddhist thought – rooted in many thousands of years of knowledge and practice – is that science, and particularly neuroscience, is just now starting to catch-up. Buddhism has understood for many centuries innumerable concepts about our behavior and decision making that science is only beginning to uncover. And Buddhism has done it almost entirely through externalRead more
Our behavior when investing represents much of what plagues our greater lives – perhaps, therein, we can learn a thing or two… In every financial transaction, there is a buyer and a seller. That means two different people have looked at the same facts and determined completely opposite verdicts. The same happens in ourRead more
It turns out, that other person who you hate so much and is so wrong and so awful, has a heartbeat and limbic system and feelings and fears and vulnerabilities too – just like me and you. Markets taught me that every transaction has a buyer and a seller with data and research and factsRead more
When we take noble silence, we attempt to totally quiet our minds, and do so by not interfacing with the world. I set a goal of absolutely no human interaction, including eye contact. I do not speak, even to myself. I do not listen to music, read, nor use any form of technology. It isRead more
Our habits do not define us, they confine us.
In portfolio management, the tendency is to chase. We chase performance, always judging ourselves against a benchmark and making huge efforts to outperform. If something is not working, we fix it immediately. If something is going well, we double-down. But markets have a way of tricking us – they entice us to chase, though itRead more
Everyone is trying to do their best. We get so angry with others – hating or labeling or both. And even if someone is being immoral, they are still doing the best with the hand they were dealt. It takes so much humility to see it. I struggle with it often. But recognizing weRead more
Self-reflection is an activity that seems unrelated to finance. But markets taught me a lot about looking within myself. When investment performance is not as desired, we blame CEOs, politicians, other countries, other investors, financial professionals, and just about anything we can fixate our brains on. Blame is much easier than responsibility. But it isRead more
