Saturday, November 4, 2017

How many biases dragged down your performance last month?

The behavioral finance revolution has been well noted by both academics and practitioners. Multiple Nobel Prizes have gone to economists who have studied in this area, yet investment decision-makers still make the same behavioral mistakes. We have noted our biases but often we have not changed our behavior. Perhaps it is too ingrained, but good has to be reinforced. 

The following info graph does a nice job of listing the possible mistakes (screw-ups) that can be made. Only 20? Without a review or inventory of your mistakes, there is little chance for decision improvement. If there is a performance review for a portfolio, it seems as though a performance review of decisions should also be made. 


How many decisions were made in the last month? How many were good ones? A good decision does not have to be profitable. It does have to be rational. In many ways the decision-making review for a quant system is so much easier because the behavior is hard-coded in the action. Nevertheless, discretionary decisions can still be made more rational and address a unique set of problems. A decision review system will help.

No comments:

Post a Comment