Comments on: Competing for Attention http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/competing-for-attention/ Investing Blog: The Oblivious Investor Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:54:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Mike http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/competing-for-attention/comment-page-1/#comment-1741 Mike Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:44:33 +0000 http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/?p=4884#comment-1741 Michelle, thanks for stopping by to comment. I think your point #3 is one that I often miss. People <i>want</i> to see/watch/read that kind of nonsense. It's no fun to hear that successful investing takes decades of cutting costs, saving regularly, and mechanically rebalancing your portfolio. Michelle, thanks for stopping by to comment.

I think your point #3 is one that I often miss. People want to see/watch/read that kind of nonsense. It’s no fun to hear that successful investing takes decades of cutting costs, saving regularly, and mechanically rebalancing your portfolio.

]]> By: Michelle Matson http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/competing-for-attention/comment-page-1/#comment-1735 Michelle Matson Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:26:32 +0000 http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/?p=4884#comment-1735 Mike, I love this article. I can think of a couple of reasons that the index/passive approach to investing won't ever be mainstream: 1) The media's job is to keep you coming back for more. And for some reason, passive investing isn't "sexy" enough for the mainstream media. (Probably not enough testosterone involved in passive strategies to keep it interesting for them). 2)If people actually did what works: buy and hold, stay diversified, and index - it would put most of the advertisers out of business. 3) Most people want the "magic beans" of investing that are going to make them rich overnight, they don't want to hear that it's actually going to take a long time even though in their gut they probably know have a sense of the truth. And the media is going to give people what they think they want, even if it's bad for them. Mike, I love this article.
I can think of a couple of reasons that the index/passive approach to investing won’t ever be mainstream:
1) The media’s job is to keep you coming back for more. And for some reason, passive investing isn’t “sexy” enough for the mainstream media. (Probably not enough testosterone involved in passive strategies to keep it interesting for them).
2)If people actually did what works: buy and hold, stay diversified, and index – it would put most of the advertisers out of business.
3) Most people want the “magic beans” of investing that are going to make them rich overnight, they don’t want to hear that it’s actually going to take a long time even though in their gut they probably know have a sense of the truth. And the media is going to give people what they think they want, even if it’s bad for them.

]]> By: Dave C. http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/competing-for-attention/comment-page-1/#comment-1732 Dave C. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:11:16 +0000 http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/?p=4884#comment-1732 I think more and more your principles are growing on my Mike. I don't even bother to watch TV stations like CNBC anymore. On one hand, it's because I realize that the information probably won't help me to pick stocks, anyway. On the other hand, it's because I don't really believe the pundits and talking heads are legitimately providing helpful information to their viewers. It seems to me that we are all trying to participate in a system which thrives on our ignorance. I think more and more your principles are growing on my Mike. I don’t even bother to watch TV stations like CNBC anymore. On one hand, it’s because I realize that the information probably won’t help me to pick stocks, anyway. On the other hand, it’s because I don’t really believe the pundits and talking heads are legitimately providing helpful information to their viewers. It seems to me that we are all trying to participate in a system which thrives on our ignorance.

]]> By: Rob Bennett http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/competing-for-attention/comment-page-1/#comment-1731 Rob Bennett Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:00:54 +0000 http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/?p=4884#comment-1731 The point being made here is an important one. My only caveat is that I don't believe that any of us are immune. Those who promote indexing oversell at times. And I oversell what I believe in at times too, of course. Rob The point being made here is an important one.

My only caveat is that I don’t believe that any of us are immune.

Those who promote indexing oversell at times.

And I oversell what I believe in at times too, of course.

Rob

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