William Casby's Comments RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.comuser/260226/comments http://seekingalpha.com/article/93525-the-art-of-contrarian-investing-going-against-the-crowd-for-profit?source=feed#comment-251949 251949
I propose this is because the "art' or inherent wisdom of contrarian thinking can't be neatly taught at MBA school, nor banged into a spreadsheet by an overpaid, one dimensional, right brain atrophied genius employed as a so called investment "professional".

These deeply frustrated, most likely highly correlated and YTD underwater types are the same "investors" who are also guaranteed to say:

'It was the PERFECT STORM";
"That was a FIVE standard deviation move!";
"These markets DON'T MAKE SENSE";

and my favorite one of all:

"Hey, we're NOT PAID TO BE IN CASH, OK?!?!"

Even more curious - when reminded that sentiment or market psychology may be at work, or persist in the face of their staggering fundamental genius, these so called investors will also say:

"Well.....NO SH*T.?!?!?!"

....OF COURSE we think about psychology?!.

..So does every "SCHOOL BOY' !!!!!!!!!! (as above)

Yet this is also usually said in an angry, defensive tone, when, once again, they have just dropped a ton of money in yet another "once in a lifetime" "perfect storm" event.

There is only one reason why it is so hard to invest successfully, and it is not because there is a worldwide shortage of MBAs, sufficient computing processing power or a lack of evolution in modern portfolio theory.


No, successful investing is very difficult because BUYING LOW and SELLING HIGH is perfectly CONTRARY to human nature.

Which is why the only way to outperform the market, is by being a "contrarian."

Mr Lee, thank you for a nice article.

Muzie, ROowns and others - maybe you should rethink your careers and go get a job preparing individual tax returns or something?


Cheers,


William Casby

]]> Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:37:51 -0400
I propose this is because the "art' or inherent wisdom of contrarian thinking can't be neatly taught at MBA school, nor banged into a spreadsheet by an overpaid, one dimensional, right brain atrophied genius employed as a so called investment "professional".

These deeply frustrated, most likely highly correlated and YTD underwater types are the same "investors" who are also guaranteed to say:

'It was the PERFECT STORM";
"That was a FIVE standard deviation move!";
"These markets DON'T MAKE SENSE";

and my favorite one of all:

"Hey, we're NOT PAID TO BE IN CASH, OK?!?!"

Even more curious - when reminded that sentiment or market psychology may be at work, or persist in the face of their staggering fundamental genius, these so called investors will also say:

"Well.....NO SH*T.?!?!?!"

....OF COURSE we think about psychology?!.

..So does every "SCHOOL BOY' !!!!!!!!!! (as above)

Yet this is also usually said in an angry, defensive tone, when, once again, they have just dropped a ton of money in yet another "once in a lifetime" "perfect storm" event.

There is only one reason why it is so hard to invest successfully, and it is not because there is a worldwide shortage of MBAs, sufficient computing processing power or a lack of evolution in modern portfolio theory.


No, successful investing is very difficult because BUYING LOW and SELLING HIGH is perfectly CONTRARY to human nature.

Which is why the only way to outperform the market, is by being a "contrarian."

Mr Lee, thank you for a nice article.

Muzie, ROowns and others - maybe you should rethink your careers and go get a job preparing individual tax returns or something?


Cheers,


William Casby

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