Investors are battered daily with an avalanche of financial information. Much of it is wrong. The securities industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually sponsoring all forms of financial media, a great portion of which is little more than an infomercial for its services.
The consequence of so much sponsored media content masking as financial journalism is quite predictable. Investors accept many myths propagated by the securities industry, and have harmed themselves significantly as a result.
The full truth is even more insidious. The securities industry has figured out how to subconsciously trigger knee-jerk responses that encourage bad investor behavior. It does so largely by instilling fear and anxiety, and playing on the appeal of greed.
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