Weekend Reads for Advisers: Our Brains, Psychopaths, and (Failed) Resolutions

Back in my fomer life, I was a reporter and editor at the Financial Times, where, for a time, I edited James Altucher’s regular FT column. His musings were often irreverent and amusing and, needless to say, attracted a devoted following. (This appears to have carried through to his post-FT life. Last time I looked, @jaltucher had more than 90,000 followers). So when a tweet about his resume popped up on my Twitter stream, I couldn’t resist the urge to click on it. I wasn’t disappointed. As one reader put it:

Gotta love @jaltucher's Resume, but chances are you would NEVER hire him … #Priceless #DefineYourself http://t.co/ys9GqVxarr

— Jonathan Eisenzopf (@eisenzopf) January 6, 2014

Here are some other interesting and/or useful reads from the past few weeks.

Behavioral Finance and Neuroscience

• “Behavioral Resolutions for Behavioral Investors” (The Psy-Fi Blog)
• “Why We Make Resolutions (and Why They Fail)” (The New Yorker)
• “Britain’s Ministry of Nudges” and “A Few Findings of Britain’s Nudge Unit” (The New York Times)
• “Safecracking the Brain: What Neuroscience Is Learning from Code-Breakers and Thieves” (Nautilus)
• “The Brain, in Exquisite Detail” (The New York Times)

Are investors — and humans — rational or are they irrational? Yes. http://t.co/r68jBvWMe9 #WSJ

— Jason Zweig (@jasonzweigwsj) January 7, 2014

Retirement

• “FINRA Warns against Conflicts in Retirement-Plan Rollovers” (InvestmentNews)
• “Reducing Retirement Risk with a Rising Equity Glide Path” (Journal of Financial Planning). See also “How Much Should You Hold in Stocks?” (CNN Money), which references the work of Michael Kitces, a speaker at CFA Institute’s upcoming Wealth Management conference, and Annual Conference speaker Wade Pfau.
• “Check out Resources to Become a Social Security Expert” (InvestmentNews)

Investing

• “What’s That You’re Calling a Bubble?” (HBR Blog)
• Evolutionary theory and investing: “Adaptive Investing: What’s Your Market DNA?” (Salient)
• Contrarian — a documentary about Sir John Templeton. (BloombergTV)
• “Misled by Stock-Market Volatility” (The Wall Street Journal via The Reformed Broker)
• “Never Mind the Predictions: What Did We Learn?” (The New York Times)
• “In 2013 I Learned That . . .” and “You Are Here” (The Reformed Broker)
• “Tools Help Investors Wade Through All the Chatter on Twitter” (The Wall Street Journal)

Innovation

• “Most innovation comes from combining well-known, well-established, building blocks in new ways.” (Farnam Street)
• “If You Think Innovation Is Dead, Meet the Hydra” (Bloomberg)

The Advisory Business

• “Are Advisors Getting It Wrong on ‘Wealth Management’?” (Financial Planning)
• “Top 3 Issues Financial Planners Will Face in 2014: Fiduciary Regulation, Demographics Pressures, And Robots Vs Cyborgs (Vs Humans)” (Nerd’s Eye View)

Philanthropy

• “The Future of Philanthropy” (Private Wealth)

And Now For Something Completely Different

• “The Psychopath’s Guide to Finance Careers” (The Financial Times)
• Benford’s Law: “Curious Mathematical Law Is Rife in Nature” (NewScientist)
• The upside to the “polar vortex” that gripped a large swathe of the United States: Stunning images of Michigan lighthouses turned into giant icicles. (Mail Online)
• 98-Year-Old Undeveloped Photo Negatives Discovered in Antarctica (PolicyMic)
• Haunting tale of survival at sea and the will to live: “A Speck in the Sea” (The New York Times)
• “I crave technology, connectivity. But I crave solitude too.” How technology (i.e., the e-book) affects the way we read.(The New York Times)
• Best-selling author Charles Wheelan, the keynote speaker at CFA Institute’s upcoming Wealth Management conference, asks: “Do You Belong in the Political Middle?” (US News & World Report)
• “Surviving Anxiety” (The Atlantic)

The Buddhist rule re Worrying is simple: don’t. http://t.co/wSRzD1eQ6t pic.twitter.com/CUPwNYXW6u

— Lauren Foster (@laurenfosternyc) January 3, 2014

Please note that the content of this site should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute.

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