Marketpsych - (Wiley Finance) by Richard L Peterson & Frank F Murtha (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An investor's guide to understanding the most elusive (yet most important) aspect of successful investing - yourself.

Why is it that the investing performance of so many smart people reliably and predictably falls short? The answer is not that they know too little about the markets. In fact, they know too little about themselves.

Combining the latest findings from the academic fields of behavioral finance and experimental psychology with the down-and-dirty real-world wisdom of successful investors, Drs. Richard Peterson and Frank Murtha guide both new and experienced investors through the psychological learning process necessary to achieve their financial goals.

In an easy and entertaining style that masks the book's scientific rigor, the authors make complex scientific insights readily understandable and actionable, shattering a number of investing myths along the way. You will gain understanding of your true investing motivations, learn to avoid the unseen forces that subvert your performance, and build your investor identity - the foundation for long-lasting investing success.

Replete with humorous games, insightful self-assessments, entertaining exercises, and concrete planning tools, this book goes beyond mere education. MarketPsych: How to Manage Fear and Build Your Investor Identity functions as a psychological outfitter for your unique investing journey, providing the tools, training and equipment to help you navigate the right paths, stay on them, and see your journey through to success.

From the Back Cover

MarketPsych

While you may not think that your investment performance is affected by who you are, think again. Recent research has uncovered startling information regarding the relationship between who you are, how you invest, and what that ultimately means for your wallet.

For the past two decades the psychological mistakes of investors have been rigorously defined by experts in the fields of behavioral finance and experimental psychology. The problem with this is that investors haven't been told what they can do to overcome these innate errors of judgment. It's time to find an appropriate road to recovery, and that road starts by understanding who you are as an investor: your Investor Identity. That's why authors Richard Peterson and Frank Murtha of MarketPsych LLC--an innovative organization that offers psychology-training services for the financial industry--have created this timely guide.

Written with every investor in mind--from mutual fund dilettantes to penthouse portfolio managers--MarketPsych will put you in a better position to improve your investing by helping you honestly answer questions such as: Fundamentally, why am I investing? Who am I trying to be when I buy or sell stocks? What are my deeper "emotional" objectives? How am I deceiving myself in the markets?

And while the book does not recommend a specific method of investing, it does assist you in understanding your financial personality style, emotional triggers, values, and assumptions, and it reveals how to invest comfortably within your newfound investor identity.

Investing appears to be about the markets, but it's not, it's really about you. By adressing the major psychological underpinnings of strong and weak investment performance--from personality traits and emotion management to values and beliefs, thought traps, and stress management--and showing you how to institute lasting behavioral change and maintain motivation in pursuit of your goals, MarketPsych will improve your investing mind-set and help you excel even in the toughest markets.

Review Quotes

"The market is flooded with books on investor psychology, but most only outline the various ways we screw up with our investments. This is the first book that identifies the root causes and gives a variety of practical, imaginative ways to heal thyself." (Kiplinger's Personal Finance, December 2010)

About the Author

RICHARD L. PETERSON works at the intersection of the mind and markets. He is cofounder of MarketPsych LLC, where he trains financial advisors, portfolio managers, traders, and executives in emotion management and intuitive decision skills. Peterson is also Managing Director at MarketPsy Capital LLC, a psychology-based asset-management firm. Additionally, he operates MarketPsychAdvisor.com, which offers investors real-time market psychological intelligence on individual stocks, ETFs, and markets. Peterson is the author of the Wiley title Inside the Investor's Brain, which was praised as "exceptionally well-written" and "outstanding" by Barron's. His financial psychology research has been published in leading academic journals and textbooks, and he is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Behavioral Finance. Peterson lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters.

FRANK F. MURTHA received his PhD in counseling psychology from the University at Buffalo in 2001. He went on to join the consulting firm RHR International LLP, where he developed senior executives in leadership and pioneered a specialty in the new field of behavioral finance. In 2003, Murtha cofounded MarketPsych LLC, where he has led hundreds of workshops and training sessions on applied investing psychology. Murtha's clients have included investment banks, financial services companies, and day trading firms, where he has coached financial advisors, analysts, and portfolio managers in reaching peak performance. Murtha lives in New York City with his wife and son.