Our perceptions, of risk or anything else, are products of cognitive processes that operate outside our conscious control — running facts through the filters of our feelings and producing subjective judgments that disregard the evidence. The behavioral scientists Melissa Finucane and Paul Slovic call this the Affect Heuristic; it gives rise to what I call…

At our recent gathering in Perth we looked at quite a bit of the  trader psychology that occurs around certain moves. LB has an exercise where she puts up a given chart with the sort of generic responses that traders generate at each phase of the move. The audience is then asked to critique what…

I saw this pop up today. The tale of Ronald Wayne is somewhat legendary. He was one of Apples original founders but sold his original stake for $800 and later on accepted an additional $1500 to forfeit any future claims against the company. As the billboard states his stake today would be valued at around…

“Stress” is a dirty word in the world of wellness. It’s something to be tempered, reduced or completely released in your weekly yoga class. It’s something we’re supposed to carefully manage — or, better yet, avoid at all costs. But stress — and its common-law companion, risk — aren’t the bad guys we’ve made them…