Thoughts from the Frontline

Why Investors Fail

By John Mauldin

March 28, 2002

Why Investors Fail
Lean Mean Reversion Machine
Tails You Lose, Heads I Win
Analyzing a Fund
Ergodicity
I’ve Got A Secret System
Becoming a Top 20% Investor

Like all the children from Lake Wobegon, I am sure all my readers are above average investors. But I am also sure you have friends who are not, so today we will look at the reasons why they fail at investing. Maybe this week's e-letter will give you some ways to help them. And as we conclude, I will show you a simple way to put yourself in the top 20% of investors. This should make it easier to go to family reunions and listen to your brother-in-law's stories.

As a corollary to investigating why investors fail, we will also look at why some investors succeed, and some do spectacularly well. I predict that much of what I am writing today will make some of you mad, and for some, it will hit too close to home. What I am trying to do today is to give you an "aha!" moment: that insight which helps you understand a part of the mysteries of…

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