The Attractive Fiction

There are many things in life that we think are true, because we desperately want them to be true. I call these things appealing fictions and they have a big impact on how we think about money. An appealing fiction happens when you are smart but face a combination of limited control and high stakes. They can make you believe just about anything. Get a few stock picks right and you can become rich without much effort. Investing is one of the only fields that offers daily opportunities for extreme rewards. People believe in financial quackery in a way they never would for weather quackery.