The first quarter of 2019 was distinctly different, and much improved, from the final quarter of last year.  Stock markets which had slumped badly recovered just as quickly, erasing the losses of late-2018 within a few months.

The Smith household comprises two adults, John and Mary. As a couple they run their credit cards so that at the end of each month some $2,000 is left as a debit balance on which they pay 20 per cent p.a. interest. As a separate exercise, the couple prides itself on having a savings jar in which they have $1,000 as a steady balance.

‘Anchoring’ can be most detrimental to the best interests of investors; it is, in fact, something we all have a tendency to do, and which we should almost always try to avoid. It is the tendency to evaluate buying and selling decisions around a specific number which emotionally latches itself into our minds based on dangerous misconceptions.