The Irrational Investor's Risk Profile a THESIS SUBMITTED to THE
The Irrational Investor’s Risk Profile A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY James Jay Mooreland II IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE Laura Kalambokidis May 2011 © James J. Mooreland II, 2011 Table of Contents I. Introduction 1 II. Literature Review 5 III. Conceptual Framework 33 IV. Data and Methods 40 V. Results 47 VI. Conclusion 69 VII. Bibliography 74 VIII. Appendices 78 i The Irrational Investor’s Risk Profile I. INTRODUCTION Webster defines the term irrational as “(1): not endowed with reason or understanding (2): lacking usual or normal mental clarity or coherence” (Webster, 2010). The average, normal investor is an individual who has chosen to delay current consumption and save money for his future. An individual who saves and invests for the future could hardly be defined as someone who lacks understanding or coherence. To the contrary an investor understands the need to plan for the future, and the desire to have his money work for himself in the interim, whether that is by investing in a savings account, CD, stocks, bonds etc… It is true that many investors, and the average investor, are irrational, but not in the way Webster defines it. Traditional finance defines a rational investor as one who makes choices that attempt to maximize his utility, or return on investment for a given level of risk. The rational investor is not affected by emotions, cognitive biases, or external factors that do not directly affect his stated utility. The irrational investor is subject to cognitive biases, and is influenced by emotions such as fear, greed, and anxiety – which may cause the investor to be influenced by short-term phenomena, even though his goals are long-term in nature.
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