Snap judgment when to trust your instincts, when to ignore them, and how to avoid making big mistakes with your money. - Description based on print version record

"Adler’s argument is illuminating and reveals that, when it comes to investing, we should always have second thoughts about our first impressions." --Publisher's Weekly WHY YOUR INSTINCTS CAN BE YOUR #1 ENEMY–AND HOW TO DEFEAT THEM! “David Adler’s Snap Judgment is a well-written, entertaining review of human action in risky situations, including stock market behavior and other risk-facing situations. In particular, Adler recounts the conclusions of many practitioners and behavioral finance scholars who have studied such matters. This book is well worth reading, both for its practical advice for the novice and its wealth of illustrations for the pro.” – Harry Markowitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics and father of modern portfolio theory “David Adler has done a great public service by translating a dazzling array of research in economics and finance into practical terms that anyone can understand and profit from. This book should be required reading for every investor.” – Andrew W. Lo, Professor of Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management “Investing and managing your money on the basis of emotion, instincts, and intuition is a road straight to the poorhouse. This book teaches you why–and how to rid yourself of the irrational impulses that torment your portfolio.” – Peter Navarro, bestselling author of If It’s Raining in Brazil, Buy Starbucks and The Coming China Wars “Adler’s book makes a compelling case, illustrated through engaging examples, that the mind and the purse are well served by the triumph of analytic intelligence over intuition.” – Gary Loveman, Chairman, President, & CEO, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. Publishers Weekly Adler (co-editor of Understanding American Economic Decline ), a behavioral finance expert, explores the psychology of how we make financial decisions and argues that when it comes to investing, our intuition might lead us astray. The author surveys the mechanics of decision making in a variety of arenas-gambling, sports, health care and credit card selection-and homes in on the advanced analytical techniques used by sophisticated investors. He provides psychological profiles of Wall Street CEOs and surveys the current crisis with an optimistic bent-providing strategies for investors and businesspeople to escape their evolutionary propensity for "snap judgments" and become more cautious where their money is concerned. Adler's argument is illuminating and reveals that, when it comes to investing, we should always have second thoughts about our first impressions. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. The author has read the basic books about experimental psychology, such as Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, and mentions some interesting new research, but there isn't much real NEW content. And I rather doubt his little tips for getting an extra percent return here and there will work. For someone new to the subject, this may make a satisfactory introduction. Otherwise, skip it. One of the world's leading experts in behavioral finance and economics illuminates the irrational behavior that costs investors so much money, demonstrates why instinctual decision-making can be so costly, and shows how to avoid disastrous subjective biases in one's own financial decision-making