Thursday, July 03, 2008

price anchoring

Price anchoring is a mental mistake that can be very costly to your long-term returns.

As soon as your intuition seizes on a number -- any number -- it becomes stuck, as if it had been coated in glue. That's why real estate agents will usually show you the most expensive house on the market first, so the others will seem cheap by comparison -- and why mutual fund companies nearly always launch new funds at $10.00 per share, enticing new investors with a "cheap" price at the beginning.

Share prices are complicated things -- they account for not only the underlying quality of the company, but also public opinion, assumed earnings growth, and investor enthusiasm.

Anchoring to a price means you'll ignore the more important trait -- value.

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