If
you
are
not
an
extremely
online
person,
you
may
have
missed
the
recent
Reddit
post
that
kicked
off
another
meme
stock
frenzy
this
week.
Even
if
you
missed
the
latest
hubbub,
new
technology
has
indeed
brought
investors
more
options
for
both what we
invest
in
as
well
as how we
invest
in
them.
From
flashy
new
investments
like crypto to online
trading
apps that
make
investing
faster
and
easier
than
ever,
it
can
feel
like
the
best
time
to
be
an
investor.
Yet
I
stand
before
you
an
investing
Luddite.
Why?
Because
as
much
as
I’d
like
to
think
of
myself
as
someone
with
sophisticated
investment
abilities,
I’m
working
with
the
same
hardware
as
my
ancient
predecessors,
and
I
cannot
deny
the
truth:
our
brains
are
ill-equipped
for
such
an
exciting
investing
landscape.
To
illustrate
this,
let’s
look
at
what
I
might
face
during
a
meme
stock
rally.
The
Ups
and
Downs
of
Being
a
Meme
Stock
Investor
Within
moments
of
picking
up
my
phone,
I
open
Reddit
and
discover
others
are
clamouring
to
buy
the
stock du
jour.
I
see
stories
of
people
who
previously
invested
in
the
stock
and
hit
it
big,
and
I
pull
up
the
current
stock
price
and
watch
its
meteoric
rise.
Suddenly,
I’m
hooked,
and
after
a
few
taps
on
my
phone,
I
find
myself
the
(not
so)
proud
owner
of
a
meme
stock.
All
too
swiftly,
I
have
made
an
investment
decision
I
didn’t
really
want
to
make,
thanks
to
my cognitive
biases – what
we
call
mental
shortcuts
when
they
lead
us
astray.
For
one,
my
interest
was
piqued
by
all
the
other
people
excited
about
it.
This
tendency
to
go
with
the
crowd
is
called herding
behavior.
For
another,
I
saw
a
lot
of
good
news
about
this
stock
(both
through
anecdotes
and
through
share
price
history),
so
I
projected
that
recent
success
onto
my
future
thanks
to the
availability
heuristic.
Finally,
I
fell
prey
to action
bias,
which
tells
me
that
I
need
to
“do
something”
in
moments
of
excitement
or
I
might
regret
it.
Our
brains
work
this
way
for
a
reason.
It
was
beneficial
to
our
ancestors
to
be
able
to
make
quick
decisions
on
little
information.
But
when
it
comes
to
investing,
making
quick
decisions
with
little
information
can
cause
us
to
make
mistakes –
especially
when
we
are
increasingly
able
to
invest
a
lot
of
money
with
little
effort.
A
Better
Way
to
Invest
To
that
end,
I
like
to
think
back
to
the
stone
age
when
I’m
investing.
Though
I
have
no
desire
to
eschew
Wi-Fi
or
electricity,
I
can
learn
a
lot
about
executing
long-term
plans
from
that
time.
So,
after
I’ve
decided
on
a financial
plan,
I
turn
to
the
stone
age
to
help
me
stick
with
it
and
reach
my
financial
goals.
I
don’t
read
market
news
daily. Though
knowledge
is
power,
too
much
of
it
can
distract
me
from
my
long-term
plans.
In
the
Stone
Age,
news
took
a
long
time
to
reach
you,
so
only
important
information
eventually
got
to
you.
Now,
the
important
stuff
is
harder
to
suss
out
amid
the
stream
of
information
we
receive.
By
limiting
the
market
media
I
consume,
I’m
doing
the
same
thing:
avoiding
the
noisy,
daily
ups
and
downs
and
staying
focused
on
the
big
picture.
This
means
that
I
may
miss
out
on
even
knowing
something
like
a
meme
stock
rally
is
happening
until
it
has
long
passed.
I
remain
sceptical
of
strangers’
stories. It’s
all
too
easy
for
people
to
lie
online,
and
it’s
even
easier
for
us
to
forget
that.
We
are
more
connected
to
strangers
than
ever
before
and
can
feel
ties
to
people
we’ve
never
even
spoken
to.
But
historically,
it
was
uncommon
to
interact
with
strangers
and
even
more
unlikely
to
trust
their
word
quickly.
Therefore,
I
approach
others’
stories
about
investing
success
with
scepticism.
This
helps
give
perspective;
even
if
what
they
say
is
true,
I
won’t
necessarily
repeat
their
success
by
investing
like
them,
which
helps
me
stay
focused
on
my
plan
and
not
theirs.
I
do
things
slowly. I
love
convenience
as
much
as
anyone,
but
sometimes
a
little
friction
is
warranted.
If
I
were
trying
to
change
my
plans
in
the
stone
age,
it
wouldn’t
be
as
simple
as
a
few
taps
on
my
phone
while
lying
on
the
couch.
When
something
is
more
difficult
or
takes
longer,
we
have
time
to
reflect
and
consider
what
we
really
want
to
do.
For
me,
this
means
I
don’t
allow
myself
to
make
changes
to
my
investments
on
my
phone,
so
I
at
least
have
some
buffer
to
consider
whether
I
actually
want
to
change
my
investments.
The
cognitive
biases
we
face
when
investing
today
have
been
with
humans
for
millennia,
so
they
won’t
be
going
anywhere
anytime
soon.
But
by
understanding
how
we
can
create
our
own
tools
to
counteract
them,
we
can
still
invest
well
and
reach
our
financial
goals.
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