Jackass Investing: Don't do it. Profit from it. is a book written by Michael Dever published by Ignite LLC in 2011.
The book has also been released under the title Exploiting the Myths: Profiting from Wall Street's misguided beliefs.
Overview "Jackass Investing" is an investment book that challenges conventional investment wisdom and "presents an entirely new system of thought." The book describes 20 common widely held beliefs about investing and explains why each is a myth and not a fact.
The book is based on the trading philosophy of author Michael Dever, which is based on broad strategy and market diversification. According to Dever, the definition of "Jackass Investing" is taking unnecessary risk.
The book was published in 2011, but Dever initially developed the idea for the book in 1999. He decided to write "Jackass Investing" to systematically refute major investment myths. He believes that most investment professionals preach similar "myths" that prohibit investors from creating truly diversified portfolios.
Dever introduces the concept of "return drivers" and explains how to use them to create trading strategies, which are the components necessary to create a truly diversified portfolio. A return driver is the core underlying reason that drives the price of a market.
The Myths The "myths" include the following: Myth #1: Stocks Provide an Intrinsic Return Myth #2: Buy and Hold Works Well for Long Term Investors Myth #3: You Can't Time the Market Myth #4: "Passive" Investing Beats "Active" Investing Myth #5: Stay Invested So You Don't Miss the Best Days Myth #6: Buy Low, Sell High Myth #7: It's Bad to Chase Performance Myth #8: Trading is Gambling - Investing is Safer Myth #9: Risk Can Be Measured Statistically Myth #10: Short Selling is Destabilizing and Risky Myth #11: Commodity Trading is Risky Myth #12: Futures Trading is Risky Myth #13: It's Best to Follow Expert Advice Myth #14: Government Regulations Protect Investors Myth #15: The Largest Investors Hold All the Cards Myth #16: Allocate a Small Amount to Foreign Stocks Myth #17: Lower Risk by Diversifying Across Asset Classes Myth #18: Diversification Failed in the '08 Financial Crisis Myth #19: Too Much Diversification Lowers Returns Myth #20: There is No Free Lunch
References
External links Jackass Investing - Official Website Brandywine Asset Management, Inc. Movies To Go, Inc Mike Dever on Twitter
The Wall Street Journal This Weekend | May 5, 2012 "Dever: Experts Are No Better at Managing Money" | Bloomberg TV | May 31, 2012
Mike Dever on "Money Matters" | July 23, 2012 "Breaking Down Investing Myths" | Bloomberg TV | July 24, 2012