Why your emotions are the biggest danger when investing

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's keeping emotion in check to become a better investor. Hosted by Frances Cook. <br /><br />Emotions and money are like petrol and fire. Try not to mix them if you can, because it's likely you won't enjoy the result. <br /><br />So while I've loved seeing more people paying attention to their money in the last year, and particularly the fantastic surge in people who are interested in investing, I have found it worrying the emotions that are clearly also in the mix. <br /><br />Strategies abound for getting rich quickly, hyped stocks are spread through online forums, and for every overnight winner there are ten losers left in their wake, carrying the can. <br /><br />The reaction to this in some quarters has been for people to warn that the sharemarket is like a casino, and that if you dabble, you should prepare to get burned. <br /><br />Well that's just not true either. <br /><br />Shares are a proven wealth-building strategy, it's just that you do need a strategy as you get started. <br /><br />Getting your emotions under control is part of that strategy for every single one of us, whether that's greed, fear, or FOMO. <br /><br />In the latest podcast I talked to AUT senior lecturer in finance Dr Ayesha Scott<br /><br />If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/" rel="noopener">https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/</a> Instagram here <a href="https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/" rel="noopener">https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/</a> and Twitter here <a href="https://twitter.com/FrancesCook" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/FrancesCook</a>