The Book

Snap JudgmentSnap Judgment:

When to Trust Your Instincts, When to Ignore Them,
and How to Avoid Making Big Mistakes With Your Money

Your instincts are your worst enemy when it comes to money and investing. Keep them from leading you to disaster!

  • Beyond Freakonomics and Blink, a fascinating look at the realities of your own behavioral biases and how to avoid the often costly consequences.
  • The first book to reveal the behavioral roots of today’s financial and economic crisis and how to avoid such crises in the future.

Synopsis:

Blink told people what they wanted to hear: that a quick impression can deliver results even better than careful study and evaluation. But when it comes to your investments and your money, the lessons of Blink are dead wrong! In Snap Judgment, 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 your own financial decision-making. Along the way, David Adler introduces the groundbreaking field of behavioral finance, and exposes the surprising behavioral roots of today’s worldwide financial crisis. Drawing on the latest research, Adler reveals the predictable ways in which human perceptions and emotions cloud financial judgments, identifying specific errors in trading, investing, portfolio construction, fixed income investing, real estate investing, and corporate finance. Using examples from investing, sports, gambling, and beyond, Adler demonstrates how to systematically “de-bias” crucial financial decisions wherever they must be made. These techniques will be indispensable across the board: in personal investing, in life and healthcare planning, and, equally, in institutional investing and enterprise decision-making. You can overcome your natural psychological biases and this book will show you how!

What People Are Saying:

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. Adler recounts the conclusions of many practitioners and behavioral finance experts. 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, Economics, 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 your own self of the irrational impulses that torment your portfolio.”
–Peter Navarro, best selling 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.