Investment Belief Systems - A Cultural Perspective

Investment management is a judgment-rich endeavor.  The major components of managing an investment program – determining objectives, finding and exploiting opportunities, and evaluating the extent to which objectives have been achieved – all involve judgment as much as data.  Judgments in turn are framed by one's system of beliefs about how the investment world works.  Given this, it seems worthwhile to ponder where our beliefs come from, to assess their validity, and to attempt to improve them as opportunities exist to do so.