When the dam breaks

Talking about retail investor psyche, a fund manager said most people are conservative when they should be aggressive and aggressive when markets get overheated. “When markets are in correction mode, our clients disclose only a tenth of their real income,” the fund manager said. “When stocks start to go up, they disclose only 20 per cent; when they go up a fair bit, they disclose 50 per cent. And when stocks enter bubble territory, they get lured into more and disclose 100 per cent of their net worth.” The fund manager was referring to the current huge investments in equity schemes. No wonder retail investors invest big time when markets reach a peak. This has been witnessed in several of the past bull runs.