From Investopedia…
“A slang term used to describe sensationalist reports of financial news and products causing irrational buying that can be detrimental to investors’ financial health. Short-term focus by the media on a financial topic can create excitement that does little to help investors make smart, long-term financial decisions, and in many cases clouds investors’ decision-making ability. ”
The folks in the in the financial news game have a tough task. They have to keep their viewers from tuning out, despite a multitude of evidence that suggests that investors who do not regularly watch the financial news achieve better long term results. In order to keep viewers tuned in, the financial networks manufacture a sense of excitement by constantly making predictions about the short term direction of the markets and implying that it’s always time to DO SOMETHING. The problem is that whatever that “something” is, it probably causes the investor to deviate from his long-term plan.
In the context of retirement saving, this means that it is prudent to plan an appropriate asset allocation and set up periodic rebalancing. If an investor reacts to news and deviates from his retirement plan, he is injecting a potentially large new source of randomness into his returns…one that has the power to derail a good financial plan.
In the context of mechanical trading, it means that it is appropriate to follow the system’s signal on the next trade. Whenever I have the urge to override a signal, I’m usually being influenced by something I’ve just seen on TV. In such a case, I remind myself that it’s almost never time to deviate from the plan. I’m always amazed at how much trouble and anxiety that I could have avoided if I had simply walked away from the screen for a day and let the system do its work.
It is wise to keep in mind that financial news networks are bankrolled to a large extent by advertising dollars from brokerage firms. The brokers are the folks who would love nothing more than if we were all day traders, churning our accounts and generating lots and lots of commissions. The networks create the impression that the “fast” traders are the ones who make all the money, without substantiating this claim in any way.
I was prompted to make this post because I want to mention that CNBC is always counting down to something. It could be a financial report, the market open, the market close, whatever. They don’t count it down in minutes and seconds…oh no. They count it down to hundreths of a second! With those hundreths flying by, how could a viewer’s blood pressure not rise?
When I was in San Francisco over the summer, I did not have access to cable TV. I disconnected from financial porn and my results did not suffer. I’d go so far as to say that actual masturbation is more productive than the financial kind.