The Psychology of Speculation. English-only reading by default; switch among English, Chinese, and Spanish, or compare languages side by side.
This chapter examines RETIRED BUSINESS MEN IN THE STOCK MARKET, using the author’s early-twentieth-century investment framework to explain how investors were expected to judge security quality, income, risk, and market conditions. It opens from the chapter’s own discussion: Retired business men suffering from ennui, have often had recourse to the stock market as a means of stimulating their emotions and expanding their fortunes; with the result, in the first of these purposes they have usually succeeded beyond their expectations, while in the second they have met with uncharted obstacles. Some years ago when many of the great trusts were in process of formation a well known Pittsburgh m
Readers studying financial history, investment education, and the chapter’s specific subject—retired business men, scale down, short side—will get the most from this section. It is not suitable as a modern trading or investment checklist.
Read this chapter as historical investment education. The market rules, disclosure practices, securities, commissions, interest-rate conditions, and investor protections around retired business men, scale down, short side may differ sharply from modern markets.