Standard Deviations with Dr. Daniel Crosby

We’re all familiar with the term “keeping up with the Joneses” but it’s doubtful that we understand just how deeply ingrained this is in our concept of success and how the neurological processes we’ve touched on here contribute. Each year, a Gallup poll asks Americans to determine “What is the smallest amount of money a family of four needs to get along in this community?” Gallup finds that the answers to this question moves up in line with average incomes of the respondents. “Enough”, it seems, is a moving target that our flawed neurology won’t quite let us scratch. The amount of money we need to survive is just a little bit more than we have right now.

Our brains push us toward comparative notions of financial wellbeing that only provide transitory joy, but understanding our limitations is a first step toward making a different choice. Indeed, the Western tendency toward outward displays of wealth and comparative measurement is not endemic to all developed countries. Switzerland is just one example of a very wealthy country with a diametrically opposed philosophy relative to showy wealth. As opposed to the American mantra of, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it” the Swiss take an “If you’ve got it, hide it” approach so as not to provoke envy in others. The Swiss approach demonstrates that our views are an outcropping of a specific way of viewing wealth rather than something deterministic about human nature. We are not our worst impulses and it is up to us to determine to support each other on the way to balance and true happiness rather than prodding each other toward jealousy and excess.

“Daniel Kahneman helmed a Princeton study set out to answer the age-old question, “Can money buy happiness?” Their answer? Sort of. Researchers found that making little money did not cause sadness in and of itself but it did tend to heighten and exacerbate existing worries. For instance, among people who were divorced, 51% of those who made less than $1,000/month reported having felt sad or stressed the previous day, whereas that number fell to 24% among those earning more than $3,000/month. Having more money seems to provide those undergoing adversity with greater security and resources for dealing with their troubles. However, the researchers found that this effect (mitigating the impact of difficulty) disappears altogether at $75,000.

For those making more than $75,000 individual differences have much more to do with happiness than does money. While the study does not make any specific inferences as to why $75,000 is the magic number, I’d like to take a stab at it. For most families making $75,000/year, they have enough to live in a safe home, attend quality schools and have appropriate leisure time. Once these basic needs are met, quality of life has less to do with buying happiness and more to do with individual attitudes. After all, someone who makes $750,000 can buy a faster car than someone who makes $75,000, but their ability to get from point A to point B is not substantially improved. It would seem that once we have our basic financial needs met, the rest is up to us.”

What seldom-uttered phrase can make you wealthier and more likeable?

Why did a bank robber use lemonade to commit crimes?

Why don't dumb people know how dumb they are?

Let me ask you a question, “Do you like laugh tracks?” Didn’t think so.

If laugh tracks are so universally disliked, why do Hollywood executives continue to include them? These executives understand something that we may not; however irksome canned laughter may be, it provides valuable social cues to viewers. Research has repeatedly shown that laugh tracks cause viewers to laugh longer and harder and to rate the viewing experience as more enjoyable. In fact, laugh tracks have been shown to be most effective at improving the appraisals of jokes that are especially bad! We are programmed to do what others are doing, even when those others only exist on tape.
Social mimicry is ubiquitous. Panhandlers often salt their tip jars with money from the day before to show that giving is proper behavior and that other people have deemed them worthy of a handout. A beggar with no money in his cup is perhaps more deserving of a dollar, but also far less likely to get that dollar than the beggar who already has three.
One of the most cost effective ways to extinguish a fear in children is to have them observe other children performing the anxiety-inducing behavior. In one study, 67% of children with a fear of dogs were “cured” of this phobia within a week, simply by watching other children pet Fido. Even something as serious as suicide is subject to the effects of social mimicry. Dr. David Phillips of the University of California at San Diego found that “within two months after every front-page suicide story, an average of fifty-eight more people than usual killed themselves.” In laughing and crying, living and dying, it would seem that the behavior of those around is far more contagious than we may have ever supposed.
Mirror neurons and other mechanisms of the brain facilitate the precious gift of empathy, an invaluable resource when building relationships and community. Though we may not have experienced exactly the same joys and sorrows, we can vicariously experience each other’s emotions in a way that allows for comfort, support and even shared elation.
But, in what is becoming an ever-stronger theme here, the very mechanisms by which we form community and share each others’ burdens make us poor investors and more concerned with keeping up with others than providing for our own needs. As Jason Zweig says, “...investing isn’t about beating others at their game. It’s about controlling yourself at your own game.”

Stories are powerful means of transmitting information and making sense of our own lives, but do they serve us well as investors? In this episode, we will answer these and other questions by looking at the price of a sequined glove, the performance of initial public offerings and how stories can hijack our brain on the way to our hearts.

A discussion of the 4 Cs of behavioral investment management as found in The Laws of Wealth: Psychology and the Secret to Investing Success.