Ego and pride are not really useful elements while investing. Many investors I know have made money because of luck. And many others have made money because about say 30 years back (or say 50 years back) it was not very fashionable to “trade” equity. So when an electrode supplier liked the way L&T or Tata Motors or Hindalco were run, he was impressed, he bought the share and today is sitting on a few million rupees.

It is not uncommon for intelligent, competent people who have been successful in business or an academic environment to try their hands at trading on the markets. If I have been better than my peers in academics, I should be better than them in investing is it not?

In essence, because they have managed to outpace the competition in the business or university sector, they think they can do the same with investments. However, while this logic may be appealing, it does not always pay off and many of these individuals lose money for a variety of reasons.

If in a small incident like being “first” in a lunch queue happens by luck, or rather you are willing that it happened by luck, why will people not admit that they got a good share by luck? I do not know maybe a doctor can answer this question!

Speaking of doctors, they make excellent investors – ask the bank RMs who deal with them J.