The Intellectual Poison

Amar Pandit , CFA , CFP

Like every year, 2023 will also be a year where we will witness a lot of intellectual poison.

In the investing world, they come in the form of forecasts, research reports, articles, books, seminars, webinars, tweets, videos, podcasts and many other flavours.

To explain my point, I rely on Leo Tolstoy’s book “A Calendar of Wisdom”.

He wrote, “The difference between real material poison and intellectual poison is that most material poison is disgusting to the taste, but intellectual poison, which takes the form of cheap newspapers or bad books, can unfortunately sometimes be attractive”.

Avoiding this intellectual poison is thus a necessary requirement to become a wise investor. It’s not easy though because consuming it is addictive.

Thus, go on a Media Fast or an Intellectual Poison Fast. Start with a few hours first. Then a day. Then a Week and Then Build a Habit of staying away from it completely. Because this fast will not only help you achieve better investment outcomes but most importantly it will help you to focus on things that truly matter and the things that are in your control.