With the stock market returning, on the average, about 10% a year, it seems extremely easy to make money. There are two ways to lose though, and both are very popular. As Martin Luther said, “human reason is like a drunken man on horseback: set it up on one side, and it tumbles over on the other.'” Many people in each generation distrust the market and refuse to “gamble” with their money. That lasts for a long time, but after it becomes extremely obvious that others are making money, the distrustful give in and buy whatever just went up in price, only to see it go down, whereupon they sell, locking in the loss, and convincing themselves that they were right to be distrustful.
