CFA Society of Orlando presents the Investors First Podcast: Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal: Traders vs. Investors, “Conflict-Free” Advice & Investing Heroes

Our guest today is Jason Zweig.  Jason has been a Columnist for the Wall Street Journal since 2008, writing the Intelligent Investor Column. Jason is on a short list of people globally that advocate for individual investors on a weekly basis and is somebody that embodies the spirit of The Investors First Podcast (putting investors first).

Before joining the WSJ, Jason held positions with Money Magazine (Senior Writer) and Forbes (Mutual Funds Editor), while also serving as a guest columnist for Time magazine and cnn.com.  He is author of Your Money and Your Brain, is editor of the revised edition of Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor and his most recent book is The Devil's Financial Dictionary. 

In today’s episode, we start with Jason’s beginnings on a farm in upstate New York. We then compare traders vs. investors and discuss the gamification of investing, time on device (TOD; a term casinos often use as a measure of success), and the boredom market hypothesis (BMH; doing nothing). Jason then discusses how we can improve as an investor emotionally, the lone thing we can often control. We later discuss why investors don’t incorporate human capital in their investment portfolio, demand for ESG, the importance of writing in plain English for investors, and the illusion of “conflict-free” financial advice. Last, we cover heroes in investing and the financial literacy industrial complex.

Our hosts today are Steve Curley, CFA and FirsTrust's CIO, Chris Cannon, CFA. Please enjoy the episode.