Investment Sentiment

I dearly wish I had a better picture than this to show you:

I saw it in a bank, naturally enough, and asked permission to take a photo.  It was on public display at the time, so I guess was doing a sort of public information service anyhow – it just tickled some part inside of me for reasons that I cannot explain or justify, but which never-the-less I feel oddly proud of.  It is a sine curve of ‘Investor Sentiment’ charting the rising and falling emotions of an investor, relative to how their monies are doing at the time.  It starts like this:

A curve sweeps upwards, starting at a high point of Excitement before peaking at Euphoria.  [Point of maximum financial risk] warns a big box above this word.  Then, financial risk clearly having not paid off, the curve sweeps back downhill through Anxiety, Fear, Panic, Capitulation and finally hits Despondency – [Point of maximum financial opportunity] announces another box!  This opportunity having been taken, despite the near-suicidal state of mind of our despondent, resigned, panic-stricken financier, the curve then sweeps back uphill through Relief, Hope and finally Optimism, where, you assume, it starts all over again.

Its amazing more bankers aren’t in therapy, isn’t it?