
Devina Mehra: Investors beware—Part-truths could be more misleading than complete lies
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.If I gave you a choice between something that is 60-70% true and something that is an outright lie, which one would you prefer? It is normal to think that having a reasonable amount of truth in what is being said would be better than a complete untruth, but you would be mistaken. Why?“Something that’s true but incomplete might be more dangerous than something that’s wrong, as a little truth is a fuel for a lot of overconfidence,” said Morgan Housel.
To over-confidence, add credibility and believability.For example, you may be a little wary of a finfluencer pushing a new crypto platform or trading course without any credentials in investing.But what if it is someone with a financial journalism background who explained the Public Provident Fund or National Pension Scheme extremely well in his last video or article?When they tell you that XYZ fund manager is experienced at global investing, you would take them seriously. Except that this statement may not be complete or accurate.
The experience of the fund house may be limited to having bought half a dozen well-known US stocks and having held them for five years. And those recommending the fund may not have revealed that they have certain financial contracts with the same fund house.
The fact that not all of what they talk is nonsense makes it more of a trap.Many of you would have seen what was a popular video a few years ago, explaining how paints are delivered twice a day from the Asian Paints plant to each dealer according to what is selling in that particular location.The truth? Every paint shade is mixed at the dealership itself. There isn’t and never was any twice-a-day delivery.
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