Spotlight: An Investors’ Disease Called Rhinophobia

A lot of us suffer from the temptation of buying stocks or mutual funds as soon as we have some cash in the bank. Beware! It could be a symptom of a contagious disease called Rhinophobia.

“All of the humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” ~ Blaise Pascal

“There is an itch to do things, particularly when you haven’t done anything in a while.” ~ Warren Buffett

“Dude! These bank guys have suddenly started giving me too much attention,” my friend told me. He recently had a cash windfall when his startup was acquired by one of India’s leading e-commerce company.

“Of course they would. You are a rich client for them now,” I told him.

“Earlier I had to run from pillar to post to get even the basic account details updated. But now they are after me like anything. Quite a few people from different departments in the bank have approached me and offered their advice for investing my money,” he complained.

“It’s better to stay away from these advisors. They’re the agents of Rhinophobia,” I warned.

“Rhinophobia? Never heard of it before. Sounds like a disease,” he looked at me with furrowed brow.

“It’s an investor’s disease meaning the dread of ever having any cash. These so called expert advisors will convince you that having un-invested cash in the bank is the biggest sin an investor can make,” I explained.

“Sounds interesting. You should write about it in your Value Investing Almanack,” he suggested. I haven’t been in touch with him since some time so I don’t really know if he heeded to my warning about staying away from his bank’s advisors. However, I took his advice seriously. So here I am sharing my thoughts on Rhinophobia.

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