🐺 Contrarian Investing: The Sheep Masquerading as a Lone Wolf

Jason Zweig’s Devilish Reminder That Almost Everyone Claims to Be Contrarian — Until It’s Time to Actually Stand Alone

CONTRARIAN, n.  A sheep masquerading as a lone wolf. To be a contrarian, you must buy when most others are selling and sell when most are buying—an act that sounds easy but requires almost superhuman emotional toughness. Most professional money managers would destroy their businesses if they thought independently, since most clients just want them to chase whatever is hot until it is not. Much like the Judean crowd chanting “We are all individuals!” in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, every single professional investor believes he is a contrarian. Almost none are.