Unskilled and Unaware

http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf

I have tried to make it a habit to be friends with those who can prove me wrong in something and not slow to do so. It is much more valuable for an individual to have a thought proven wrong one previously thought right than a thought they thought was right actually shown to be right. It is amazing to me however how many people in this world really would rather remain ignorant than risk being proven wrong in some belief risking some degree of embarrassment. One must constantly be challenging ones basic assumptions no matter how "mainstream" or accepted those assumed truths may be. Though I fall in this trap at times, I recognized long ago that the cost of embarrassment is not worth the cost of ignorance. Maybe that is why I annoyed most of my classmates in college because I would not hesitate to interrupt the professor and discuss something I did not understand. One's pride is a dangerous hindrance to knowledge and wisdom and a battle that must (or I am shamed to say I at least must) be fought daily.

This is a study done showing how inaccurate individuals are at self assessing one's skill set. The takeaways to finance should be obvious. It is sort of a classic in certain circles so some of you may have read it but it was brought to my attention again today and I thought I would post it. It is fairly lengthy but if you read the first two pages and the last two pages you get most of the takeaways.

A couple of quotes taken from the paper that are particularly insightful:

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge." - Charles Darwin

"The quicker you realize that Amos is smarter than you, the smarter you yourself must be." - Richard Nisbett

"He who knows bests knows how little he knows." - Thomas Jefferson