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Women May Be Better Investors Than Men. Let Me Mansplain Why.



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Why do men trade too much? Professors Barber and Odean chalked it up to overconfidence. And where does overconfidence come from? William J. Bernstein, a neurologist who turned his attention to investing years ago, points to testosterone.The hormone causes three problems for investors: It decreases fear, increases greed and very much contributes to overconfidence. “It does wonderful things for muscle mass and reflex time but doesn’t do much for judgment,” he said.Updated Sept. 2, 2021, 4:54 p.m. ETIf you fear too little, you’re more likely to get hit hard when markets fall, since you’ll have too much money in the wrong kinds of investments. Similarly, too much greed can lead to too much risk. As for overconfidence, Mr. Bernstein, who is the author of books, including “The Investor’s Manifesto,” suggests a self-administered test question: How certain am I of what I’m doing? “In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind,” he said.Women, meanwhile, probably aren’t as confide …

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