There’s a very specific kind of investor delusion that only exists inside Nasdaq-heavy portfolios. I know because I’ve lived it. It usually starts with confidence. Dangerous confidence. The kind of confidence a person develops after watching technology stocks climb relentlessly while financial media explains that this time the future is truly different. You buy a few growth names. Then a few more. Then suddenly your portfolio starts behaving like it drank three energy drinks and discovered cryptocurrency forums at 2 a.m. Every day becomes emotional weather. Up 4%. Down 6%. Up 11%. Down 9%. You start checking futures markets before brushing your teeth. Jerome Powell’s facial expressions begin affecting your blood pressure. Semiconductor earnings calls become spiritual events. And eventually, somewhere between your fourth consecutive “buy the dip” speech and your seventh reminder that artificial intelligence will supposedly justify every valuation known to mankind, you discov...
Every few months the financial world performs the same sacred ritual. A guy appears on television looking like he hasn’t slept since the dot-com crash and announces: “The market is dangerously overvalued.” Cue dramatic music. Cue thumbnail face. Cue YouTube comments filled with people typing “THIS TIME IT’S DIFFERENT” in all caps while holding 73% cash and emotionally preparing for economic Ragnarok. Meanwhile the S&P 500 quietly keeps doing what it’s done for generations: climbing a wall of fear while everyone screams the sky is falling. I was listening to a long-form investing breakdown recently where the central argument was basically: “Maybe the market isn’t actually in a bubble, maybe people just refuse to understand growth anymore.” And honestly? That hit harder than it should have. Because modern investors have developed an absolutely bizarre relationship with success. A stock goes up for years because the company keeps making absurd amounts of money, and people...