Becoming a sceptical investor, with John Stepek

It seems that all investors want to be contrarian investors.

My guest today explains that being a contrarian is hard work. It requires a lot of patience, both in terms of waiting for opportunities and then waiting to be proven right.

And it requires us to go against basic human instincts, fighting our natural tendencies to go with the flow and follow the herd.

But this is, of course, why being a contrarian works.

John Stepek has been writing about business, economics and investment for more than 20 years.

He’s the executive editor of MoneyWeek, Britain’s bestselling weekly investment magazine.

His new book, The Sceptical Investor, pulls together the latest research on behavioural finance, and examples from well-known contrarian investors, to offer practical techniques to help you to spot opportunities in common investment situations, from turnaround plays to bubbles and busts, that others in the market miss.

John warns that being a contrarian investor won’t make you popular and it won’t make you famous. But it will make you money.

Here’s my conversation with John Stepek in episode 416 of Informed Choice Radio.