The Film
Patrick Doyle and Chris Ballanger are investment advisers at Wellington West Capital Inc and they are the people who have brought you this film.
“We’re market professionals...we work in this business. We live it and breathe it. We see the mistakes other market participants make” Says Doyle “and we both have a real keen interest in BEFI (behavioural finance) and we see how if people knew more they may not make as many mistakes”. Adds Ballanger “I’ve been an investment adviser for a little over 20 years. Many times I’d be offering people all the logical reasons in the world why they should or shouldn’t do this thing or that—and sometimes it just fell on deaf ears. Clients wouldn’t do it, even if I KNEW it would benefit them. Looking at the world through the behavioural finance’s lens is great because it acknowledges that people often make financial decisions emotionally ”.
When asked about their motivation, Doyle says “I think there are two reasons for doing this film. There’s an altruistic one and obviously there’s a selfish one, too. The altruistic one is, like, ‘look...people make mistakes when they invest...if they had deeper insights into how markets work and what makes themselves tick, then they’d be much better off. This film may help thousands of investors save or make more money—the benefits are incalculable. I wanted to give them that”. And the selfish reason? “One of the people we interviewed summed it up nicely when he asked ‘where have you been? I’m stunned that no brokers out there have had the sense to come and talk to us and take our message to the masses! He then went on to say that from the perspective of raising our profile this film is the equivalent of rolling out the atomic bomb when our competitors in the financial services industry are cold calling and playing around with bows and arrows”
“This stuff isn’t new necessarily” continues Doyle. “Benjamin Graham, who was a major influence on Warren Buffett among others, said that an investor’s chief problem, even worst enemy, is likely to be himself. This film talks about the ways investors are their own worst enemies, and, more importantly, what they can do to make themselves better off”.