Find Your Investing Soulmate on the Jersey Turnpike

As a followup to a previous column, "Irreconcilable Differences," I received an e-mail from a reader asking how she could ensure, ahead of time, investment compatibility with a future spouse.

Unfortunately, like most issues in life, the direct approach does not work. Asking him, "Sweetie, how will you invest our 401(k) funds?" will only result in getting the answer he thinks you want. "Honey, whatever you think is best," will be the answer you will hear. The thought that different investment strategies could result in irreconcilable harm to your future relationship seems remote to him. But we know better. He will say whatever you want in order to move the conversation to supposedly more important questions like, "How many kids do you want, five or six?" Or, "What religion should we raise the kids in?" We all know, however, as index investors, that our Investment Gestalt (IG) is the key predictor of future happiness. Fortunately, I have developed a test that will increase the probability of matching your IG with that of a prospective partner.

This is the scenario: Your friend (and I would keep the relationship at a platonic stage until after this first test of compatibility) is driving and you approach a toll on the New Jersey Turnpike. It's 5:30 p.m. and traffic is backed up a quarter mile. Now watch carefully as your friend selects one of 10 lanes to approach the tollbooths. Does he scan the mass of opportunities and abruptly cut across eight lanes of traffic to get into the shortest lane? So far, so good, correct? No, don't jump to any conclusions yet. Wait and see his behavior as his lane stops dead. Does he pull out and squeeze into the fastest moving lane two rows to your left? Even worse, does this behavior continue for the next 10 minutes as he chases the best performing lane? Stay away from this person. Don't give him a kiss goodnight and don't take his calls in the future. His approach is strictly short-term. He chases short-term performance (and he is rude too).

Still confused? The most suitable mate, the one with a similar IG would have randomly selected a lane and not wavered. He realizes that the lane that moves the fastest cannot be determined ahead of time and that short-term performance has no statistical significance to the final outcome. Your Mr. Right would have selected a lane and stayed in it. He would have used the extra time to find your favorite CD and ask how your mom is feeling.

Stay close to this guy. (Please note: With the introduction of express toll booths the validity of the above test has been challenged.) My question to our readers: what are the habits, quirks of personality that help you identify a person with a similar IG? Please share your perspectives with us.

Is it the kind of car he drives? Or the kind of dog he walks? Or how neat he keeps his apartment? Is it important that he calls his mom each night? Or is it totally counterintuitive? Are Indy 500 or Formula One drivers more likely to be index investors, while librarians take very large positions in hedge funds?

Please e-mail me with your insights so that I can share them with our readers.

Hesh Reinfeld writes a syndicated business humor column. You can read additional examples of his columns on his website: http://www.heshreinfeld.com Or contact him at hesh1@comcast.net

MORE RESOURCES:

RELATED ARTICLES

Options Education: Financing the Calendar!
As a trader, one of the key things that I try to consciously do is to cultivate my instincts by talking with other traders and investors as often as possible. It still amazes me how large the divergence of opinion that exists regarding what people believe will unfold as we enter the new millennium.

Powerful Hidden Techniques Mystery Formula - The Covered Call Option Trading Buy-Write Strategy
For better or worse, most option trading investors purchase stocks with the intent of holding their shares for an extended period of time.We do this mainly because the media and industry professionals have drilled into our heads, year after year, time after time, that it’s best to buy and hold.

Why the Rich Keep Getting Richer
Rich people: fortunate, lucky, selfish, and arrogant? Or highly educated, caring, brilliant individuals? Becoming rich isn't hard, but it does require a bit of time and knowledge. Having time to get rich, educating oneself, and buying assets are the three key factors in attaining untold wealth.

Options Education : Opinion versus Fact!
The most basic aspect of trading is learning to differentiate between what is FACTUAL and what is OPINION. If you stay interested in the financial markets long enough you will discover that there are a lot of sharks out there who have become expert at making that task very difficult.

How to Invest Overseas - Intelligently!
In recent months, many advisors have talked a lot about the wisdom of investing overseas, but most have failed to really address the way to do that. For new investors, investing in the U.

Evaluating A Money Manager
Scams and frauds are designed to take your money through false promises and phony�claims. Money management is supposedly designed to increase your net worth.

Discipline in Investing and Trading
Discipline can be simply defined as your ability to follow your investing and trading plan.Discipline is a rather simple concept.

Shop More, Save More for College Gimmick or Reality?
The man sat in a chair beside a dressing room at a Tampa, Fla. maternity store.

Stock Market Leaders and Laggards
Leaders are stocks that breakout immediately when the market confirms a new rally. In the first several weeks, strong stocks with leadership ability will breakout on volume above their 50-day average.

Before You Invest You Must Read This
It is important to answer the following questions before you begin to invest any of your money. The answers to these questions will help to guide you to when, what, where, and how much to invest.

The Arrow-Debreu Contingent Claims Model of Investment
Throughout the discussion of speculation and stability, we emphasized that uncertainty theorists now have a generally accepted framework for modeling choice under uncertainty. Economic theorists have chosen to model uncertainty as the revelation of a state of the world.

Investing in Car Dealerships: How to Do It Right
The financial characteristics of the automobile dealership are attractive:". .

Margin Benefits are Marginal at Best
Margin is one of those things that novices find puzzling about the stock market, but the concept is really quite simple. Still, with understanding the basics of using margin accounts, determining the wisdom of using margin can be quite a conundrum.

Keeping It Interesting
Some lines from a movie never leave your mind; I don't remember the context always, but I do recall the dialog. "The Big Chill" is one of the few movies I own (VHS).

Diversify!
The best way to avoid being hit hard by a stock market crash or another Enron/Worldcom fiasco is to make sure you don't put all your eggs in one basket. Diversification helps ensure steady growth of your net worth as you accumulate more assets.

Easily Finding A Good Stock
There is a tremendous amount of software, complicated high priced newsletters, radio and TV stock pickers and Internet web sites that will help you find a stock that is going to make you rich.The problem is you don't know if this is talk or are these gurus putting their own money where their mouth is.

Tyranosaurus Rex
Everyone knows T Rex was the most fearsome of all dinosaurs. He could and did kill everything in his path for food or maybe stupid meanness.

Well Managed Investing Risks Bring Rewards!
"Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing!" Warren Buffett (1930 - )We often listen to people who hesitate to invest in the stock market because they fear risk. There are older people who fear that a stock crash could leave them destitute.

Eight Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor
You may like your financial advisor, but is he really looking out for you? All advisors are not created equal, and you have a right to know what makes them different! You also have a right to ask yours if he compares!(1) Do you use a holistic approach to financial planning by determining my values and goals?(2) Do you work on a fee-only basis, a commission basis, or both, and why?(3) Do you have company-established insurance requirements, or do you recommend insurance only when it is needed by your clients?(4) Do you attempt to 'beat' the market through timing and selection, or do you believe that attempts to do so are not worth the additional level of fees and risk? Are you aware that a vast majority of my returns will be based on asset allocation, rather than timing and selection?(5) Are you a Registered Investment Advisor, and therefore a fiduciary? In other words, must you legally and ethically put my interests above your own?(6) Do you meet with your clients at least three times a year to refine their portfolio and find out how events in their lives may have changed their financial goals?(7) Do you return phone calls the same day you receive them, and are you available to answer questions as they arise?(8) When you wake up each morning, do you ask yourself how you can best be of help to your clients that day?Adjust these questions as you see fit, and depending upon what your own objectives and needs are from an advisor. The best advice is to never be afraid to ask!� 2004 Matthew S.

Almost Anyone Can Open A Roth IRA!
The Roth is kind of weird until you get used to it in terms of how much you can put in (contribute) each year depending on how much you earn (compensation). Because of this you really have two limits, one dealing with your compensation and the other dealing with your contribution.