t’s Christmas time again and the kids would hang their socks to receive gifts from Santa Claus. After a certain age, the kids start understanding that there is no Santa and laugh at kids of their age, who still believe in Santa. As adults, we already know that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. However, there are many areas in the investing world where we believe in our own Santa Clauses. Let us look at some:

• Santa Claus # 1: We believe that there are some people, who can predict the index numbers – the correct number and the correct date, both!
• Santa Claus # 2: We believe that we pay the fees, but the commission earned by sellers of financial products is paid by someone else and not us.
• Santa Claus # 3: We believe that the regulators are experts at investment management
• Santa Claus # 4: We believe that everyone can achieve above-average investment results
• Santa Claus # 5: We believe that management of personal finances is about sacrificing our today for a better tomorrow
• Santa Claus # 6: We believe that it is possible to earn very high returns without taking any risks, at all.
• Santa Claus # 7: We believe that the Governments and central banks can control markets
• Santa Claus # 8: We believe that a single data point of a long period is enough to prove anything
• Santa Claus # 9: We believe that it is perfectly fine to arrive at any conclusion based on a small sample of data
• Santa Claus # 10: We believe that the risk that others take would lead to bad outcomes, but the ones that we take will at worst result in low, but positive investment returns

We can go on and on … but have to stop somewhere. I guess the message is conveyed.

Merry Christmas to you all!