Sunday, August 31, 2025

Are We Fickle-Minded?

Being fickle-minded means not being consistent, and this can be a bit perturbing for others, especially when seeing that person ordering food and correcting a few times before settling on the final item.

Picture generated by ChatGPT

People love consistency because it signals a form of integrity from which trust is build upon. If someone is displaying inconsistency a.k.a. fickle-mindedness, that person would run the risk of losing his/her credibility, since a choice, an opinion or a viewpoint can change at any moment.


Speaking of change, as the saying goes, it is the only constant around. Things may change for the good, or the bad, thus we must adjust our expectations and views of the things at hand. It is not wise to stick to the same stand and maintaining the aura of consistency when the situation is heading south.


In the world of investing, you may have encountered occasions where an analyst or economist is saying one thing about the markets and economy today and then switched tack and commented the other thing on the very next day. This is also seen in posts by financial bloggers and podcasts/videos from financial influencers. Some may abhor these actions as the individuals are seen to be fickle-minded and not trustworthy, but I view them as adjusting their opinions after probably obtaining new data/information.


However, some things do remain consistent, like investment philosophies, principles and methodologies (e.g., diversification) that work most times, and age-old adages such as “be fearful when others are greedy and vice versa”.


Therefore, whenever you see someone changing their minds on something in their posts/broadcasts, take a step back and understand what their rationale was in doing so, rather than quickly judge and dismiss them.


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