Len,

Thanks for your feedback.

Regarding the scope of the article, you said:

“Interesting piece that covers a lot of territory, perhaps too much.”

Thanks – that’s a fair point. The original submission was 25,000 words and may be more suitable for a book than an article.

But allow me to explain the purpose of the article, which was to spark a some actionable recommendations based on behavioral finance.

You mentioned:
“I have taught investment finance for many years including behavioral finance since the 1990s. I am also a small investor who has experienced the behavioral biases that we all have.”

Given your experience, I think we would both agree that behavioral finance is an important topic in finance. My frustration is that most of behavioral finance is designed solely to diagnose our biases, and does not suggest a treatment for our biases.

For example, I know that I have confirmation bias when I read the news. So my investment process is designed to mitigate this bias. I would love to see how other professionals deal with the same issue, and I hope that this series of articles spurs a much-needed discussion about how to minimize our behavioral biases.

Regarding Vanessa Otero:
You observe that Otero “… is a patent attorney by training but not somebody who has any training in journalism or media. I realize that one can become an expert without a degree training but that takes a lot of study on one’s own along with some kind of training.”

Fair point.

But in Otero’s post about methodology, the third sentence says: “I am not a media expert.” https://www.adfontesmedia.com/the-reasoning-and-methodology-behind-the-…

In any case I believe that Otero has a sound methodology and a transparent process. This process is what’s important to me as a reader, rather than her qualifications. The quality of her research and writing speaks for itself, and she showed remarkable depth when I contacted her about one of the assumptions in her methodology.

The question was about why she uses a simple left/right political axis. Otero wrote:
“…several forces, including our country’s two-party system, tend to flatten those other dimensions into the liberal-conservative dimension that most Americans easily recognize. As Steven Pinker states in his book Blank Slate, “while many things in life are arranged along a continuum, decisions must often be binary.” For more on this concept, see Pinker’s book or Maxwell Stearn’s writing on political dimensionality here.”
Pinker's book: https://stevenpinker.com/publications/blank-slate
Max Stearns: https://www.blindspotblog.us/single-post/2017/04/14/Ideological-Blindsp…

I followed these links and eventually wound up reading “Conflict of Visions” by Thomas Sowell to understand the underlying assumptions. I believe that Otero used these sources accurately, and this gives me confidence in her work.

If Otero has a secret agenda, I do not know. I base my opinion on her published work.

Thanks again for your comments,
Rob