South Sea Company - year 1720

Sir Isaac Newton, the world-renowned physicist and mathematician, who developed calculus and the laws of motion and universal gravitation, was no master of the universe when it came to equity investing.

In 1720, he lost £20,000 (or more than $3 million in early 2000’s money) on volatile South Sea Company shares.

The popular stock moved like this:



The great physicist remarked that he could:
"calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of the common people.”

Source - Harvard business review

 

Good one!
I’m often amazed with our technology these days... Robots which can do the most delicate of tasks, yet we cannot control our temper or predict outbursts....

 

Yep, high IQ doesn't necessarily correlate to better investment performance:

Harvard Lost Billions, Would You? - The Biglaw Investor

 

Nice article,
But where is Bitcoin in the Asset classes I wonder...

 

Well, I guess there is point at which low IQ investing can be detrimental too...