Personal Benchmark: Integrating Behavioral Finance and Investment Management

Introduction

Come this way, honored Odysseus, great glory of the Achaians, and stay your ship, so that you can listen here to our singing; for no one else has ever sailed past this place in his black ship until he has listened to the honey-sweet voice that issues from our lips; then goes on, well-pleased, knowing more than ever he did; for we know everything that the Argives and Trojans did and suffered in wide Troy through the gods' despite. Over all the generous earth we know everything that happens.

—The Sirens, Homer's Odyssey

Odysseus, Greek king of Ithaca, is best remembered for his arduous 10-year journey home after the Trojan War, as well as the Trojan Horse he used to gain surreptitious access to enemy fortifications. As the protagonist in Homer's epic poem “The Odyssey” and returning character in “The Iliad,” Odysseus is painted as a fierce warrior whose strength was matched only by his cunning. And while Odysseus may be best remembered as a warrior, perhaps his most important action on his decade-long sojourn was an act of restraint rather than brute force.

In Greek legend, Sirens were dangerous creatures that enticed sailors to come close with their beauty and enchanting music, only to lead them to shipwreck along a craggy shore. In addition to their beauty, these femmes fatale were also thought to be wellsprings of knowledge that could be harnessed for personal gain, if not for the unfortunate footnote that hearing their words led to certain death. Odysseus and ...