Little Reasons, Big Consequences
Why Your Investment Returns Stink
The investment industry wants you to believe that success is complicated. It isn't. This book exposes the small, seemingly innocent mistakes that compound into massive wealth destruction — and reveals the systematic approach that actually works.
By Brad Roth · ~10,600 words · 12 Chapters
What You'll Learn
The Mistakes That Matter
From buy-and-hold myths to emotion-driven decisions, discover the errors that destroy more wealth than any market crash.
Why Rules Beat Intelligence
Smart people make dumb investment decisions. Learn why systematic approaches outperform intuition every time.
What Actually Works
Cut through the noise. Discover the simple principles that protect wealth and let it compound over time.
Chapters
Each chapter stands alone, but together they build a complete framework for understanding investment success and failure.
Introduction
Setting the stage for understanding why most investors consistently underperform — and it's not for the reasons they think.
The Performance Gap
The data is clear: investors dramatically underperform the very funds they invest in. The culprit isn't bad products — it's bad behavior.
Fear and Greed
The two emotions that drive markets and destroy portfolios. Understanding the cycle of panic and euphoria that repeats throughout history.
The Buy-and-Hold Myth
Why the conventional wisdom of 'just hold on' fails in practice, and what happens when theory meets human psychology.
Timing the Market
Everyone says you can't time the market. But what if the real problem is that you're using the wrong tools to try?
The Diversification Trap
Diversification is supposed to protect you. But in a crisis, correlations go to one — and diversification fails when you need it most.
Information Overload
More information doesn't mean better decisions. In fact, it usually means worse ones. The paradox of modern investing.
The Advisor Problem
Financial advisors are human too. The structural incentives that often work against your best interests.
Systematic Solutions
Rules beat intuition. Every time. How systematic approaches remove the behavioral biases that destroy returns.
Signal Processing
What telecommunications and defense have known for decades — and how those principles apply to financial markets.
Risk First
The case for making risk management the foundation of every investment decision, not an afterthought.
The Path Forward
Bringing it all together: a framework for investing that prioritizes discipline, data, and systematic execution.
Frequently Asked Questions
It's a 12-chapter book by Brad Roth exploring the behavioral mistakes that destroy investor wealth. The core thesis is that investors underperform due to behavior, not bad strategies. Topics include the performance gap, fear and greed cycles, the buy-and-hold myth, information overload, and why systematic rules beat human intuition.
The book was written by Brad Roth, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of THOR Financial Technologies. It draws on his two decades of experience in quantitative finance and signal processing.
The book is approximately 10,600 words across 12 chapters. Each chapter stands alone but together they build a complete framework for understanding investment success and failure.
About the Author
Brad Roth is the founder and CIO of THOR Financial Technologies. With over two decades of experience in quantitative finance and signal processing, he developed THOR's proprietary methodology for detecting market regime changes. He hosts the “Behind the Ticker” podcast with 94+ episodes interviewing ETF industry leaders.
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