Should you listen to “experts” on apps/internet/podcasts/radio/TV?

If the “expert” or news is encouraging you to do long-term planning, save enough, use reasonably low-cost and highly diversified portfolios appropriate for your life stage, and not to be an emotional investor, then great, keep listening/watching! However, if they are telling you something different, and/or suggesting you buy or sell something specific and possibly soon… watch out, especially if they are saying it with extreme confidence. Studies show that people who are overly confident… are often wrong. They may also have a conflict of interest, if they have the incentive to get you excited or scared in order to improve their ratings (which is used to determine which shows stay on the air and what the advertising rates should be), or to sell you investment or insurance products, from which they earn a commission, or already have a position/holdings themselves or their client portfolios that might have prices influenced by their trading recommendations.

Supporting research: Sources: Don Moore, behavioral scientist at UC Berkeley/Haas, Terry O’Dean, investor behavior specialist at UC Berkeley/Haas, Phil Tetlock, U. Penn/Wharton.