Starry Eyed Investors

Receptiveness to financial astrology is not limited to countries rich in superstition such as India. The discipline also has a following in developed countries like the UK and the US. In fact, one of the leading UK-based financial dailies recently reported, financial astrology is “growing in popularity and complexity”. Investment decisions are personal and complex, with priorities, risk preferences and timelines varying for different investors. Hence, when making high pressure decisions about how to invest their hard-earned cash – individuals act in ways that are based on emotion, gut instinct or superstition, pointed out a report by Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, this February. Soumitro Banerjee, Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, scoffed at such unrealistic practices. “Astrology is an unscientific belief...