By: musicwhiz Avarice (another word for "greed"), our 4th discussed sin, strikes most investors during the peak of a bull market or during the middle of a raging bull market. It will be rather self-explanatory to the informed reader that greed is part of a normal investor's psychology, and therefore should be controlled as part of the fear/greed combination which occurs in such potent fashion while investing in the stock market. However, what may not be obvious is that avarice can take different forms and may manifest itself in different ways (through various behaviours). The objective of this post is to highlight the various forms of avarice, how they are demonstrated and how to effectively curb such behaviour and prevent it from ruining our investing lives. First of all, Mr. Fertig's book points out that greedy investors tend to be unrealistic investors. To give an example, one may invest with the proper research framework and do their requisite reading and valuation tests to look for a suitable investment. However, when it comes to expectations of returns, avarice causes the investor to have wildly unrealistic expectations. He may envision a 200% rise in the stock price over a period of a year, or erroneously believe that his company is the best in the industry and immune to downturns. Such unrealistic expectations usually cause an investor to lose focus of reality and may cause recklessness and deep disappointment. Read more... Click here to read the rest of the Investment Sins series.