The main European indices collapsed following the Asian indices as investors react to the US and Israel's operation against Iran. Last weekend was a test for millions of people around the world: the images of Iranian bombing, US fighter jets <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/live-blog/2026-03-01/iran-latest?srnd=homepage-europe">shot down by</a> "friendly fire" and a deserted mall in Dubai are shocking: one of the first reactions is not a calculation of asset returns, but pure, evolutionary fear or at least anxiety. Psychologist Michael Tegin urges us not to fuss and to look at the facts: the market almost always recovers faster than we can imagine.

STOXX Europe 600 index down 1.9%: why our brains expect war to collapse

Black February: how AI triggered a sell-off on Wall Street

The share of equities in investors' portfolios has reached a record level since the end of 2024, so optimistic investors have not been for the past five years, a February survey of global fund managers conducted by Bank of America showed. Meanwhile, the amount of cash held in mutual fund portfolios is unusually low at just 3.4%. This bias in favor of riskier assets is dangerous, <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/stock-market-sentiment-risk-3bc44ebe">writes</a> Barron's. Over the past few years, stocks have been growing, and perhaps the desire to invest in them now is a consequence of cognitive distortions, psychologist Mikhail Tegin does not rule out. In his column for Oninvest, he discusses how this makes us act against logic and to the detriment of our investment portfolio.

Behavioral finance: how the brain gets in the way of making money in the marketplace

In one week, a new AI tool from Anthropic to automate clerks' work, <a href="https://oninvest.com/article/anthropic-i-openai-vypustili-obnovlenia-v-razgar-rasprodazi-na-rynke-eto-novyj-udar">led to</a> a big sell-off on Wall Street in several industries at once. Investors fear that the new AI capabilities could jeopardize traditional business models. Analysts from New Street Research believe that the fall in markets is due not so much to objective factors as to anxiety. In psychology, particularly cognitive-behavioral psychology, experts describe four rules by which an anxious person lives. In investments, they turn us from analysts into indecisive people or even panickers. Psychologist Mikhail Tegin explains how these mechanisms work on the stock market and how to turn them to your advantage.

Four rules of anxiety: how to stop fearing the AI apocalypse and not expect the worst

Sleep-deprived people <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11611806/">stop perceiving</a> negative feedback, i.e. a losing trade no longer makes the tired person's brain adjust the investment strategy. At the same time, the brain switches to the energy-saving mode and starts using simplified thinking patterns. And although in the world of finance it is commonly believed that success depends on intelligence, in reality this is far from true. Let's see how fatigue not only makes us risky, but also inconsistent in our investments.

The cost of burnout: how sleep deprivation and everyday stress reduce investment returns

The VIX fear index fluctuated in a 19% range this week, first rising to 20.1 points as it approached the edge of the stress zone, and then falling about 16%. Investors were reacting not to objective macroeconomic data but to Donald Trump's plans for Greenland - as a result, U.S. stocks <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cb1a8211-ac60-4cb2-b68f-955f3d0f98f5">lost</a> more than $1 trillion on Tuesday. In such an environment, reactive decisions can lead to financial losses. Why discipline and system help an investor to act more effectively than intuition and quick analytics - explains psychologist Mikhail Tegin.

$1 trillion loss in a day on fear: How market discipline saves money

The festive reset easily pushes us toward New Year's resolutions. As we <a href="https://oninvest.com/article/prazdnicnye-obesania-pocemu-oni-bol-se-cem-prosto-spisok-pozelanij">wrote</a> earlier, the plan to become an effective investor and double your income will have to be put into practice at some point.  But almost immediately, our commitments cease to be a source of motivation and begin to weigh on us — every glance at the market or banking app increases our stress. The reason is not weak willpower, but how the brain works and the cognitive traps we create for ourselves.

New Year's resolutions as a cognitive trap: what prevents us from seeing our plans through to the end

The New Year and Christmas often feel like a clean slate, a new phase: an opportunity to reset old habits, "reset" failures and lay the foundation for future success. We make solemn promises to ourselves - commitments: to start running, to read more books or, especially important for investing, to finally strategize and increase our income.

Holiday promises: why they're more than just a wish list

Have you ever experienced that despite all your knowledge about diversification and long-term planning, you impulsively buy shares of a "hot" company at some point, and then sell them with the same zeal at the first correction? Have you ever wondered why you do this? Or why you avoid the stock market for years, preferring to keep your money only on deposit, although inflation often eats up all the income? The answer to these questions lies not only in the economic news or even in how you interpreted it, but in how you "see" money - in your unconscious beliefs. These are called Money Scripts - Money Scripts. Let's analyze them using the examples of characters from the TV series "Game of Thrones".

Mikhail Tegin

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Articles: 12

STOXX Europe 600 index down 1.9%: why our brains expect war to collapse

Black February: how AI triggered a sell-off on Wall Street

The price of bias: how cognitive distortions drive investment against logic

Four rules of anxiety: how to stop fearing the AI apocalypse and not expect the worst

The cost of burnout: how sleep deprivation and everyday stress reduce investment returns

$1 trillion loss in a day on fear: How market discipline saves money

The curse of a "clean slate." What prevents us from fulfilling our New Year's resolutions

Holiday promises: why they're more than just a wish list

How childhood shapes attitudes toward money: lessons from "Game of Thrones" for the investor