There is a natural cycle in our economy from optimism, exuberance and greed to doubt, fear, collapse of confidence and caution. That is part of human nature. During the boom, we allow our excitement and the stampede for wealth to distort our awareness so that we don’t do due diligence when investing. We throw good money after bad and assume that the market will always go up even though we know that that can’t be true. When we are in the fearful depressed state, we can’t see an opportunity when it is right in front of our nose. We should use our own personal judgement, instinct, awareness and reason rather than blindly following the crowd.