Nassim Taleb offers an argument about why we lose money in his controversial book Fooled By Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and Life. According to him, many traders believe they rule the roost simply because they were in the right place with the right strategy for that moment in history. Unfortunately, these so-called experts wash out as soon as times change because their foolproof strategies crash and burn.

Does Taleb's argument sound familiar to you? It zeroes in on all the bull market genius that's evaporated since the burst of the bubble. So why do you still chase stocks in the same way you did back then? The obvious answer is that you want to believe those days are returning, and you're willing to sacrifice hard-earned cash over and over again to make that happen.

This is 2002, and we are right in the middle of the worst bear market since the Great Depression.