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The investment industry has created a new investment language over the last too many years; pie chart.

Investment firms and their advisors find that this investment graffiti makes it easy to generate investment planning reports, to make recommendations, and to justify change based on colors.

Converting data to pie charts lends itself to the generation of a wide range of splendid graphic and data representations that obscure the issues, oversimplify investment planning, and subliminally suggest that past investment performance will be, in fact, future investment results.

Pie Charts and their relatives deaden the brain, suffocate rather than illuminate, obscure rather than clarify, trivialize the task at hand, and leave out the details.

• Shakespeare did not write, "How do I love thee, let me show you this pie chart."

• Michelangelo, at the Sistine Chapel, did not think, "I will paint them a pie chart."

• Steven Hawking did not say, "The pie chart you see on the screen explains the issues of quantum physics and black holes."

What would happen if pie chart were translated and became the universal language of industry and the arts?

• Your Accountant: "I prepared your tax return for you in a detailed pie chart format to give to the IRS."

• Your Attorney: "You will save some money if I do a multicolored pie chart corporate restructuring for you."

• Your Doctor: "Here are your pie chart physical results. The pie chart indicates that we should remove all of the yellow and add a little more red when we go into surgery and open you up in a few minutes. By the way, you are in luck because the sliver of black in the pie chart seems to indicate that anesthesia will not be necessary while you are being operated on."

• Your Architect: "I show my designs in primitive pie chart rather than in the usual, more traditional blueprint format to create a more natural impression and to give you a better picture of what your new home may look like. Red represents brick and green is for the lawn. The gray indicates that we will be using a lot of nails. Oh yes, I almost forgot, the pie chart seems to indicate that the structure should hold."

Why would anyone use something rather ambiguous, like colors, to explain something that is quite clear, like numbers?

The reasons are to hide the numbers (not good), because the numbers are not understood (worse), because the numbers are not known (worse yet), or to keep the recipient from being too informed becasue the investment advisor is not well informed (the very worst).

If you were going to make decisions about your investment future, which illustration below would be a better starting point?

This?

Or This?

Examples were randomly selected, not related, and Gross Commissions were omitted.

For me and from my experiences, I enjoyed devouring pie chart (not) competition on a daily basis.

The Solution

If you are presently addicted to the primitive language of pie chart or if you are suffering from pie chart withdrawals, we can help.

If you are in denial of your affliction and continue to be satisfied with things as they are, obscure and superficial, may the force be with you.

How do I know about all of this? I was once suffered from this terrible, disabling malady.