I’ve noticed over the years that at a lavish buffet, the guests tend to attack the food in ways that have something in common with the way that many investors tackle the stock market. Speaking very generally, these buffet guests/market followers seem to come in three broad categories. Let’s start with the buffet guests. The most eye-catching buffet patrons are what you might think of as “the plungers.” They look for and zero in on a table that offers their favourite foods. They give it a try and if the food tastes as good to them as it looks, they fill one plate after another. These guests cause many of the traffic jams that occur in the lines around the busiest tables. They may be waiting for, say, a refill on the lobster tray. The second group of buffet patrons fall in what I’d call the “nibblers” category. (You could also think of them as “picky eaters.”) These guests only try one or two…