Behavioral economics

Three specialists, including Prof. Meir Statman, a leading scholar, take a deep dive into the field's applicability to financial advisors.

Most investors are rigid about their investing philosophy, which makes them poorly adapted to changing markets and political regimes.

In new academic research, experiments involving selections of YouTube videos shed light on the psychology of conflicts of interest.

To systematically understand the families you work with, first get to know their views on key behavioral-finance criteria, writes Michael Liersch.

Recessions, bubbles and bear markets can teach advisors about the general investing public they look to serve.

Author and Commonwealth Financial Chairman Joseph Deitch discusses how to gain a better understanding of yourself and your clients, and how to resolve differences.

How one advisor sees the outsized influence of Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman on the financial planning industry.

The robo advisor is relying on behavioral insights to develop more personalized offerings as advice like Amazon's Alexa seeps into wealth management.

Advisors are discovering how to spot “money disorders,” according to a Financial Planning webinar.

If retirement is abstract to clients, ask specific questions to make it more real to them, such as: “Where will you be living? What does your house look like? What are you doing?"

Behavioral economics, essentially a combination of economics and psychology, is tailor-made to help straighten irrational decisions when it comes to portfolio construction.

Emotion-driven decisions may result in portfolios that retirees find palatable, but they are also likely to result in lower returns.

Pushing them to plan ahead is “the biggest issue we face as an industry,” one CEO coach says.

We must control our own bad behavior before we can become coaches for our clients, says contributor Allan Roth.

How advisers can help overcome their irrational expectations.

It turns out that common cognitive shortfalls apply to Social Security planning as much as investment strategies.

While many are woefully uninformed about the mechanics of Social Security, better information alone is not enough to guarantee better claiming behavior.

Two planners spell out the common psychological biases that prevent clients from maximizing their benefits.