When Ashley Quamme and I set out to start Trove, we felt something was missing in the industry. Specifically, we felt like advisors were missing a community that focused on practical advice and guidance on the behavioral side of financial planning. To address this, we wanted to create a space where advisors could receive specific, actionable feedback on client scenarios and ways to incorporate behavioral assessments to address challenging client situations. Most importantly, we wanted to facilitate a community that learns …
Why do so many financial planning websites include sailboats and sunsets? The idea behind this is, of course, that sailboats and sunsets may equate to a satisfied retirement or contentment in life (at least, to the target market of those firms). We want to believe that the plans we provide lead to positive financial outcomes, and in most cases, we can see objectively how those plans work out. The value of achieving financial goals …
Clients have various characteristics that influence their investment decisions. Many advisors understand that a significant part of the value of working with clients is helping them manage their mindset when it comes to investing. However, understanding investor psychology requires knowing what to measure. In the following text, we will examine several characteristics that can influence a client’s overall investor psychology, also known as behavioral risk tolerance. By measuring investor personality, advisors can identify which …
A class of personality tests, known generically as “type indicators,” places clients into one of several categories based on responses to a series of questions and then provides broad descriptions of the category. Some examples of “type indicators” include the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the very popular Enneagram.  Type tests are so much fun! It’s fun to see which category you (or your clients) fall into, what other movie stars or sports figures align …
Personality tests help individuals understand how their unique behavioral traits and tendencies relate to their saving, spending, and investing patterns. General personality factors, like those included in the so-called “Big Five” personality traits, impact money-related outcomes like income and net worth. So while we’re helping clients understand their unique traits with individual reports and insights, this same data can help firms predict what clients might do in the future. We can also predict which …

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