Administering Personality Tests in Financial Planning: Best Practices

A personality test can efficiently measure a client’s money-related attitudes, values, and other characteristics. While not a perfect science, a well-developed test can accurately assess a client’s personality without some downsides of in-person interviews, which can take time and be impacted by interviewers’ biases or lack of structure.  But like any assessment, personality tests are prone to some errors. These errors could include how clients respond to a test based on wanting to look …
In a survey research project designed to understand client reactions, we examined behaviors, satisfaction, and preferences among clients of a growing firm in the Southeast. Clients were overwhelmingly satisfied with the firm’s service and advice, and the majority (92%) would recommend the firm to others. In addition to the survey (Likert) statements and other quantitative-type survey questions, we also asked clients a few open-ended questions. Combining qualitative and quantitative data provides a richness that …
Let’s Agree to Disagree Agreeableness is a personality trait that is often overlooked or misunderstood when managing our financial lives. The field of personality psychology generally recognizes five primary personality traits that are understood to form the basic foundation of individual personality (often referred to as “the Big Five” or “OCEAN model”). These include openness to experience, extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness. Here we take a closer look at the last trait, agreeableness. We …
If you have watched a fintech product demo that includes anything remotely related to financial psychology, you might hear the word “personality” thrown around a lot. For example, I heard one very confident salesperson recently refer to his platform as measuring “investor personality” when the tech was measuring the client’s current feelings about investing. Personality characteristics predict a wide range of future outcomes regarding human behavior. The Big Five (or OCEAN) model of personality has been …
What is a swim meet? Maybe you’ve never been to one, but I’ll bet that you have a concept in your head for what a swim meet is like. It may not be accurate or have been created from any direct experience, but you have some idea, or schema, for what a swim meet includes and doesn’t include. You’re probably thinking of a pool, swimmers, timers, lane ropes, and cheering. Your concept of a swim …

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