We recently acquired a so-called Lazy Susan. You know, one of those devices that you set on a dining table to spin around and send the salt and pepper to anyone at the table. At the risk of encouraging laziness, with so many people around our table at dinnertime, it seemed to be a net gain. And to my knowledge, there are few substitutes for this simple device. There isn’t an app on my phone …
If part of your work involves educating others on how consumption can affect their ability to build and maintain wealth, looking for outside patterns of data and trends might be a way to bring an “ah-ha” moment to clients, children, friends, or family members. A string of articles in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal wove an interesting pattern for me, and the interpretation might prove educational for consumers and clients. First, this: Holiday Shoppers Were …
The focus on behaviors and their impact on financial success continues to grow in the media! We’re thrilled about the coverage of DataPoints’ research on wealth behaviors and financial success in Money magazine’s online and print editions this month. We also partnered with Money to create a quick quiz to help you learn about your wealth behaviors. Our clients are using behavioral science in their practice to help clients’ improve their financial behaviors. Try it for yourself and see how you …
Back in 1999, I worked as a consultant to a large fiber-optic cable company that was staffing a new plant in Pennsylvania. For months, our crew of grad students and industrial psychologists administered validated tests, interviews, and work samples to thousands of potential candidates to fill manufacturing roles. In the work sample, applicants had to coil thin, translucent cables into circles and pack them into thick, zipper-top bags while racing against a clock. Only some …
According to Dalbar’s 2015 Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior (QAIB), the worst gap between market and investor performance in the past 30 years was in October 2008 when, as the report states, the S&P 500 index lost 16.8% but investors lost a little over 24%. There are, of course, many psychological factors that explain the disparity: behavioral finance biases that model why investors act irrationally. However, to be able to anticipate this behavior, and …