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 …
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 …
If you are a consumer of personal finance content like I am, you have by now undoubtedly heard one commentator or another derisively dismiss the idea of even mentioning the long-term cost of a daily Starbucks trip. They don’t want to hear about it—it’s a trope to be ignored. And this derision is coming from otherwise competent and professional personal finance sources. This phenomenon got me thinking: what’s going on here? Surely Commentator X …