The state of flow from a psychological perspective is when you are completely engrossed in a task and are able to work or create in a productive way. It requires removing all distractions and being in a state of deep concentration. You hear about flow when someone shares that she wrote a book in four weeks, or maybe spent 14 uninterrupted hours creating a sculpture. It’s almost superhuman, but it can happen when you …
How should you decide on what tests to include in your client experience? Here are a few things to consider. Understand what the test measures and its intended purpose. This should be made clear by the test provider. Is it really measuring risk personality, or risk preferences? Is the test measuring personality or attitudes? Understanding what the test measures helps you in determining which assessment is appropriate for your practice, but also allows you to …
We’ve written before about the often-cited Vanguard “Advisor’s Alpha” study. That research documents the data showing that a good financial advisor can add on average a full 3% in incremental return to a client’s investment portfolio annually. The study then breaks that 3% down into its component parts, showing that the biggest gains–a full 150 basis points–come from effective behavioral coaching that serves to prevent clients from engaging in detrimental investing behaviors (think buying high …
Last week, DataPoints and our Building Wealth test were featured in Michael Kitces’ Nerd’s Eye View blog. The review covered the history of DataPoints’ research (going back to The Millionaire Next Door), and how results can be used with prospective and current clients. Read the full article here. Learn more about our library of client discovery tools here. …
Control. Control. You must learn control. – Yoda, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Approximately 57% of Americans are financially literate, typically measured by answering simple financial literacy questions correctly. The work of Anna Maria Lusardi and her colleagues have demonstrated the woeful state of the world related to financial knowledge and education in the United States and around the world. Often, this group of researchers measures financial literacy with a few …