Do People Like Nudges?
With July being the most popular travel month, bigger credit card bills start coming due. Major financial institutions are using financial nudges, such as texts or emails, that encourage consumers to make their payments in a timely fashion. But has anyone stopped to ask, “Do consumers like financial nudges?” A recent research article surveyed over two thousand Australian bank customers to determine the level of sentiment. “People generally approve of financial interventions,” concluded the authors Merle van den Akker, behavioral scientist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Cass Sunstein, professor at Harvard Law School. Professor Sunstein, along with Richard Thaler, […]
The Future of Financial Advisors
How have investor expectations and behaviors evolved under the new U.S. administration? With recent strides in artificial intelligence, how is the role of the financial advisor changing? These and other questions were discussed by experts in behavioral finance during a webinar on April 16, 2025, titled “The Future of the Investment Professional: Mastering the Psychology of Investor Behavior.” The panelists touched on issues that will be discussed more fully at the upcoming conference, CFA Institute LIVE 2025 to be held in Chicago, 4-7 May, 2025. The panel moderator, Peter Lazaroff [Photo, RHS], is Chief Investment Officer at Plancorp Private Wealth […]
Ain’t Misbehavin’. Part 2: What Makes a Good Committee?
“Good committees make good decisions,” said Arnold Wood, guest speaker at the CFA Society Toronto on June 3, 2013. On the TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, whenever the contestant turns to the crowd for help with an answer, the crowd is right 91 percent of the time, said Wood, who is president and CEO of Martingale Investments and a specialist in behavioural finance. The first part of his talk described common errors in individual thinking. But what makes a good committee? The composition of committees can be tricky. Too often, there is an appearance of diversity but […]
Ain’t Misbehavin’. Part 1: Overconfidence and Illusion
“It’s not our ability that makes us, it’s our choices.” With this quotation from Harry Potter, Arnold Wood, President and CEO of Martingale Investments proceeded to show how, in case after case, a good grasp of behavioural finance could explain the workings of the typical investment committee. Wood was speaking to a few dozen charterholders at a luncheon sponsored by the CFA Society Toronto at the historic National Club in Toronto on June 3, 2013. Wood wove his commentary around three themes: key habitual errors of decision-making, the composition of committees, and the behaviour of the chair of the investment […]