Portfolio Construction Forum Finology Summit

Exploring human factors in portfolio construction

Established in 2016, Portfolio Construction Forum Finology Summit is THE behavioural finance program of the year. It will help you better identify and understand how investing biases, beliefs and behaviours impact investment markets and portfolio construction practices - and therefore, investment outcomes - to help you build better quality investor portfolios.

The program is designed and curated by our specialist, experienced and independent team and features an exceptional Faculty of experts from around the world, each offering their best high conviction insights on investing biases, beliefs and behaviours and the investment implications.

It is a companion program to Markets Summit (February) and Strategies Conference (August).

Join us for Finology Summit 2024, Wednesday 01 May 2024, at our live studio in Sydney, as part of a group at a live site, or via live stream.  Mark your diary!  Meanwhile, watch the highlights from past programs and “attend” the sessions on demand.

Graham Rich
Dean, Portfolio Construction Forum

Overview  Where; Aim; Most suited to; CE/CPD

About the program  Introduction;  Knowledge Domain;  Program structure

Past programs  Watch the highlights and “attend” the sessions on demand

Overview

Where:  Join us in our live studio, at an off-site live site, or via live stream

Finology Summit is a full live “hybrid” program. Essentially, “hybrid” means flexible i.e. you choose how and where it best suits you to participate:

1. at our live studio in Sydney with 200+ peers
Attend the full program in person - mix and network face-to-face with Faculty and fellow delegates at our Live Studio at the University of New South Wales campus (Sydney).

2. as part of a group at an off-site live site with a group
Organise a group of your colleagues, or accept an invitation to join a group organised by one of our Faculty Partners, and attend the live broadcast together at an offsite location (e.g. boardroom or hotel meeting room). We have many groups do this around Australia and NZ and it works really well - you can enjoy the continuing education, camaraderie and networking without having to travel.

3. via live stream at your desk
This is a very popular option with many of our members (and the backup for any live studio or live site delegate who at the last minute can no longer attend in person).

Aim:   Explore the human factors - beliefs, behaviours and principles - in portfolio construction

Finology Summit will help grow your knowledge and understanding of the “human factors” – beliefs, behaviours and principles – that influence portfolio construction, to help you build better quality investor portfolios.

Most suited to:   All Institutional and wholesale portfolio construction practitioners

Finology Summit is relevant to all investment and wealth management practitioners involved in designing, building and/or advising on multi-asset, multi-manager portfolios, using (but not necessarily limited to) managed funds from a range of firms, and who work in a financial advisory, fund research, investment consulting, family office, funds management, superannuation, private fund, endowment fund or investment platform business including:

  • investment advisers giving investment advice on multi-manager, multi-asset funds to individual investors;
  • fund researchers;
  • investment consultants consulting on multi-asset, multi-manager portfolios;
  • portfolio managers designing, building and managing multi-manager investment portfolios; and/or,
  • members of investment committees that oversee multi-asset, multi-manager portfolios and/or funds.

We also recognise and respect the invaluable role of Advocates and welcome them attending, too.

CE/CPD Accreditation:  7 to 11 hours

By attending the program in full (at our live studio, a live site or via live stream), you will earn 7 CE hours that can be used to help meet the CE/CPD requirements of 20+ governing bodies (regulators, associations, and institutes) - including ASIC, APRA, Legislated (AU), FAAA, FMA and CIMA® CE/CPD requirements, to name just a few.

After the live program, you can earn further CE hours by “attending” (online on-demand) the Special Interests Forum (elective) sessions you didn’t get to attend at the live program.

About the program

Introduction

Established in 2016, Portfolio Construction Forum Finology Summit 2022 is THE behavioural finance program of the year. It will help you better identify and understand how investing biases, beliefs and behaviours impact investment markets and portfolio construction practices - and therefore, investment outcomes - to help you build better quality investor portfolios.

The program is designed and curated by our specialist, experienced and independent team and features an exceptional Faculty of experts from around the world, each offering their best high conviction insights on investing biases, beliefs and behaviours and the investment implications.

Knowledge Domain:  Finology

The Forum’s subject matter focus is on five Knowledge Domains – Philosophy, Markets, Strategies, Investing and Finology. As its name implies, Strategies Conference is focussed primarily on our “Finology” knowledge domain.

Finology - understanding and managing the “human factors” – biases, beliefs and behaviours - in portfolio construction

Program structure

Like all our continuing education programs, Finology Summit is an integrated learning program with preparation, participation and review.

Before - Prepare

To maximise learning, you are provided with pre-reading aimed at boosting your knowledge and getting you thinking about the issues to be addressed in the program. The preparation is assumed prior knowledge.

During - Participate

The one-day program is designed and curated by our specialist, experienced and independent team. It is comprised of the 5.5-hour Critical Issues Forum (plenary) program and 2-hour Special Interests Forum (elective) program. In these, our exceptional Faculty of experts from around the world offer their best high conviction insights on investing biases, beliefs and behaviours and the investment implications in the context of the program theme, “Behavioural FINance & investor psychOLOGY - understanding the investor mindset”.

Finology Summit is not just a talk-fest. You are challenged to decide whether you agree or disagree with each high conviction thesis presented, which ones you’ll investigate further, and which you’ll put into practice when building investor portfolios.

After - Review

After the live program, your learning continues. Videos of all presentations are available within a few hours of them live streaming for delegates to view on-demand. The full microsite for each session - a page per presentation featuring sync’d video and slides, podcast, presentation slides and paper(s) and CE accreditation - are available within four weeks. So you can revisit the sessions you attended, “attend” the SIF sessions you didn’t catch at the live program (and earn further CE hours), and review your key takeouts and implications to determine actions to take to build better quality investor portfolios.

Past programs - highlights and sessions

Finology Summit 2023 - Uncertainty
Certainty shapes human behaviour. The more certain we are in our beliefs, the more they drive our actions. In contrast, uncertainty can cause anxiety and distress, diminishing our ability to identify opportunities and make rational, good quality decisions. For portfolio construction practitioners, who must build multi-asset portfolios in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) World, coping with uncertainty is integral to building better quality portfolios. A whole-brain approach to portfolio construction, reflecting knowledge and skill in both the Investment Factors (markets, strategies and investing) and the Human Factors – beliefs, behaviours and principles - is key.

Key takeouts  (42 mins)


Finology Summit 2021 - Behavioural finance & investor psychology - understanding the investor mindset
Academic studies and financial media abound with stories of investors behaving badly due to cognitive errors, emotionality, ignorance, or a blend of each. Financial literacy studies show that people often struggle with financial concepts, including relatively simple ideas such as interest rates, while simultaneously over-estimating their level of financial knowledge. Apparent anomalies in financial markets are often attributed to “noise traders” and “dumb money” who behave badly, move in herds, and are easily misled and prone to swinging between fear and greed.

Key takeouts  (38 mins)


Finology Summit 2020 - Investing biases, beliefs and behaviours
Finology is an interesting and unique mix of behavioural finance (“fin”) and investor psychology (“ology”) as it relates to giving investment advice to individual investors. Finology is where investing meets investors™. The finology discipline focuses on identifying investing biases, beliefs and behaviours and the investment outcomes. To achieve this, finology connects behavioural finance and investor psychology - encompassing “know the markets”, “know yourself” and “know your clients”. Finology knowledge and skills help us better identify and understand how our own and other people’s different investing biases, beliefs and behaviours impact investment markets and portfolio construction practices - and therefore, investment outcomes - to enable better quality investor portfolios.

Key takeouts  (16 mins)


Finology Summit 2019 - Investing biases, beliefs and behaviours
People have different perspectives on money, based on their experiences. Finology is a unique mix of behavioural finance (“fin”) and investment psychology (“ology”). It is the emerging (and converging) research field exploring beliefs, biases and behaviours around investing, connecting “know the markets”, “know yourself” and “know your clients”. Finology is where investing meets investors™.

Key takeouts  (26 mins)


Finology Summit 2018 - Investing biases, beliefs and behaviours
Finology is the emerging (and converging) research field covering the study of minds, customs and behaviours with respect to money. It is a unique mix of behavioural finance and economics, and psychology. Finology knowledge and skills enable us all to better understand how our own preferences, biases and perspectives influence our portfolio construction philosophy and practices - and to better uncover and understand the preferences, needs and objectives of individual investors to help them achieve their goals. It’s where investing meets investors.


Finology Summit 2017
Strong winds of change are blowing - we appear to be entering a new age of populist and economic nationalism. Will this mean a future of trade protectionism, higher inflation and rising bond yields? Are we at an inflection point in monetary and fiscal policy? What does it all mean for the outlook for the markets? Simultaneously, people are questioning long-held beliefs about money, investing and retirement, as improved longevity, new technologies and social media change the way we live and how we relate to others.


Finology Summit 2016
In our society, it’s critical that every individual has a clear perspective about money, and the role that it plays in their present and future well-being. But money means different things to different people. People also have different perspectives on money, based on their experiences. Finology explores the relationship between human beings and money in our society. It is the emerging (and converging) research field covering the study of minds, customs and behaviours with respect to money. It incorporates behavioural finance and much, much more.


What's new with our live and on-demand continuing education, accreditation and certification programs.

Led by behavioural finance expert, Herman Brodie, the Behavioural Finance - Investment Decision-Making course will help you identify, analyse and evaluate the principal human preferences that influence decision-making in situations of uncertainty, so you can recognise and identify these preferences in others, to improve investment decision-making.