Classical economists often incorporated human behaviour into their thinking. But in the 1960s and 1970s, homo economicus - the great rational agent of economic theory - was born. It was not until the 1990s that the link between human behaviour and economics began to be re-established.
Finology is the interesting and unique mix of behavioural finance ("fin") and investor psychology ("ology") as it relates to giving investment advice to individual investors.
Behavioural finance supplements traditional financial and investment theory. Findings in the field of behavioural finance may help advisers, consultants and clients better manage their thoughts, feelings, and actions when investing.
Beliefs interact with investors' biases and preferences to ultimately influence their behaviour. Two recent papers highlight the impact of individual investors' beliefs about the future and the impact on portfolio behaviour and composition, as well as market returns.
To say a lot has changed since I spoke to you back in February at Markets Summit 2020 is an incredible understatement. Between now and Markets Summit in February 2021, I'm going to be watching three things.
Relatively little is known about what greed is and does. These two papers highlight the importance of greed in economic behaviour, and to a greater chance of engaging in ethically questionable behaviour.
Culture explains much about how we think, feel, and behave. These two papers explore the influence of culture and cultural distance in a financial context.
Understanding what has really changed in people's values as a result of Covid-19 and the influence of emotions will prepare us for the increasingly polarised economic, geopolitical, social and environmental new world order.
These two papers provide a more sophisticated, behavioural understanding of time discounting, to enable more nuanced conversations with clients about current and future consumption, and help mitigate the potentially negative impacts of present bias.
It turns out that 'retiring’ and withdrawing from productive life actually conflicts with our own natural drivers of well-being. The concept of ‘retirement’ is an obsolescent by-product of the industrial era that needs to be retired.
These two research papers present insights into how advisers can better assess and guide how clients think about and structure goals - including savings goals.
Humans categorise and form stories about their world - including their financial lives. Two recent papers emphasise the implications of mental accounting, particularly for any investment professional in a client-facing role.
Regardless of how QSuper justifies their focus on limited advice, they cannot justify calling it advice. It is a product recommendation.
Two research papers exploring regret can help us improve how investment decision-making and outcomes are framed with clients and offer deeper insight into clients' personal and financial goals and priorities.
The Investment Management Research Program is the academic research unit of Portfolio Construction Forum, the specialist, independent provider of portfolio construction continuing education, accreditation and certification services in Australia and NZ. The IMR Program aims to advance investment management research by curating courses, workshops and symposia focused on the spectrum of issues involved in designing and building investment portfolios.
The performance of stock markets during the coronavirus pandemic seems to defy logic - until one considers possible explanations based on crowd psychology.
We make automatic assumptions on a daily basis. A critical assumption is that our pre-crisis investment management toolkit will remain relevant in the future.
The endowment effect is the tendency for people who own a good to value it more than people who do not. Its economic impact is consequential. Two recent papers offer important and very useful insights for investment professionals.
The line between "error" and "reasonable human functioning" is remarkably vague. This Research Review focuses on a widely-cited paper that thoroughly unpacks the various concepts under the umbrella of confirmation bias.
Memory is far from being a repository of neutral, reliable information and accounts of past events. This Research Review focuses on a seminal paper published in 1999 on "the seven sins of memory", and a recent 2019 paper on how memory errors impact investment decisions.
The funds management industry has spawned a lot of gurus. This research paper looks at whether market forecasters are any good at what they do.
The move to compulsory superannuation placed huge responsibility on individuals to manage their portfolios. A regular response is to educate people to a higher level of financial literacy.
We are feeling the anxiety effects of not one pandemic but two - the COVID-19 pandemic and a pandemic of anxiety about its economic consequences. The two are different, but inseparable.
Most of us want to act on our values, but we also need to feel that we have a reasonable chance of doing so effectively and successfully. Rather than focus on ethical analysis, focus on ethical implementation.
Refocusing sustainable investing efforts onto client values and beliefs starts a chain reaction that delivers sustainable outcomes for clients and long-lasting relationships.
Used responsibly, artificial intelligence can help us make wiser decisions as investors and capital allocators and help us work towards a more sustainable and inclusive future.
New research shows that media sources generate emotions that transmit to individuals and so influence their investment decisions, resulting in a departure from so-called efficient markets.
Behaviour biases determine that performance drives managed fund flows. By examining managed fund transactions, we can confirm that investment adviser engagement with investors is critical, and ascribe a value to it.
By identifying their own systematic patterns of departure from "rational" behaviour, practitioners can compensate for their effects, and improve the quality of their day-to-day investment decision-making.
Over shorter periods of time, there are market inefficiencies due to well researched behavioural biases. Knowledge of these can help improve our own investment decision making and that of our clients.
Several of our Faculty discuss their key takeouts from Finology Summit 2020, to help delegates think through how people's different investing biases, beliefs and behaviours impact investment outcomes.
Using the language of client values and behaviour will help build a foundation of trust, and assist investment advisers architect a portfolio that is in sync with clients' lives and values.
Behavioural biases get in the way of good investment decision-making. A well-structured approach to goals-based planning can go a long way to defeating the worst impacts of many of these biases.
A fixed point of reference, in the context of investment risks and uncertainties, can induce biases in approaches to meet client objectives. These biases will be costly to investors in the long term.
As we scramble to make sense of occurrences such as coronavirus and climate change, the application of prior cultivated imagination can preserve the integrity of investment decision making.
Established in 2016, Finology Summit is THE behavioural finance ("fin") and investment psychology ("ology") program of the year. The 1.5-day, face-to-face and online learning program is designed and curated by our specialist, experienced and independent team and features an exceptional Faculty of experts from around the world. Each offers his/her best high conviction ideas on behavioural finance and/or investor psychology, and the investment implications.
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.
Trade Wars, the US Election, Brexit 3.0, natural disasters and pandemic risks are causing fear and uncertainty in Australian equity investors. The key to capturing opportunities is to focus on what matters to long-term returns.
To fully appreciate the risks and opportunities in a high VUCA environment, portfolio construction practitioners must adopt a mindful approach in order to adapt to unexpected events.
Financial decisions are among the most important life-shaping decisions we make. Two recent research papers provide further evidence as to how practitioners can help improve clients' financial decisions.