Tune in to hear: What is the status quo bias and why might it have been relevant to the Challenger space shuttle explosion? Why did Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winning physicist, state that “the first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool?” How is running from freedom, via conscientiousness, an embodiment of Feynman’s sentiment? What did Alfred Adler, Austrian Psychotherapist, say about our safeguarding tendencies and the harm they can do? How can s...
Apr 10, 2025•11 min•Ep. 323
Tune in to hear: What is Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If –” about and what can it teach us about remaining poised in the face of chaos? What are some qualities of the investors who fare best in turbulent markets? What roles does EQ (Emotional Intelligence) play in investment decision making? What are some practical steps for remaining calm in a churning world? Why is “sleeping on it” such powerful advice when it comes to investment decision making? How can we anchor to non-financial metrics to regain...
Apr 09, 2025•7 min•Ep. 329
Tune in to hear: What insight did Joe have that prompted him to start applying Behavioral Finance in practical ways while much of the industry was focused elsewhere? Why are so many firms relying on the old-fashioned educational approach when building client-centric tools and technology seems to be the way forward? What is an example of a compelling promise a wealth management firm could make to their clients? Is it time for those who entered the business because they love picking stocks and cru...
Dec 12, 2024•50 min•Ep. 309
Tune in to hear: What does Dimensional see about the future of the industry that encouraged them to launch something like ‘Life Invested.’ Why does a “human first” investment model have the power to endure in a way that other investment models, such as those centered around sales, have not? How can we give the “human first” approach more definitional clarity for those who are new to the concept? What would Breanna say to those advisors who are nervous they are going to open a “Pandora’s Box of e...
Dec 05, 2024•26 min•Ep. 308
Tune in to hear: Examples of when emotional connection can play a decisive role in sales. How, practically, can advisors shift their focus a bit from the technical to fostering deep, emotional connections with their clients? What is motivational interviewing, what is based on and what does it look like in practice? Where does the discovery process often go wrong and what can we do to make it go right? How can silence be a powerful tool in client meetings? How can advisors help their clients’ goa...
Nov 14, 2024•38 min•Ep. 307
Tune in to hear: Get a better sense of the size and scope of the racial wealth gap problem in the US. Should financial advisors play a role in addressing these inequalities? Also, do historical factors, such as systemic discrimination and redlining, largely to blame for the genesis of this disparity? What sort of systemic inequities and injustices are we up against today and what can we do to combat these? What cultural differences, and attitudes, towards money, risk and investing should non-bla...
Nov 07, 2024•43 min•Ep. 306
Tune in to hear: What elements do “tulip mania,” the roaring twenties and the .com bubble share and what should be our biggest takeaway from these historic market events? What is the "affect heuristic" and how should we be thinking about it in relation to our investment decision making? How do the emotional states of euphoria and despair effect our risk tolerance? Do these emotions also effect how much we are willing to pay or sell an asset for also? What are somatic markers and how do they infl...
Oct 17, 2024•14 min•Ep. 291
Tune in to hear: From Michael’s vantage point, what did he observe during this recent market downturn? How can those nearing retirement overcome the tendency to have knee jerk responses to major negative market events? How can we better inoculate people against volatility before it happens? During a significant financial downturn is it more effective for advisors to be proactively counseling their clients or should they wait for their clients to make the first move? Why is mean reversion such a ...
Oct 10, 2024•32 min•Ep. 305
Tune in to hear: Relative to all the other behavioral experts out there, what stands out about Greg and his work? How did he arrive at this unique point of emphasis? How has Behavioral Finance come full circle in recent years? What have been the biggest shifts in Behavioral Finance in the past decade? Also, how does he anticipate it might change in the decade to come? What can Behavioral Finance teach us about risk and how widely implemented are these learnings in the field today? How does Greg ...
Oct 03, 2024•42 min•Ep. 304
Tune in to hear: What was Megan’s favorite finding in the deep research she did for this book? Learn about Truman’s financial anxiety and how this impacted him. Why is it harder to pivot and recover from financial pitfalls than it used to be? What advice did Calvin Coolidge get from his stock broker? How did George Washington make his money and what differentiated him from his peers? Why does Megan find Hoover’s money story so captivating? Learn more about Jimmy Carter’s financial story. Which p...
Sep 19, 2024•52 min•Ep. 303
Tune in to hear: Did Cady’s recent book, The Art of the Sabbatical , come from a place that was very personal and meaningful to Cady? If so, what was it that made this project so personal for her? In Cady’s experience, are many of those hoping to take a sabbatical doing so to just take a break from work or are they in search of a deeper, transformative end goal? How should one start to think about the financial realities of preparing for a sabbatical and how will they know when they’re ready? Is...
Sep 12, 2024•36 min•Ep. 302
Tune in to hear: What is the disconnect between selling an advisory business, as it is popularly conceived, and as it usually goes down in the real world? What should people know about the process that they may not currently understand? What are the big things that are missing from the “highlight reel” version of selling a business and how can people become more aware of this? If Emily could give advisors just one tip on maximizing their saleability, and standing out in a very crowded field, wha...
Sep 05, 2024•45 min•Ep. 301
Tune in to hear: What got Dr. Eckhart into Psychology in the first place, and how did he end up moving into family wealth consulting? What are some of the significant differences in family dynamics among upper middle class families and ultra high net worth families? What does Dr. Eckart mean, exactly, when he refers to family mythology and how might future generations struggle to perpetuate these mythologies at times? What are the psychological complexities of “The Great Wealth Transfer” that ar...
Aug 15, 2024•39 min•Ep. 300
Tune in to hear: What does Clare and her team at Essentia Analytics focus on specifically? How can one score the decision making skill involved in stock picking when so much is relative to timing? How does Essentia Analytics score all 7 data points they lay out on their website? One of the trick things about behavioral investing is you can get a good result for a bad reason and vice versa. How does Clare’s team think about this and try to account for it? Recent research Clare and her team did sh...
Aug 08, 2024•34 min•Ep. 297
Tune in to hear: How should we think about the “presidential election cycle pattern” as a forecasting tool? Does it have much merit and how is it playing out so far in 2024? How should we think about time effects in an election year? Also, what is the trend for election year market performance like as you move through the year? What would Tim tell clients who want to invest based on their political views? Research has found that when investors’ political candidate of choice is not elected, they ...
Aug 01, 2024•36 min•Ep. 299
Tune in to hear: What can Elton John’s stage name teach advisors about how to make and set goals? What can Weezer teach advisors about workflows? What is the DICE acronym that can help advisors create a process around their practice? How can advisors find a partner best suited for their practice and how can this power growth? Also, how should advisors approach due diligence when selecting a partner? What are some “comfort traps” advisors might fall into and what can The Beatles teach us about av...
Jul 18, 2024•36 min•Ep. 296
Tune in to hear: How did Phil pivot from a financial advisor position to roles focused on marketing? Why is a clearly established marketing strategy so critical as a starting point and what does this look like, practically? How important is it to have an affinity for, or direct tie with, the niche client group you may serve (e.g. first responders or dentists)? What should be top of mind for content creators as they strive to stand out in a world inundated with content? What does the path look li...
Jul 11, 2024•48 min•Ep. 295
Tune in to hear: Why do humans seem to have such limited access to understanding what they want, from a financial perspective? Andy believes that the ethos of financial planning is the marriage of capital and purpose. What, specifically, does he mean by this and why does he think it is so critical? Should we try to expand our clients’ notion of capital and what might be the broader impact on their lives if we were to do so? How would Andy tease out the subtle differences between goals, values an...
Jul 04, 2024•43 min•Ep. 294
Tune in to hear: What drove Nuala to write her new book, Tune In: How to Make Smarter Decisions in a Noisy World ? In her book, Nuala talks about four factors that amplify the risk of noise, obscuring our ability to arrive at the truth. What are these factors and why are they so important? How do we overcome the very entrenched obstacles we face when trying to make informed decisions? What does Nuala’s “PERIMETERS” mnemonic stand for and how can multiple layers of bias combine, making us sub-opt...
Jun 20, 2024•59 min•Ep. 293
Tune in to hear: What was the message that Shawn felt compelled to get out there in his upcoming book, The Advisor Transformation ? What distinction does Shawn draw between success and significance? How does Shawn bring vision into his work at Triad in a way that better synthesizes work and life? What is Martin Seligman’s PERMA Model and what can we learn about finding fulfilling work from this model? Among the advisors Shawn has encountered, what kinds of visions propelled them to great profess...
Jun 13, 2024•51 min•Ep. 292
Tune in to hear: How should advisors go about optimizing SEO for their practice and why is it so critical? Why do advisors who offer texting as a communication option get 400% more opt-ins? Why is email so powerful and how can advisors build out a list that will serve them well? Emails with video content really outperform, but many people are hesitant to venture into video. What advice would Robert give to these individuals? How does Robert recommend that advisors go about segmenting their clien...
Jun 06, 2024•45 min•Ep. 290
Tune in to hear: What are the 3 primary types, or thresholds, of AI and where are we headed next in this burgeoning field? What is "general purpose AI" and how does it differ from models like ChatGPT? What about "artificial super intelligence?" Why is the developing world, on average, more optimistic about AI than the developed world? Will our pessimism in the west around AI hamper our ability to compete in the race for AI? How, practically, can advisors start implementing AI to better their pra...
May 16, 2024•37 min•Ep. 289
Tune in to hear: Why is it that we hate uncertainty even more than bad news? How does our dread of uncertainty impact our decision making process? If a client comes in agitated vs. paralyzed, does the means by which we resolve this uncertainty look different from reaction to reaction or do they share a common solution? Is normalization part of regulating your clients emotionally whether it is deeply hot or deeply passive? What are the 4 most common emotional reactions to uncertainty? How can emb...
May 09, 2024•51 min•Ep. 288
Tune in to hear: Why does Dr. Stutman use a behavioral, rather than a psychological, approach to leadership? What are the differences between these two approaches? What are some of the common qualities shared by many of the world’s best leaders? Also, were any of these particularly surprising or unexpected? What role does admiration play in effective leadership? How do great leaders strike a balance between adhering to first principles while also flexing when contextually appropriate? What do le...
May 02, 2024•40 min•Ep. 287
Tune in to hear: What life experiences put Jane on a path to become a listening coach? What is generative listening and how does it differ from other forms of listening? In what ways did becoming familiar with generative listening transform Jane’s life? What does Jane mean when she says “listening to ignite thinking in others?” What role does empathy play in the process of being a generative listener? What are the five levels of listening that Jane delineates? How should responses be crafted to ...
Apr 18, 2024•46 min•Ep. 286
Tune in to hear: What makes women so uniquely good as behavioral investors? Why have many thought of women as particularly risk averse for so many years and what systems, on the trading floor and elsewhere, have perpetuated this misconception? Some book recommendations on women in investing and its history. Examples of how insidious the bias against women in finance can be. What can we do to attract more women to financial services when we know they are so well suited for the field? What can we ...
Apr 11, 2024•56 min•Ep. 285
Tune in to hear: How might financial planning conversations need to change in light of the new longevity many will experience? How will the “100 year life” affect the 3 life stages (education, work and retirement) that used to be more clearly delineated? How might we be able to give more salience and power to our mental image of a future self? What does Dr. Mathar’s research around this topic suggest? What are the differences between financial wellbeing and financial independence? If financial i...
Apr 04, 2024•52 min•Ep. 284
Tune in to hear: What did Philip’s research on the drivers of financial advice seeking uncover? Additionally, what might stand in the way of clients taking advice? What can the industry do to reduce economic barriers to entry for getting advice? What about reducing emotional barriers to entry for getting advice? What mistakes do advisors make when it comes to changing behavior and what could we be doing better as an industry? What is Philip’s “SHAPE” framework and how can it be applied to your b...
Mar 21, 2024•47 min•Ep. 283
Tune in to hear: What lead Dr. Griner to focus his work and research around compassion specifically? When clinicians like Dr. Griner talk about compassion, what are they talking about exactly and how might this differ from the popular conception of compassion? How do we balance our desire to want to end someone’s suffering without falling into the trap of just wanting to fix everything or go directly to solutions? What are some examples where compassion might look assertive, firm or even defiant...
Mar 14, 2024•53 min•Ep. 281
Tune in to hear: What is the “Dumb Ways to Die” music video and why was it originally created? Was the above an effective behavioral intervention or did it fall short? Why is buy-in for employer sponsored retirement savings plans so low and what might be done to remedy this? Why might marketing campaigns with behavioral interventions outperform more overt, standard marketing approaches? What did Charlie Munger say was a differentiator in Berkshire’s approach? Links The Soul of Wealth Connect wit...
Mar 07, 2024•10 min•Ep. 282
