Looking at the central role emotion and uncertainty play in financial decision-making and behaviour for finance professionals and the wider public
"Money doesn't talk it swears" Bob Dylan Differences in attitudes to money are a major cause of disagreements in relationships. Research shows that financial disagreements are one of the more frequent and less easily resolved causes of relationship conflict. One study found that whilst people are often attracted to potential partners with different emotional reactions to spending, that… Continue reading Money and relationships
Let’s call him James, a trader in a City investment bank; young, smartly dressed, confident, and a little impatient. He sat across from me in the interview: “It’s really important to stay cool. For myself, I can say that I really don’t have much emotion while I trade”. Half an hour later, as he relaxed… Continue reading ‘The heart has its reasons’: emotions and cognition in the world of finance
Here is a link to my interview with Michael Considine of Share Radio. Where I talk about my research on emotions and investment and the work of the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance.
Hermit crabs rely on acquiring discarded shells for their protection and are constantly on the look-out for better shells. However, faced with environmental stress they prefer to stick with their old shell, however unsuitable, than risk moving to a new one[i]. Experiments with rats show that under stress habitual behaviour persists longer in the face… Continue reading On fund-managers, rats and hermit crabs: reversion to familiar habits under stress
The Open University's centre for the Public UnderStanding of Finance (PUFin) launches new MOOC Lead educator: Martin Upton, Director of the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (PUFin) at the Open University Business School, and former Treasurer of Nationwide Business Society Gain the skills to manage your personal finances: managing budgets, debts,… Continue reading New Personal Finance MOOC
I gave this talk at the launch of Essentia Analytics, an innovative firm developing software to help fund managers track and improve their susceptibility to behavioural biases. http://youtu.be/o5hwI1f06ao
The video below is a presentation I made at the launch of the Open University Business School's Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (PuFin). You can find a copy of the slides here. Martin Lewis also made a very engaging presentation about financial education at the same event. Further presentations from the event can… Continue reading The Emotional Business of Finance
Can understanding the psychology of investment behaviour help you outperform the market? Probably not, but it can certainly help reduce the probability that you will under-perform the market. This matters, because the majority of private investors under-perform. One compelling piece of research evidence comes from a careful analysis, carried out by Dalbar research, of the… Continue reading Investment, Emotions and the Temple at Delphi*
Humans have a great capacity for exercising control over their environment and for detecting patterns in the confusing mass of information they face. This capacity can also mislead; not least in financial markets. Have you ever looked at the clouds and seen faces or the shapes of animals. Did you as a child see monsters… Continue reading It’s clouds’ illusions I recall . . . trading and the illusion of control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LnsfdCIHlA Mark Fenton-O'Creevy and David Jones of IG Index discuss emotions and trading at the London Stock Exchange
Marketers need to understand such consumer behavior in order to formulate appropriate marketing strategy, allocate marketing budget below-the-line and design effective marketing tactics…… In such instances the acts may be normatively positive and leave the shopper feeling good Bayley and Nancarrow 1998: 99 And I am a weapon of massive consumptionAnd it's not my fault… Continue reading Shopping, impulsiveness and weapons of massive consumption
Fight or flight Imagine you are one of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, walking across the African plains. Or perhaps, in more recent times a Massai tribesman in Kenya. The grass is long in places and punctuated by small trees and bushes. You are carrying no more than a long pointed stick to protect you from dangerous… Continue reading Lions and lion-shaped bushes in financial markets: traders’ expertise in emotion regulation
Emotional Finance 