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Which is more common: death by shark attack or death by falling airplane parts? It’s likely that you chose the former, possibly due to the emphasis placed on shark attacks by the media. If so, you may have been misled by the availability bias, which causes us to estimate the probability of an outcome based on how easily it comes to mind. Listen to Senior Analyst Toby Koerten explain the thoughts of some of the top minds in behavioral finance on availability bias, how it is used by politicians and marketers to influence the masses, and how it can affect the advisor-client relationship.

Do you ever compare the cost of a new purchase to what you paid the last time you bought a similar item? If so, you may be anchoring to what you paid previously to determine what you are willing or expecting to pay in the future. But markets and prices change, and holding onto the past may not be the most rational decision-making method. In fact, anchoring and adjustment is considered a cognitive bias. Listen to Senior Analyst Toby Koerten explain how the bias can lead investors to make irrational decisions, and how advisors can help clients overcome their anchoring instincts.

Does the fear of regret ever impact your decision making? Regret aversion is an emotional bias that causes people to make suboptimal choices or fail to act out of fear that they will make the wrong decision and regret it. Listen to Senior Analyst Toby Koerten as he explains regret aversion, provides interesting, relatable examples, and reviews our thoughts on the best way to address emotional biases.

Ever heard of the endowment effect? Endowment is an emotional bias causing humans to place higher value on assets we already own than we would if we did not yet possess those assets. From coffee cups and candy bars to municipal bonds, Finworx President Miranda Carr explains the endowment bias through real-life and economic examples. Find out how endowment can affect investors, and the one simple question advisors can ask to help clients combat the bias.

Change can be difficult to accept, and even more difficult to choose over the familiar. In fact, some people forego beneficial change for the comfort of continuing what they know. Such behavior is caused by the status quo bias, which can have significant influence on our decisions in life and finance. Managing Director Miranda Carr explains the status quo bias below.

When you think of setting a budget, do you imagine outlining different categories and assigning each one its own strict allowance? Do you ever treat one sum of money differently from another equal sum of money, simply because of where it came from or how you plan to spend it? The mental accounting bias is to blame, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Managing Director Miranda Carr has the details on how it can affect investors.

Was the 2008 financial crisis predictable? What was your stance on the Fed’s quantitative easing in 2010? Some of the top experts in finance won’t answer these questions honestly, and we think it’s due to a common behavioral bias. Listen to Managing Director Miranda Carr explain why some of the most brilliant minds in finance got it wrong... and why they won't admit it.

Finworx Managing Director Miranda Carr discusses how behavioral economics can impact financial analysis—even for industry experts. Listen for her take on how confirmation bias might play a role in our outlook on the current Chinese economy. 

Curious about how machine learning can strengthen adviSor-client relationships? In this podcast, President and CEO Jeremy Floyd interviews Chief Product Officer Patrick Hunt about the ins and outs of machine learning. This is a great listen for brushing up on your techie terminology (“machine learning” vs. “AI,” “natural language processing,” and more) and exploring how Finworx uses machine learning to improve experiences and outcomes for advisors and their clients.

Finworx Senior Analyst Toby Koerten debriefs major trends in Q4, including an improving US economy, the US election, a Federal Reserve rate hike, and more.

The last couple years have seen populism on the rise, marked by key events such as the Brexit vote and the Trump election. Senior Analyst Zach Hill unpacks the catalysts behind this movement, as well as populism’s potential impacts on the markets.

Finworx Senior Copywriter Katie Bibee talks shop on content creation for financial advisors: why it’s important, how to get started, and using a content calendar to plan your blogs and communications.

President Jeremy Floyd talks with Frank Maselli of the Maselli Group about the changes surrounding financial advisors and how they must adapt to stay relevant.

Finworx Director of Research Miranda Davis, CFA, debriefs major trends in Q3, including central bank activity, struggles in the oil market, and the eerie post-Brexit calm.

Director of Marketing Michelle Waymire, and Chief Technology Officer Patrick Hunt discuss the usefulness of persona based marketing for financial advisors, and how technology has made this tool much more accessible. 

Victor Ricciardi is a Finance Professor at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland and co-editor of the book Investor Behavior: The Psychology of Financial Planning and Investing, he joins the show to discuss his area of expertise. From heuristics and loss aversion to framing and “group think”, it’s a detailed look at some of the important behavioral topics advisors should be familiar with. 

President Jeremy Floyd talks with Peter Hans, CEO and Co-Founder of Harvest Exchange, about transparency in content marketing to connect advisors to potential clients. 

Carlos Hidalgo, CEO of ANNUITAS, discusses how sophisticated buyers have changed the way advisors should approach marketing: it’s about knowing your clients well, putting their needs ahead of your tactics, and being patient.  

Best-selling author of The Emotional Investor Jay Mooreland joins us to talk behavioral economics shop. We cover everything from irrational decision making, to cognitive and emotional biases, and even insights into how advisors can start to be proactive instead of reactive.

Chris Mack, founder and CEO of Spokal, shares an overview of marketing automation, the value and efficiency it brings to small businesses, and how financial advisors can get started implementing their own automation program.