Investor Behavior

Why do investors behave as they do? Investor behavior often deviates from logic and reason. Emotional processes, mental mistakes, and individual personality traits complicate investment decisions and increase the difficulty of comprehending clients' judgments. Behavioral decision-making can also have a detrimental influence if investment professionals ignore or fail to grasp this aspect of decision-making. Investor Behavior: The Psychology of Financial Planning and Investing is a collection of must-read chapters by leading scholars and practitioners. This book edited by H. Kent Baker and Victor Ricciardi, two leading experts in the psychology of investing, is indispensable for anyone who works with individual clients and needs to manage those difficult-to-predict investment decisions. This comprehensive volume provides essential contributions to the field of behavioral finance and economics including mental mistakes (heuristics), emotional issues, bounded rationality, biases, and risk perception. Investor Behavior also goes beyond the basics, introducing new and cutting-edge research on individual behavior in areas including financial therapy, motivation and satisfaction, transpersonal economics, personality traits, financial coaching, money and happiness, retirement planning, neurofinance, and evidenced-based financial planning. The book concludes with an authoritative selection of developments in such behavioral topics as ethical and socially responsible investing, real estate investing, and mutual funds. Each chapter in Investor Behavior focuses on real-world examples that can be easily understood and applied. Readers learn how practitioners are converting new research on human psychology into measurable performance gains. Current best practices and concrete applications for understanding and managing client behavior are presented alongside clear, scholarly explanations of theoretical principles. Investor Behavior is more than just a collection of information about investing tendencies. Knowing what clients tend to do is important, but without an in-depth psychological perspective, financial planners and investment advisers cannot predict which strategies are in the client's best interests. Applying the behavioral principles-the why of financial decisions-gives investment professionals an edge when converting biases into performance. This book could revolutionize how to approach client management. For both professionals who are new to the psychology of investing and those who want to stay current on essential research findings, Investor Behavior is required reading. The book is also highly valuable for educational purposes and includes discussion questions and answers for each chapter. Investment professionals, investors, and others interested in investor behavior cannot afford to overlook this book.