By Anders Stenkrona
Posted December 11, 2017
In compare, money, money causes divorce, money causes stress, stress
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Money is the number one reason for divorce and stress, really?

I just got my copy of Dollars and Sense by Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler. A great read. Real Brain-Candy. The topic of how we handle money and how we make choices is a favorite topic of mine. Does money cause stress and divorce? Right in the introduction I find two claims: “Money is […]

By Anders Stenkrona
Posted October 9, 2017
In Behavioral Finance, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Nobel Prize, Nudge, Richard Thaler
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Congratulations Richard Thaler!

The 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences goes to Richard Thaler for his contribution in understanding how people make financial decisions, popularly called Behavioral Economics. I remember when I was a new PhD Student back in 2001, not knowing what the focus of my thesis should be. Being asked to choose a topic […]

By Anders Stenkrona
Posted September 5, 2017
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The Bare Bones of a fund offering

Do we really need 867 funds or can we achieve the same diversification with just a handful. If that’s the case, what kind of handful should that be? I had the privilege of spending July at the Swedish Pension Authority. This was part of a Swedish Government sponsored evaluation of the Premium Pension system, […]

By Anders Stenkrona
Posted April 27, 2017
In automatic financial advisory, financial industry, Robo advice
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A Paradigm Shift in the Financial Advisory Industry

The Financial Advisory market is ripe for disruption. Politicians want to see more financial service to the underserved and the technology to do so is in place. While customer acquisition costs seems to be the major challenge for start-up Automatic Financial -Advisors, the main challenge for established banks is prioritizing IT-resources between legal demands and […]

By Anders Stenkrona
Posted March 1, 2017
In Conformity, Herding effect, Market norm, Social norm, tragedy of the commons
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Have you ever said one thing and done another – Part III

Have you ever agreed with a crowd even though you had a different view? Probably. But has a crowd ever caused you to deny your own senses? No way, right? There is an assumption in economic models that people are consistent when making choices, it turns out that we’re not. The top three reasons for […]

By Anders Stenkrona
Posted March 1, 2017
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Have you ever said one thing but done another? Part II

Our emotional state As you may have figured out, “you’re not you when you’re hungry”, and we are not always consistent in how we make choices. There is an assumption in Economical models; that people are consistent, i.e. don’t let emotions sway a rational choice, but it turns out that we are not very consistent. […]

By Anders Stenkrona
Posted January 11, 2017
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Ever said one thing and done another – Part I

Have you ever said one thing but done another. Have you ever gone from a situation and thought “why did I do that” (either in awe or in disappointment of yourself)? As you may have figured out, we are not always consistent in how we make choices. Inconsistency can be problematic for two reasons. One, […]

By Anders Stenkrona
Posted January 11, 2017
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Who you should vote for!

Just to spell it out, my understanding of the upcoming election is better and less biased than yours and if you don’t agree you’re either uninformed, illogical, biased or plain stupid. Smart and well informed people agree with me, it’s only the stupid ones who don’t. I have some nice friends who have a differing […]

By Anders Stenkrona
Posted January 11, 2017
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How was your day Honey? Uh, I dunno…

I asked my son the other day, “What was school like?” Whereon he replied, “like usual, it normally is”. We are not good at remembering things. We’d rather create patterns out of past events that help us create a memorable story. Patterns are easier to remember and therefore take priority over truth in our minds. […]

By Anders Stenkrona
Posted November 14, 2016
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No matter how awesome you are, you’re still going to make stupid choices!

No matter what you say, decisions are driven by emotions and whatever you may think, you are not in total control of your emotions and your emotions are not consistent. Nor is your world view an unbiased true picture of reality. The emotional state we’re in impacts our choices and predictions as to cause them […]