Here we are at session number 109 , and this week we’re continuing my chat, begun last time, with Greg Davies, Head of Behavioural Quant Finance at Barclays. We’re talking about why investors are often their own worst enemies – it’s a fascinating topic with practical lessons we can all learn, so stay tuned for the conclusion of my chat with Greg in just a sec…

MeaningfulUniversity is finally ready to go live on 15th May. The first course there will be Learn How To Budget. A few of you registered on the site after my chat a couple of weeks ago with Martin O, which was meant to coincide with the launch of MU, but in the end I just couldn’t get things done for the 1st May as I hoped. As usual, I bit off a little more than I could chew! I am pleased with how the site has turned out however, so if you want to learn the best practice for setting and sticking to a monthly budget, then head on over to MeaningfulUniversity.com and put in your email address and I’ll keep you posted.

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Interview

Here are the questions I put to Greg in this second half of the conversation about behavioural finance:

• As advisers we talk a lot about risk and return, but you cover something called anxiety-related returns – can you elaborate?
• Are there classic investor profiles, e.g. over-confident, over-cautious? If so, what are the typical actions of these people?
• Can better investment decision-making frameworks be learned, or are we stuck with what we are?
• Can you explain the concept of anchoring and its effect on financial decision-making?
• Is there ongoing research into this stuff? Is Barclays/the industry considering this when building propositions?
• How can ordinary investors be aware of their own decision making tendencies and adjust if necessary?
  • Three things to look out for and do
  • Three things to look out for an NOT do
• Where can people find out more about what you and Barclays are doing in this important area?

Don’t forget, a full transcript of this entire episode is available if you hit the button below:

Resources

Investment Philosophy website from Barclays

Daniel Kahneman book: Thinking Fast and Slow

Greg Davies on Twitter

Reviews

No new reviews this week as I was recording two sessions in rapid succession.

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Next Session Announcement

Next time I’ll be talking to a US financial planner called Carl Richards, who has written a book called the One Page Financial Plan. I had the opportunity to chat to Carl about his book, and about how he thinks financial planning should be done. After that I’ll be returning to the Investment Masterclass, and look at setting targets. These interviews have come at a good time as I frantically get Meaningful University opened up. It’s easier to write some questions and have a chat than to write a full solo session!

If you have any financial query that you want answering here on the show, then the best way to do that is to leave me a voicemail at meaningfulmoney.tv/askpete