Money & Behaviour

People procrastinate on financial tasks more than almost any other category of decision. The reasons go deeper than laziness — and the fixes are more specific than ‘just do it’. Here’s what the research shows.

Money is the most common source of conflict in relationships — not because couples disagree about money specifically, but because money is the surface on … Read more

People place disproportionately high value on things they’ve personally assembled or created — even when those things are objectively inferior to comparable alternatives. The IKEA effect shows up in investing, business decisions, and financial planning in ways worth knowing.

People consistently believe they’ve changed a lot in the past but will change very little in the future. This illusion leads to financial decisions that don’t account for how different our preferences, values, and circumstances will be — with real costs.

Tax refunds, bonuses, and inheritances get spent differently from regular income — often faster and on things we wouldn’t otherwise buy. The psychology of windfall spending reveals important truths about how we actually value money.

We irrationally prefer the current state of affairs over alternatives, even when switching would clearly be better. Status quo bias costs people thousands of dollars a year in insurance, savings rates, investment fees, and career decisions.

We consistently fail to notice important financial information that is clearly visible — not because we lack intelligence but because attention is limited and selective. Here’s how financial blind spots form and what to do about them.

Financial media explains every market movement with a plausible story. Most of those stories are constructed after the fact to explain what was actually random. Here’s why this matters for how you invest.

More choices should lead to better decisions. Research shows the opposite: beyond a certain point, more options produce worse decisions, more regret, and more paralysis. Here’s how choice overload shows up in financial life and what to do about it.

Most people believe they are less likely than average to experience job loss, divorce, illness, or financial setbacks. Most of them are wrong. Optimism bias shapes financial planning in ways that leave people systematically underprepared.