I never could have imagined how important managing emotion, cognitive biases and behavioral hurdles is to saving enough, spending wisely and managing financial risks. For about a year, I informally coached a woman (we’ll call her “Leigh”) in her late twenties who wanted to eliminate the $5,000 of expensive credit card debt she was rolling over each month, … Read more
…and Will Likely Stay That Way In January 2016 I founded a tech start-up help Americans make better financial decisions. I’ve since learned that most people are stressed out because they save little, have enormous debt, don’t know where their money goes and feel they’re not on track to meeting their long-term goals. I also found that … Read more
How You’ll Know There’s a Problem Sometimes employees’ financial stresses get so intense, they become unavoidable management issues. They can reduce productivity and engagement and increase turnover, healthcare utilization, absenteeism and worse. Employers’ resources for addressing this kind of issue are typically very limited. It’s not unheard of for employees to directly ask their managers … Read more
You’re saving too much…said no financial expert ever. It’s America Saves Week, which is all about saving more. If you’re in your twenties, you’ll be told to save ten to 15 percent of your income. Older? You’ll be advised to save 20-30 percent or more! At the same time, one-third of Americans have saved precisely … Read more
Saving money is hard. It requires self-control in the face of continuous bombardment by scientifically engineered marketing messages, peer-pressure and brains “designed” for immediate gratification. For many of us, it requires investing some quality time to mindfully design a sustainable budget that’s in line with our values. (We think we’ve figured out how to make … Read more
Financial wellness is a trending priority among business managers, policy makers, financial institutions, consultancies, entrepreneurs and, not least, consumers themselves. In fact, we created Decision Fish to build scalable tools that help people achieve financial wellness. What really is financial wellness, and how are the parties above working to promote it in the US (and Canada)? … Read more