A lot has changed over the past 15 years. In 2010, the iPad had just been introduced, Facebook was the dominant social media platform (TikTok, who?), and hailing a ride meant standing on a street corner rather than opening the Uber app. Just as our daily lives have evolved since then, so too have financial […]
The Evolution of Global Markets Read More »
The first time I bought a mortgage, I went into the process with confidence. I study financial decision-making, so I figured I’d be able to easily determine the best option for my family, sign the paperwork and go about my day. Alas, that confidence should have been labeled “misplaced”: I quickly realized I was in
Mortgages: Beyond the Math Read More »
While recent financial news headlines have given a great deal of attention to the slate of expected U.S. mega-cap IPOs, a few relevant storylines may have slipped under investors’ radar. Despite geopolitical and economic uncertainty in the first five months of 2026, global stock market indexes have quietly posted solid results. The S&P 500® Index
Rocket Fuel: The Potential Impacts of Major Index Changes This June Read More »
I’ll admit it: “Let’s talk about Social Security claiming” isn’t usually my opening line when I meet friends for dinner. And yet, with Peak 65 recently occurring (when more Americans turned 65 every day than in any previous year), it’s never been more important to talk about Social Security claiming, given the enormous implications this
Behavioral finance scholars often express skepticism about their own and others’ ability to avoid cognitive errors. Indeed, Daniel Kahneman, who, along with Amos Tversky, identified most of the cognitive errors we know, said that despite his decades of studying decision-making, he still committed the same cognitive errors as everyone else. “Knowing is not avoiding,” he
Can We Learn to Avoid Cognitive Errors? Read More »
As markets closed in the U.S. on the last trading day of February 2026, year-to-date stock market returns ranged from middling — the S&P 500® Index was up ~0.7% — to very strong — the MSCI EM IMI was up nearly 14.5% in U.S. dollar terms. Over the weekend, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East
Military Conflicts and Global Stock Returns Read More »
Financial decision-making is often modeled as stable over time: Investors have preferences, update beliefs, and choose portfolios in predictable ways. But research at the intersection of neuroscience and finance paints a more complex — and more realistic — picture. How people process financial information depends not only on markets and incentives, but also on how
How Aging Changes Financial Decision-Making: Insights From Neuroeconomics Read More »
It was another remarkable year for the U.S. stock market in 2025. The S&P 500® Index rose nearly 18% with 46 new all-time highs during the year! While undoubtedly a good outcome, a single return figure fails to capture the full experience of investors. Figure 1 helps fill in the gaps, capturing major headlines from
What Investors Can Learn From 2025 Market Trends Read More »
Last year, I visited New York and found myself walking through Greenwich Village. I couldn’t help but notice how the neighborhood looked qualitatively different from the 1940s photographs I’d seen and from my memories of it when I lived there more than 10 years ago. Sure, there were still some record stores and a few
The Next Chapter: Short-Term Thinking and Long-Term Planning Read More »
What do gold, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), paintings, furs and diamonds all have in common? Things you’ve seen on a “Real Housewives” episode, you say? Maybe so, but here’s what we had in mind. Each is an asset that produces no cash flow. They’re like buying a goose that lays no eggs. Unlike stocks and
What’s Up with Gold? Read More »