It's a too-familiar problem: paralysis-inducing numbers of choices that leave consumers wondering how they'll ever make a decision. It's especially problematic when it affects their long-term financial security. How can advisors help clients see the best choices for their needs? Olivia Mellan and Sherry Christie talk to three behavioral finance experts for strategies on weeding out what clients don't need and focusing on what they do.
Advisors are facing on other challenges, too, that could affect the way they do business in the future. Jamie Green looks at the four big trends of the next year that could have advisors struggling to keep up.
Finally, an innovative software application from Trv can help advisors get a full and accurate view of their clients' true wealth by including all of their property not just investable assets.
In a now-famous experiment, Sheena Iyengar and her research assistants offered jam samples to supermarket shoppers at two different tables. One table had six different jams and the other had 24.
Several shoppers who stopped at the table with the smaller sampling ended up buying a jar of jam, while only a few who visited the table with the larger selection made a purchase. The startling conclusion: Having more choices made the decision to buy harder, not easier.
Does having more choice really make us better off? Can we improve the process of choosing? What lies ahead as we're faced with more, not fewer, decisions?
Olivia Mellan and Sherry Christie talked to three experts to get their thoughts on the subject: Dr. Dan Ariely, professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University; Thomas Frey, executive director and senior futurist at The DaVinci Institute; and Iyengar herself.
