Behavioral Finance in
Action
Learn how to implement a behavioral
finance approach using the tools and guidance provided as part of the Acceleration program.
Let’s get started
Data and demographic information can be helpful in understanding the audiences you serve. But what’s the next step in deepening client relationships and truly differentiating your business?
Consider adopting the behavioral finance methodology of conversation and engagement. TruStage™, in partnership with think2perform, is now offering behavioral finance tools and guidance through the Acceleration® program.
Changing the conversation
Program overview
Next: Planning guide
By applying behavioral finance to your business, you will improve your potential to achieve greater success with increased production by attracting and retaining clients.
97% of financial professionals
report Behavioral Financial Advice has increased their production with
increases up to 30%.
1/2
Incorporating a deeper layer of audience knowledge and awareness into your client and prospect conversations means modifying the conversations you may be having today. This shift will take some time and thoughtful planning to implement. Your wholesaler can help you think through the following questions.
Speaking the language of your audience
Planning guide
Next: Checklist & timeline
Follow these three
steps to help build your behavioral finance approach.
Creating your
plan of action
Checklist & timeline
Review your book of business and categorize your clients by gender and age demographics.
Identify trends and the particular group you
want to explore first.
Refer to the research available for that particular group (See our Audience Insights and Behaviors guide) and highlight where you can make modifications in your client conversations, communication methods and prospecting approach.
Develop a plan for implementation and change.
Client identification
Familiarize yourself with the behavioral finance approach message sequence and get comfortable telling the story to others. Refer to the Shifting from Money Manager to Financial Professional guide for sample introduction scripts or create your own.
Determine how you will begin to introduce the finance conversation into your client meetings.
• Which clients?
• When will you begin?
• Will you use the Values Card exercise?
• When will you align values to client goals?
Identify existing communication deliverables or templates and determine how to incorporate your values-based approach to financial guidance going forward (review form letters, brochures and websites).
If you decide to acquire your own Behavioral Finance Advisor (BFA™) certification and your firm is supportive of the certification, make a plan to begin course training.
Behavioral finance approach
Set your goals
Next: Financial professional tools
Building a diverse, cross-generational client base can provide your business with a steady stream of assets regardless of market conditions, year after year. Rooting your client interactions in generational understanding results in longer-lasting relationships and more rewarding sources of business for you.
Generations
of possibility
Financial professional tools
Next: More financial professional tools
Review & follow-up
Have any questions?
Next steps
Contact Your Wholesaler
TruStage™ Annuities are issued by CMFG Life Insurance Company (CMFG Life) and MEMBERS Life Insurance Company (MEMBERS Life) and distributed by their affiliate, CUNA Brokerage Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, a registered broker/dealer, 2000 Heritage Way, Waverly, IA, 50677. Investment and insurance products are not federally insured, may involve investment risk, may lose value and are not obligations of or guaranteed by any depository or lending institution. All contracts and forms may vary by state and may not be available in all states or through all broker/dealers.
FOR REGISTERED REPRESENTATIVE USE ONLY.
NOT FOR USE WITH THE PUBLIC.
CMGA-2498948.3-0723-0925 © TruStage
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Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
1
Source:
1. Kaplan Financial Education, “Behavioral Finance Advice Affiliations, “ 2020. This data is a numeric average for financial advisors that graduated from think2perform’s Behavioral Advice Services Program (BASP).
2
73% of financial professionals report Behavioral Financial Advice has increased new client acquisitions.
2/2
Start to outline your goals and expectations with implementing this change to your communication strategy.
Identify what success looks like with regard
to retention and acquisition of business.
Put quarterly milestone reminders on the calendar to assess your progress and approach.
What we know:
Studies like the DALBAR Investor Behavior Research demonstrate that there’s a consistent gap between what clients want and what they actually do.
Do you wonder why investments often perform better than investors?
The behavior gap
Financial professional tools
Next: Review & follow-up
The hard work is done. You’ve decided to move forward and implement the approach outlined in this module. Now it’s simple practice and repetition that will drive success. When adopting any new behaviors, it’s important to stay motivated and measure your progress. We recommend taking an assessment after six months and again after 12 months.
Planning and practice in action
Client demographics
Applying the behavioral finance approach
Differentiating your business
How will you begin to incorporate demographic nuances into your existing client interaction and prospecting efforts?
Is your practice weighted to one age group or gender over another?
Take a close look at your book of business and identify categories and trends to determine where you might begin to revisit your interaction and apply new learnings.
Why age matters
Each generation displays a distinct mindset reflective of its time and the lessons learned from generations before. The ability to recognize that mindset — and the attitudes and outlooks associated with it — will impact your success. Connecting successfully with members of these generations requires you to enter into substantive, fruitful financial planning discussions, uncovering new
paths to opportunity.
1 Center for Generational Kinetics, Generational Breakdown: Info About All of the Generations, no date, accessed 2023, June 14.
2 Census.gov, National Population by Characteristics: 2020–2022, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Single Year of Age andSex for the United States, April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021. 2023, March 31.
Making successful connections
Download sample assessment
2. Numeric average for financial professionals who graduated from
think2perform’s BFA Program, 2020.
You’ll be able to help guide and prepare clients for unplanned life events, while improving client decision-making using a rational, values-based approach.
And you’ll further differentiate yourself by becoming a trusted financial professional and coach to the clients you serve. Your Behavioral Financial Advisor (BFA™) certified wholesaler is here to partner with you and
can offer behavioral finance workshops and coaching
along the way.
Client demographics
Applying the behavioral finance approach
Differentiating your business
After you familiarize yourself with the behavioral finance approach to understanding client behaviors, how will you introduce this concept to your existing clients?
Where will you begin and with which client group?
Will this change the way you promote your services in brochures, advertisements or websites?
Will you pursue your own Behavioral Financial Advisor (BFA™) certification?
When will you begin?
Making a change in how you communicate
will take practice.
How will you make that behavioral shift in your own thinking and attitudes toward client and prospect interaction?
Applying demographic insights and behavioral finance methods into your interaction can help differentiate you from financial professionals who keep the conversation on performance, and it can provide the platform you need to build loyal, values-based relationships, long-term.
Each generation displays a distinct mindset reflective of its time and the lessons learned from generations before. The ability to recognize that mindset — and the attitudes and outlooks associated with it — will impact your success. Connecting successfully with members of these generations requires you to enter into substantive, fruitful financial planning discussions, uncovering new paths to opportunity.
Demographic overview
Gen Z
25.5%
Millennials
25%
Gen X
15%
Baby boomers
21%
4/4
Baby boomers - 21%
3/4
Gen X - 15%
2/4
Millenials - 25%
Born 1996 – 2016
Age 8 to 27
May worry about employment stability and established social safety nets. Accustomed to information in an instant, at their fingertips.
1/4
Gen Z - 25.5%
Born 1965 – 1976
Age 47 to 58
Likely worried about Social Security’s future and the state of their personal savings. May be caregivers for parents, children or both.
Born 1946 – 1964
Age 58 to 77
Traditionally big consumers and minimal savers, they may worry about maintaining their lifestyle in retirement versus overspending.
Developing a client base that stretches across the generational spectrum means rethinking a
one-size-fits-all approach to client acquisition and retention. First, you have to understand how to reach
and speak to prospects in a target generation, using their terms and their technology. Then, you have to understand what drives them, so you can communicate effectively and drive the desired outcomes.
The power of Generation Z
They’re young but they’re an emerging force in both the workplace and the marketplace. How can you begin building bridges that will win their trust and their business?
Three myths about Millennials
What do you really know
about this misunderstood —
and increasingly affluent — generation? This brochure puts your preconceptions to
the test.
Gen X: Gen ready?
The “slacker” generation has a lower need for the trappings of wealth, but a high expectation
for service and results. Are you helping deliver certainty and security?
Continuing relationships
with the next generation
Studies show the majority of children leave their parents' financial professionals upon receiving an inheritance. How can you turn the challenge of wealth transfer into an opportunity?
Personalizing women's wealth management
Women control more money — and make more family financial decisions — than ever before. What do they expect from a financial professionals relationship?
Let’s look at the facts
Acknowledging the Behavior Gap
Reacting on feelings
This is what happens when your clients make financial decisions, too — they will often react based on feelings and not purposeful thoughts.
If we can catch ourselves responding in a certain way and identify it, we have a better chance of slowing ourselves down and making a more appropriate response — one not ruled by emotion.
When it comes to stress, our brains are wired
to respond quickly and emotionally. In order
to make better decisions we need to become emotionally reflective.
Our emotional brain is biologically designed to restrict cognitive thought. It can’t distinguish between a bear market or a bear in the woods.
A major industry report calculated the 20 years of performance for indexes, investors and inflation ending in 2022.
Let’s look at the facts
Acknowledging the Behavior Gap
Reacting on feelings
1
Next: Advisor tools
Next: More financial professional tools
Three things we know to be true
You have likely observed that, as people get older, they become increasingly interested in:
• Being healthy
• Aligning what they do every day with what they care about the most
• Their financial security
It’s only natural that, as people leave the work force and are no longer generating income, their financial stress begins to rise.
The certainty of uncertainty
Financial professional tools
Freeze exercise
Once you’ve shared the values card exercise with your clients and discussed their goals, a good follow-up exercise is to have them share a snapshot of what is going through their minds at any given moment. Their answers will open the door to revisit values-aligned thinking in their decision-making process.
Source: think2perform.
1. DALBAR, Inc., 2023 Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior.” For the period ending 2022, December 31.
Right now!
The smart money philosophy is not a passive buy-and-hold strategy. It’s a buy-and-be-smart strategy that allows clients to achieve their goals even when facing uncertainties that will happen during their lifetimes.
The smart money philosophy
Financial professional tools
Next: Financial professional tools
You don’t know how long your clients will live, their future health status, or how well the markets
or economy will do. You can’t predict the future, but you can help clients prepare for the future.
Your role is to help smooth the path to the certainty of uncertainty. So, whenever clients need money for whatever reason, there is a smart place to get it. This is the smart money philosophy.
Ask your clients: If you knew for sure you always had a smart place to get money —
no matter what is happening in the world — would you feel less stressed and more confident?
Stress in finance
Financial issues are often causes of excessive stress. High levels of stress impair both physical health and financial decision-making.
Your ability to prepare clients for financial uncertainty helps them improve their emotional comfort and reduce their stress
The smart money philosophy prepares clients for the certainty of uncertainty.
Engaging your clients and prospects with phrases that have impact and meaning starts with making it personal. Here are some samples that might resonate with you or help you in developing your own story.
Shifting from money manager to financial professional
Financial professional tools
Next: More financial professional tools
Phrase 1
Phrase 3
Phrase 4
Phrase 6
Phrase 7
I can’t predict the future, but I help my clients prepare for the future.
Phrase 7
My expertise, and the expertise of my team, is to prepare our clients for the certainty of uncertainty.
Phrase 6
Investors (or ‘consumers’ or ‘people approaching retirement’ or ‘people already retired’ or ‘my clients’ or ‘young professionals’) are more aware than ever that they are facing an uncertain future.
Traditional finance principles are based on the premise that investors and consumers will make rational decisions without bias and, essentially, will trade off decisions based on risk and reward potential. It is interesting to believe that everyone is going to be rational when, in reality, people frequently behave irrationally. Behavioral finance helps understand this reality, that people often behave irrationally and in a biased manner.
Phrase 4
Unfortunately, irrational decision-making trumps high IQ every time. Fortunately, although I can’t raise your IQ, which is high enough incidentally, I can help you improve access to the IQ you have.
Phrase 3
A big part of my job is to help my clients make rational decisions in the presence of competing and difficult-to-deal-with emotions.
Data shows that, over time, investments work better than investors. That is true because emotions, such as fear or greed or exuberance, influence decision-making. Whether it’s real estate or stocks or bonds or gold or silver, it is emotionally easy to buy high because of the exuberance or sell low
because of the fear.
Phrase 1
Client conversation phrases
Phrase 2
Phrase 2
Phrase 5
Phrase 5
In the investment process, investors often experience the “roller coaster of emotions” illustrated below. Does this look or feel familiar to you?
Understanding investor emotions and biases
Financial professional tools
Knowing these biases exist helps us avoid them. You’ll pay more attention to the details, talk to the people with opposing views for advice rather than just the ones that believe as we do, or try to be more aware of our behavior.
Next: Client tools
We all have strongly ingrained biases that exist deep within our psyche. While they can serve us well in our day-to-day lives, they can have the opposite effect with investing. Investing behavioral biases encompass both cognitive and emotional biases. While cognitive biases stem from statistical, information-processing or memory errors, an emotional bias stems from impulse or intuition and results in action based on feelings instead of facts.
Source: Credit Suisse, Toptal, “Why Investors are Irrational, According to Behavioral Finance,” 2019. Toptal is not endorsing the content in this material.
Cognitive
Emotional
Emotional
• Conservatism
• Confirmation
• Representativeness
• Illusion of control
Cognitive
Behavioral Biases
You may already be familiar with the many categories of behavioral biases, a few of which are shown here. Simply put, a bias is prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person or group compared with another. Biases are predispositions towards certain types of decisions without really looking at the situation, often resulting in mistakes.
Types of behavioral biases
• Hindsight
• Anchoring and adjustment
• Mental accounting
• Loss aversion
• Overconfidence
• Self-control
• Status quo
• Endowment
• Regret aversion
• Excessive optimism
To simplify your client discussions, take a closer
look at a few common biases categories:
Cognitive
Emotional
Confirmation bias is the tendency to accept evidence that confirms our beliefs and to reject evidence that contradicts them.
• We often choose to talk to people who tend
to think like we do. Political views are a good
example. We gravitate to news channels,
websites and papers that have the same
political views we do, and we also tend to get
our information from these sources. That is
confirmation bias at work. We do not listen to
opposing viewpoints or to evidence that might
contradict our position.
Illusion of control bias implies we believe we control more than we actually do.
• We might recognize this when something bad
happens. For example, if we get into a car
accident, we might think, “I wish I hadn’t been
going that fast” or “I wish I hadn’t made that call
on my cell phone.”
Excessive optimism is the bias of seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. Nothing goes wrong and everything will always work out in the end.
• An example of this would be thinking that
you will always get a positive return on your
investment in the stock market or thinking
you will always make money on a real estate
investment, no matter the quality of the
investment or the state of the market.
Overconfidence is too much confidence, to
the point that we might think that we can do
no wrong. Overconfidence can be a by-product
of success because the more we succeed at something, perhaps by using some pattern, the more we think we will continue to be successful
at the risk of becoming overconfident.
• Overconfidence is not the same as self
confidence. We need some level of self
confidence to be successful, but the longer
we’ve been successful, the greater the risk of
becoming overconfident.
• When we are overconfident, we tend to neglect
paying attention to the details and may overlook
issues that may cause problems at some point.
Download sample worksheet
Of all the biases we have mentioned, there are a few we have identified as common biases that may surface in your client conversations. Use this worksheet to help you think through your client’s responses and recommend solutions.
Download sample worksheet
Values card questions worksheet
Client tools
Next: Client tools
Use our presentation to dig deeper into the concept of behavioral finance together. Whether during an in-person meeting or virtual screen-sharing session, this presentation will further help your clients feel confident that their financial strategy aligns with their core values.
Behavioral Finance Educational Presentation
3
Introducing the Values Card exercise to your clients is a great next step in the conversation. This fun and easy, interactive online experience helps investors identify their core values through a process of elimination. Clearly defining how they view various aspects of life helps ensure they’re making financial decisions that align with their personal beliefs.
Use our email template that includes a direct link to the Values Card exercise. Encourage them to forward their results to you and connect afterward to talk through their results.
Values Card Exercise and Introductory Email Template
2
We’ve created an infographic you can share with clients to get the conversation started. It helps them identify fears about financial security and other areas of life. They’ll be provided with tips on how to address them and plan for their futures confidently by connecting with you.
We’ve provided an email template to help you introduce the infographic. Encourage them to meet with you to talk through whether they resonated with the facts about how others feel in these times of uncertainty.
Behavioral Finance Interactive Infographic and Email Template
1
Next: Client tools
Tools to help you introduce behavioral finance advice to clients and prospects.
Today’s environment requires that financial professionals differentiate themselves from competing firms and robo-advisors by helping to manage emotions as much as portfolios.
Introducing aspects of behavioral finance into your client conversations can help you connect on a deeper level to discover their core values, all while proving your own value as a financial professional.
TruStage has developed several resources to help you get started and connect with existing clients and prospects.
Changing the conversation
Client tools
At a time when emotions can run high over market volatility and global uncertainty, your voice of reason and the message contained within these behavioral finance advice resources are needed more than ever.
Contact your wholesaler today to request these and other tools.
Review the sample table below.
Emotional patterns
Client tools
Download sample worksheet
Client tools
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Generations
Behavior gap
Certainty of uncertainty
Shift to financial advisor
Investor emotions
Smart money
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Generations
Behavior gap
Certainty of uncertainty
Shift to financial advisor
Smart money
Investor emotions
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
As financial stress rises, one’s ability to handle things emotionally
falls and stress adversely affects our emotional competence.
As emotional competence falls, irrational decision-making and behavior rises. Physical and emotional financial health falls. We know that excessive stress of any kind — but certainly financial stress —adversely affects physical health. If you help people with their financial stress, you will help them with their physical stress and — by extension — their quality of life.
Misery to wisdom
Introduce the alignment model by talking with your clients about their goals, values and behavior. The purpose of having your clients discover their values begins the journey towards aligning their values with their financial goals.
Integrating client goals
People who reflect on their values
before making a decision of any kind, including a financial decision, make better decisions. Values reflection won’t make you smarter, but values reflection will make you more rational.
Ask your clients to complete the Values Card exercise as a way to introduce the values conversation with your clients. Now available in a sharable digital format on www.smartriskcontrol.com/bfa
Determine core values
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Generations
Behavior gap
Certainty of uncertainty
Shift to financial advisor
Smart money
Investor emotions
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Generations
Behavior gap
Certainty of uncertainty
Shift to financial advisor
Smart money
Investor emotions
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Generations
Behavior gap
Certainty of uncertainty
Shift to financial advisor
Smart money
Investor emotions
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Generations
Behavior gap
Certainty of uncertainty
Shift to financial advisor
Smart money
Investor emotions
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Values card questions
Changing conversations
Emotional patterns
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Client tools
Values card questions
Changing conversations
Emotional patterns
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Client tools
Values card questions
Changing conversations
Emotional patterns
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist & timeline
Advisor tools
Client tools
Review & follow-up
Next steps
Born 1977 – 1995 Age 28 to 46
May be worried about supporting a parent or sibling while paying off student loans and/or other debt. In search of financial security.
Client demographics
Applying the behavioral finance approach
Differentiating your business
Let’s look at the facts
Acknowledging the Behavior Gap
Reacting on feelings
®
Annuities
Insurance | Investments | Technology
Behavioral Finance in Action
Building your business with insight.
Let’s get started
Program overview
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TruStage™ Annuities are issued by CMFG Life Insurance Company (CMFG Life) and MEMBERS Life Insurance Company (MEMBERS Life) and distributed by their affiliate, CUNA Brokerage Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, a registered broker/dealer, 2000 Heritage Way, Waverly, IA, 50677. Investment and insurance products are not federally insured, may involve investment risk, may lose value and are not obligations of or guaranteed by any depository or lending institution. All contracts and forms may vary by state and may not be available in all states or through all broker/dealers.
FOR REGISTERED REPRESENTATIVE USE ONLY. NOT FOR USE WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC.
CMGA-2498948.3-0723-0925 © TruStage
877.345.GROW (4769) | www.trustage.com/annuities
Have any questions?
Next steps
Contact your wholesaler
Demographic overview
Why age matters
Knowing the attitudes, challenges, fears, hopes, lifestyles and other attributes of specific generations helps you communicate to them using their preferred messaging. It’s also important to ask questions that resonate with them during the all-important introductory meeting.
Generational demographics can be valuable in helping you place a prospect or a new client broadly on a map — giving you a rough outline you’ll fill in later to complete a far more nuanced and
individual portrait.
By applying behavioral finance to your business, you will improve your potential to achieve greater success with increased production by attracting and retaining clients.
How will you begin to incorporate demographic nuances into your existing client interaction
and prospecting efforts?
Is your practice weighted to one age group or gender over another?
Take a close look at your book of business and identify categories and trends to determine
where you might begin to revisit your interaction and apply new learnings.
After you familiarize yourself with the behavioral finance approach to understanding client behaviors, how will you introduce this concept to your existing clients?
Where will you begin and with which client group?
Will this change the way you promote your services in brochures, advertisements or websites?
Will you pursue your own Behavioral Financial Advisor (BFA™) certification?
When will you begin?
Making a change in how you communicate will take practice.
How will you make that behavioral shift in your own thinking and attitudes toward client
and prospect interaction?
What am I thinking?
What am I feeling emotionally?
What am I doing and what is happening with me physically?
In this circumstance, are my feelings, thoughts and actions aligned with my values and goals?
Is there a better choice for me right now? Why?
Emotional
Review your book of business and categorize your clients by gender and age demographics.
Identify trends and the particular group you want to explore first.
Refer to the research available for that particular group (see our Audience Insights and Behaviors guide) and highlight where you can make modifications in your client conversations, communication methods and prospecting approach.
Develop a plan for implementation and change.
Client identification
Understanding the biases that impact your clients’ emotional behavior can help
you guide more meaningful conversations that lead to positive outcomes.
Silent Generation - 4.5%
Gen Alpha - 9%
This simple kit includes:
Program overview
Planning guide
Checklist and
timeline
Professional
financial tools
Client tools
877.345.GROW (4769) | www.trustage.com/annuities
•
•
•
•
Excessive optimism is the bias of seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. Nothing goes wrong and everything will always work out in the end.
• An example of this would be thinking that you will always get a positive return on your investment in the stock market or thinking you will always make money on a real estate investment, no matter the quality of the investment or the state of the market.
Overconfidence is too much confidence, to the point that we might think that we can do no wrong. Overconfidence can be a by-product of success because the more we succeed at something perhaps by using some pattern, the more we think we will continue to be successful at the risk of becoming overconfident.
• Overconfidence is not the same as self-confidence. We need some level of self-confidence to be successful, but the longer we’ve been successful, the greater the risk of becoming overconfident.
• When we are overconfident, we tend to neglect
paying attention to the details and may overlook
issues that may cause problems at some point.
Confirmation bias is the tendency to accept evidence that confirms our beliefs and to reject evidence that contradicts them.
• We often choose to talk to people who tend to
think like we do. Political views are a good
example. We gravitate to news channels, websites
and papers that have the same political views we
do, and we also tend to get our information from
these sources. That is confirmation bias at work.
We do not listen to opposing viewpoints or to
evidence that might contradict our position.
Illusion of control bias implies we believe we control more than we actually do.
• We might recognize this when something bad
happens. For example, if we get into a car accident,
we might think, “I wish I hadn’t been going that
fast” or “I wish I hadn’t made that call on my
cell phone.”
•
•
Right now!
1. What am I thinking?
2. What am I feeling emotionally?
3. What am I doing and what is happening with me physically?
4. In this circumstance, are my feelings, thoughts and actions
aligned with my values and goals?
5. Is there a better choice for me right now? Why?
Right now!
1. What am I thinking?
2. What am I feeling emotionally?
3. What am I doing and what is happening with me physically?
4. In this circumstance, are my feelings, thoughts and actions
aligned with my values and goals?
5. Is there a better choice for me right now? Why?
Three myths about Millennials
What do you really know
about this misunderstood —
and increasingly affluent — generation? This brochure puts your preconceptions to
the test.
Continuing relationships
with the next generation
Studies show the majority of children leave their parents' financial professionals upon receiving an inheritance. How can you turn the challenge of wealth transfer into an opportunity?
Personalizing women's wealth management
Women control more money — and make more family financial decisions — than ever before. What do they expect from a financial professionals relationship?
Gen X: Gen ready?
The “slacker” generation has a lower need for the trappings of wealth, but a high expectation
for service and results. Are you helping deliver certainty and security?
When it comes to stress, our brains are wired to respond quickly and emotionally. In order to make better decisions we need to become emotionally reflective.
Our emotional brain is biologically designed to restrict cognitive thought. It can’t distinguish between a bear market or a bear in the woods.
This is what happens when your clients make financial decisions, too — they will often react based on feelings and not purposeful thoughts.
If we can catch ourselves responding in a certain way and identify it, we have a better chance of slowing ourselves down and making a more appropriate response — one not ruled by emotion.
4/4
Baby Boomers
Born: 1946 – 1964 Age in 2021: 57 to 75
Worry about having enough income during retirement to maintain current lifestyle. Are traditionally big consumers and minimal savers.
3/4
Born: 1965 – 1978 Age in 2021: 43 to 56
Worry about the end of Social Security and their personal savings. Spend in moderation and are more interested in having fewer things and less luxury.
Gen X
2/4
Born: 1979 – 1996 Age in 2021: 25 to 42
Worry that they’ll need to support a parent or sibling while paying off their own loans and other debt. Just want to feel financially secure.
Millennials
Born: 1997 – 2010 Age in 2021: 11 to 24
Worry about the stability and longevity of their employment and established social programs.
Seek information and guidance at their fingertips.
1/4
Gen Z
Silent generation - 4.5%
Gen alpha - 9%
Review and
follow-up
Next steps
Insurance | Investments | Technology
Next steps
Review and follow-up
Client tools
Financial professional tools
Checklist & timeline
Planning guide
Program overview
Understanding the biases that impact your clients’ emotional behavior can help
you guide more meaningful conversations that lead to positive outcomes.
1
1
1
1
Percentage of
U.S. population
2