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Although modern financial theories often assumed rational investor behaviour, most of us do at times fall short of that particular “standard of behaviour”. Of course, most of us do not go out of our ways to be ignorant or irrational; but sometimes we are misled by cognitive and emotional errors which make us looks “irrational”.

Being aware of this is essential. Wealth managers who understand behavioural finance and incorporate its insights into their practices will improve the outcomes for their clients by making more prudent recommendations in a way that increases the odds that their clients will act upon them. By doing so, the clients they serve can thus benefit significantly from the application of behavioural finance to their unique circumstances. This course aims to do just that.

Course Objectives

  • Understand the role of behavioural finance in managing wealth
  • Understand the various emotional biases that influence investing behaviour
  • Understand the various cognitive biases that influence investing behaviour
  • Understand how behavioural biases influence long-term investment
  • Understand how behavioural biases affect short-term trading decisions

Course Outline

Module 1: The Role of Behavioural Finance in Wealth Management

  • Heuristics Biases

Module 2: Emotional Biases

  • Loss Aversion Bias
  • Overconfidence Bias
  • Self-Control Bias
  • Endowment Effect
  • Status Quo Bias
  • Regret-Aversion Bias

Module 3: Cognitive Biases

  • Representativeness Bias
  • Conservatism Bias
  • Confirmation Bias
  • The illusion of Control Bias
  • Anchoring and Adjustment Bias
  • Mental Accounting Bias
  • Framing Bias
  • Availability Bias

Module 4: Behavioural Finance and Long-Term Investment

  • Portfolio Construction
  • Investment Policy

Module 5: Behavioural Finance and Technical Analysis

  • Do Cognitive Biases Create Trading Rule Profits?

Assessment