cognitive psychology Archives – Decision Fish: Decide For Yourself

To-Do List Out Of Control? Try These 10 Stress-Busters

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 16:46:15 +0000

Do you get stressed around the holidays with just too much to do? Many of us feel more stress, anxiety and depression during the holidays. In addition to the normal demands of running a start-up and teaching, I’ve got presents to buy, travel to plan and a child to get to college. At last count, I ... Read more

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Time To Choose Your Health Insurance: Don’t Make A $9,000 Mistake

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 20:23:42 +0000

Is there any financial decision that we dread more than the annual chore of choosing a health insurance plan? It’s got everything we hate: choice and information overload, time pressure, ambiguity and confusion, consequences worth thousands, uncomfortable scenarios involving disease and injury, inscrutable jargon coming at a time of the year full of other business, ... Read more

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Finance is Personal: Your Money and Your Life

Brett F. Whysel — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 15:50:14 +0000

Do you know someone going off to college who’s clueless about money? What if they’re clueless about why they’re going in the first place? Then Finance is Personal by Kim Stephenson and Ann Hutchins should be on their summer reading list. Even those further along in their careers will benefit from portions of this book (as I ... Read more

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3 Vicious Cycles: Links Among Financial, Physical and Mental Health

Brett F. Whysel — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 19:21:08 +0000

Feedback loops are powerful forces of nature. Melting polar ice caps reduce the earth’s reflectivity, causing it to absorb more heat from the sun, which accelerates the melting. The cumulative, accelerating aspects of such loops make it imperative to break the cycle before it gets out of control. Below, I identify three feedback loops among financial ... Read more

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Best Wishes for Failing Successfully in the New Year! 😏

Brett F. Whysel — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 23:00:51 +0000

Failure, much more than success, helps us grow professionally and personally. And yet, it’s so hard to account for our failures. We prefer to think of ourselves as competent, effective people (see cognitive dissonance). And it’s embarrassing to share those failings because it’s counter to social norms. However, a frank appreciation of one’s shortcomings is necessary ... Read more

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The “Mystery” of Intuitive Decision Making

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 18:09:03 +0000

A High Stakes Hunch I had just got the news: the bank I worked for was going to sell the business I was supporting. This was going to be the seventh transition of my 27-year banking career. Should I try to find a new job in the industry or start my own business? Somehow, I ... Read more

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Nudges: For Your Own Good?

Brett F. Whysel — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 19:00:12 +0000

What do classical music in the train station, binge-inducing pre-loaded TV show episodes in Netflix, and those "I voted stickers" you get after voting have in common? Read our latest article, "Nudges: For Your Own Good?" about how government and businesses "nudge" your behavior for your own good...or maybe not (5 minute read).

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How to Decide…How to Help People Decide

Brett F. Whysel — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 14:08:50 +0000

Think back to the last time you had to make a hard, important decision. Were you picking an asset allocation for your 401k, selecting a health insurance plan or deciding whether it was time to refinance your mortgage? What kind of help did you seek and what kind of help was available? Were you confident ... Read more

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Health Insurance Enrollment: A Superhuman Decision

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 00:58:58 +0000

Open enrollment for health insurance began November 16 and the decision isn’t any easier than last year. On the contrary, not only are premiums higher and benefits lower, there’s greater uncertainty about the future of the Obama health care act. On a cold, cloudy Sunday afternoon, I analyzed my health insurance choices. Our choices and ... Read more

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Good Behavior? What I Learned at the Behavioral Summit (and How it Freaked Me Out a Little)

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 16:54:56 +0000

I just attended the best conference ever. And I’ve been to a lot of them. The ideas42 Behavioral Summit 2016 was billed as offering “…an inside look at the latest developments from the field of behavioral science and how these insights drive innovation in the private sector.” Indeed it went beyond that, touching on politics, ... Read more

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