On CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” show today they discussed investors’ short-term memory and how it can trip them up. It was a good show in explaining how investors feel about the pain and pleasure associated with losses and gains in their portfolios. I’d like to add and explain the dynamics of facing a likely gain vs. a sure loss. Read the rest of this entry »

YOURS, MINE and OURS

Joanne and Peter have been married for three years and have just started to deal with the reality of blending their money and making joint decisions. Planning to buy their first house has forced them to face the fact that there are conflicts they’ve been avoiding–conflicts because they have very different opinions and styles of approaching money. Read the rest of this entry »

Joanne and Peter have been married for three years and have just started to deal with the reality of blending their money and making joint decisions. Planning to buy their first house has forced them to

face the fact that there are conflicts they’ve been avoiding–conflicts because they have very different opinions and styles of approaching money. Read the rest of this entry »

Moral dilemmas are not easy. They make us get in touch with what’s most important to us and how we will make choices based on our values of right and wrong.

As a psychologist specializing in money management, I have worked with children and families on this issue and have been fascinated with how people of all ages justify what they do. The psychologist that is the grandfather of psychological studies on morality and moral judgments is Kohlberg. What he learned over the years is that there are stages of moral development and critical thinking which allow people to make appropriate decisions for themselves, their needs and causes in relation to what’s good and appropriate for society at large. He learned that there were people who made decisions based on the absolute of right and wrong, but many others who used their own barometer of what was right and wrong for them. People will do what they feel they need to do and justify it according to what was most important in their individual situation, but not all. So just like so many other variables in life, we humans differ on the morality scale as well. Read the rest of this entry »