Behavioural Finance for Financial Advisers

This unit will contextualise behavioural finance theory to the practise of professional financial planning. Established and contemporary research will be explored to build deeper understanding of the motivations, fears, preferences, decision-making biases of clients and advisers. Behavioural finance theories will be used to learn communication techniques, negotiate client uncertainties, manage the ongoing client-adviser relationship and client literacy and financial literacy. Extending this, is an examination of efficient market theory to develop understanding of the irrationalities of investor behaviour and how it applies to client investment planning. The psychology of client engagement will be combined with behavioural finance to build interpersonal skills that empower client engagement and better negotiation of conflict. The content is supported by podcast interviews with practitioners, structured discussion and metacognitive interaction.


This unit is designed to meet the requirements of a Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority [FASEA] bridging course and extend the meaning of a client’s wealth to include their behavioural bias for investment. Successful completion of this unit has the added advantage of satisfying the relevant FASEA education requirements of a bridging unit within an approved degree and may count towards the annual Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirement to a maximum of 30 CPD hours per year.