NCFA Fintech Confidential October 2021 (Issue 4)

we distilled four personality traits using
advanced psychometric tools: Zeal, Inhibition,
Conventionality, and Swag. These traits can
be used to comprehensively describe the
psychological individuality of investors.
• Zealous investors tend to be enthusiastic
and can become overly excited and
sometimes even carried away by new
opportunities;
• Inhibited investors tend to be risk-averse,
easily lose confidence, and often feel
intimidated by the stock market;
• Conventional investors more readily
follow the advice of others, they trust “the
experts”;
• Swaggy investors tend to believe they
know more about investing than they
actually do and that they are immune to
experiencing negative financial events.
These FIPI traits characterize the psychological
landscape of self-directed investors. Our
research shows that the FIPI traits are reliably
related to key demographic variables like age
and level of education, differentially related
to economic and financial knowledge, and
predict financial behaviors and consequential
outcomes like the amount of trades that
investors execute, their levels of decision
paralysis, and their degree of impulsive
decision making. We presented some of this
research at the 7 th Biennial Meeting of the
Association for Research in Personality, which
took place in June, 2021.
Curious? Try our Discovery Survey for
FREE! It’s a miniature FIPI, powered by the
same psychometric insights but delivered
in abbreviated form. It will give you a broad
overview of your investing personality that is
equal parts informative and playful.
The complete FIPI feedback expands on the
micro-version. The feedback is longer, more
detailed, and offers many actionable insights.
It is reference material that - with the passage
of time - may aid in the development of deeper
self-understanding each time it is read anew.
It provides an objective viewpoint from which
investors can learn about their strengths,
identify their blind spots, and evaluate the
way they make investment-related decisions.
The goal isn’t to change investors’ personalities.
Rather, the purpose of FIPI’s feedback is
to help investors become more mindful
of their emotional tendencies so that they
can more easily stay focused and rationally
pursue their investment goals. For example,
Zealous investors are reminded about their
tendencies to bullishly rush into new positions;
Inhibited investors are reminded that risks
may be necessary to meet their objectives;
Conventional investors are encouraged to
crystallize their own opinions so that they
can hold their positions with more conviction;
and Swaggy investors are encouraged to
learn. The feedback is personal. The platform
is interactive. The insights are real.
Investors want high-quality, personalized
insight and they want to be able to access
it 24/7. The power of psychometrics can
be harnessed to deliver this more optimal
experience. So take a moment and give our
Discovery Survey a try.
About:
Jennifer Schell is the founder and CEO of Finliti that she built
to help investors make informed and impactful investment
decisions to enrich their lives by achieving their financial goals.
Her career spans over fifteen years across Canada’s major
financial institutions, where she’s been passionate about wealth
management and helping her clients align effective stock
market strategies with their core values. Finliti.com
About:
Jennifer Schell
Founder and CEO
Finliti
Dr. Stefano Di Domenico
Assistant Professor
University of Toronto Scarborough
Dr. Di Domenico is an Assistant Professor at the University
of Toronto Scarborough, where he teaches personality and
neuroscience. He has published dozens of articles, advancing
the modern understanding of motivation, personality, and
decision making. His current research focus is behavioral
finance and FinTech. He serves on Finliti’s advisory board.
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