Applied Behavioral Finance
This applied behavioral finance course examines the intersection of behavioral finance, financial psychology, and financial planning theory, practice, and research. It reviews the research on behavioral finance and investor psychology, exploring the effects of human emotions and cognitive errors on financial decisions. This course focuses on the application of behavioral finance theory and research to the practice of business, financial planning and financial therapy to help professionals improve the financial health of their clients.
OBJECTIVES FOR THIS ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSE
This course aims to:
- Provide an environment conducive to the study of behavioral finance using written and oral presentations and applied financial psychology theory and techniques
- Strengthen participants’ ability to understand financial psychology and its implications with regard to financial health of clients and clients’ ability to reach their financial goals
- Apply theory and technique to gain a deeper understanding of the student’s own personal financial psychology
- Help identify cognitive and emotional biases that impact investor behaviors
- Describe methods for helping clients identify, challenge, and change cognitive and emotional biases
- Help students learn to apply research findings in behavioral finance to real-world situations with clients
Course Details
Audience: Business, financial planning and financial therapy professionals
Method: Online course
Duration: 8 weeks
Graduate application: Not required
Credits: 3
Cost: $2,900
This Course is Offered on the Following Dates
Details will be posted soon. This fall course will open for registration in spring 2020. Enter your contact information, and we’ll let you know when the course is available.
Behavioral Finance Course Outline
This eight-week course will cover a variety of topics:
- Week 1: Intro to applied behavioral finance
- Week 2: Cognitive dissonance, conservatism, confirmation and representativeness
- Week 3: Illusion of control, hindsight, mental accounting, and anchoring and adjustment
- Week 4: Framing, availability, self-attribution and outcome
- Week 5: Recency, loss aversion, overconfidence and self-control
- Week 6: Status quo, endowment, regret aversion and affinity
- Week 7: Financial therapy for cognitive biases
- Week 8: Applied behavioral finance project
Course Credit
This is one of five courses in the Certificate in Financial Psychology and Behavioral Finance, and it’s worth 3 credits. The course can be taken independently as a professional development course or as part of the certificate program. Please note that students are limited to earning a maximum of nine graduate credits before applying for admission into a degree or certificate program. If you are below the nine-credit limit and are not seeking a certificate or degree, you’re free to take this course without applying to the graduate school.
Creighton University will issue a 1098-T by January 31 for all learners enrolled in courses for credit. As part of that process, you may be asked to provide your Social Security number.
Required Materials
- Pompian, M. (2012). Behavioral finance and wealth management: How to build optimal portfolios that account for investor biases, 2nd edition. Wiley Finance.
Klontz, B., Kahler, R., Klontz, T. (2016). Facilitating financial health: Tools for planners, coaches, and therapists, 2nd edition. Cincinnati, OH: The National Underwriter Company.
Applied Behavioral Finance is taught by Bradley Klontz, PsyD, CFP®. An associate professor in the Heider College of Business, Klontz is a founder of the Financial Psychology Institute, a managing principal of Your Mental Wealth Advisors, a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a former president of the Hawaii Psychological Association.
Dr. Klontz was awarded the Innovative Practice Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association for his application of psychological interventions to help people with money and wealth issues and his innovative practice in financial psychology for practitioners across the country.
Dr. Klontz has co-authored/co-edited five books on financial psychology, and his work has been featured on ABC News’ 20/20 and Good Morning America and in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Kiplinger’s, Money Magazine, NPR and many other media outlets, professional magazines and journals.
Continuing education and professional development courses may be cancelled by the attendee in writing up to 7 days before the course begins for a full refund, less a $25 processing fee. No refund will be given 7 days prior to the course. Some courses are not eligible for a refund; these exceptions are noted in specific course descriptions. In the event of a weather related closure, the course will be rescheduled.
Student interactions and viewpoints are a vital part of our rich learning environment. For this reason, Creighton reserves the right to cancel courses in the case of low registration numbers. In this case, registrants will receive a full refund. If a course is cancelled by the University for other non-weather related issues, the student will be notified and a full refund will be processed.
