Ben Soppitt

Ben Soppitt

What I’m Reading: Behavior Gap and Graeme Newell

Things are getting busier at Unifimoney so the amount of time to be reading longform content is less than we would like. However, there are still great options to keep learning and getting exposed to new and fresh ideas even when time is limited — here are two of our favorites.

Behavior Gap — https://twitter.com/behaviorgap



Carl Richards is a Certified Financial Planner, and he creates simple sketches that help explain personal finance concepts incredibly simply. This simplicity is powerful and, in using graphics to communicate, it’s quick to understand and easily remembered. We absorb and process information differently when it’s presented in word vs graphical form.

“Visualization works from a human perspective because we respond to and process visual data better than any other type of data. In fact, the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text, and 90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual.   Since we are visual by nature, we can use this skill to enhance data processing and organizational effectiveness.” (Source).

You can sign up for the Behavior Gap newsletter on Carl's website and/or follow his column in the New York Times here.

Graeme Newell on Youtube and LinkedIn

If you have followed Unifimoney for any amount of time, you will know that we are big proponents of solving for the psychological in personal finance. Money is a very modern phenomenon and we have not had time to evolve to deal with it optimally — which leaves us at a big disadvantage and at the mercy of our cognitive and behavioural biases — something Big Brand Banks easily manipulate to their advantage.

Graeme is another Certified Financial Planner and he specialises in highlighting the behaviour biases we all carry with us. Here is an example below: The Default Effect. 



These cognitive biases make us easy to exploit by companies focussed on maximising their profits at the expense of their customers.

Unifimoney instead takes account of these biases to help our customers adopt behaviours that benefit them. We make saving and investing automatic and by default, because of the Default Effect, to help accelerate the path to financial success. 

Our customers model best practices in personal financial management because that’s how we have designed the service to work.

*Important information and disclaimers

The above does NOT constitute an offer, solicitation of an offer, nor advice to buy or sell specific securities. The opinions listed above are not the opinions of Unifimoney Inc. or Unifimoney RIA, Inc. but represent the opinions of independent contributors. These contributors may or may not hold positions in the stocks discussed. Investors should always independently research any stocks listed and form their own opinions, while recognizing that any investments made may lose value, are not bank guaranteed and are not FDIC insured.