In part one of this six-part series, Kelsa discusses cognitive biases and how they impact us and our money. It’s important to know what cognitive biases are because they are impacting the way you make decisions and the way you think about your finances every single day. 

In this episode about cognitive biases, you will learn:

• What is cognitive bias?
• The Anchoring Bias: what it is and how it’s being used to affect your decision-making
• An example of how the anchoring bias impacted a choice Kelsa made recently
• How you can overcome the anchoring bias

How to overcome the anchoring bias:

• In order to combat the effect of anchoring, it’s important to put your own anchor to the amount of money you would otherwise spend. That’s called self-anchoring. Use something like “# of hours if I spend $x” or “# of days my goal is delayed for $Y.”
• Note that we can fall victim to anchoring when we’re faced with a decision we know very little about. For example, when you buy an electronic device for the first time. That’s why research and price-comparison shopping comes into play b/c you are challenging the anchor.
• A good strategy for determining if a sale price is a good deal is to mentally block out the regular list price. Does it still represent a good deal for the item, for you, and for your budget? This can be hard to do if you’ve already seen the list price but try it anyway. This approach can help you view the price of “great deal” purchases more realistically.

Resources/ links related to topic/ mentioned in the podcast:

• The Anchoring Effect: What is This Jacket Really Worth?
• www.financialcoachacademy.com
• www.financialcoachingsymposium.com
• www.certifiedprofessionalfinancialcoach.com

Music by Annti Luode