The Differences Between Behavioral Finance and Traditional Finance



When it comes to money and how people manage their finances, there are many ways of looking at the same problem. You have traditional finance that most people follow, along with an offshoot called behavioral finance. Both schools of thought have pros and cons. However, which one is the better way to look at money management? Let’s take a closer look at these two financial ideologies, their pros and cons, the differences between behavioral finance and traditional finance.


What Is Traditional Finance?

Traditional finance is the study and application of mathematical concepts of risk and return in the financial market to select appropriate investments for the given risk and return requirements of an investor. The underlying assumption of traditional finance is that markets are efficient, and that investors can’t beat the market. Therefore, the most efficient way to manage your money is to buy an index fund that tracks the entire market. This approach completely ignores human psychology, and the impact of emotions on investment decisions and outcomes. The main idea behind traditional finance is to make weighted and logical decisions based on facts and numbers. Traditional finance proposes that people use logical data to predict the future. Traditional finance focuses on the facts, figures and past data. The main assumption behind traditional finance is that markets are efficient. Therefore, investors should try to buy and sell securities at their “fair” price, so as to not be exploited by market “inefficiencies.”


What is Behavioral Finance?

Behavioral finance concerns itself with how people’s psychology affects their investment decisions, and how this may lead to suboptimal financial outcomes. Behavioral finance is a relatively new field in finance that looks at how people’s emotions, frame of mind, and psychological inclinations affect how they make financial decisions. Behavioral finance studies human behavior and decision-making to understand why people don’t always act rationally when it comes to money. Behavioral finance isn’t just psychology, but it also uses economics and financial theory. Behavioral finance tries to understand how and why investors make decisions that go against their best financial interests. Investors often make irrational decisions, and behavioral finance studies what causes this and how it can be avoided. Behavioral finance tries to understand why investors make suboptimal decisions and how these decisions can be corrected.

Behavioral finance is an academic field of study that uses principles from psychology and behavioral science to analyze financial markets and human behavior. It focuses on anomalies in investor behavior that depart from the standard neoclassical assumptions of rational actors and perfect information. In other words, it uncovers the pitfalls of the human mind when it comes to investing.
There are a variety of concepts found in behavioral finance that have been proven time and time again by countless experiments: People have emotions when they invest, they do not always have complete information, people tend to be overconfident, etc. The purpose of this article is not to repeat all those concepts but rather to explain the main differences between behavioral finance as a separate field of study, and traditional finance as a branch of economics.


The Differences between Behavioral Finance and Traditional Finance

Behavioral finance is not traditional finance. Behavioral finance looks at how people actually act when it comes to money, while traditional finance takes a more “scientific” approach to managing money. Behavioral finance isn’t so much about what people should do, but what they actually do. Traditional finance says people should buy index funds that track the entire market, but not everyone does that. Behavioral finance says, “Ok, so people are actually going to put their money in funds that track the market, but most people don’t put enough in, and they don’t diversify enough.” Behavioral finance takes a more in-depth, and psychological approach to money management. Behavioral finance examines what happens when people put their money in the stock market, and how they actually react when the market goes up and down. Behavioral finance looks at how people actually behave when they see the value of their stock holdings increasing or decreasing in value.


Why Does It Matter Which Theory You Follow?

Behavioral finance and traditional finance both have pros and cons. Behavioral finance is a more in-depth approach to money management, and it helps to understand how and why people actually act when it comes to their finances. Traditional finance, on the other hand, is a more “scientific” approach to money management that relies heavily on facts and figures to predict the future. So why does it matter which theory you follow? At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which theory you follow. It’s more important to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place. There are many ways to manage your money, and there’s no right or wrong way to do it. It’s more important to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing. It’s important to understand why the financial theory you’re following is based on the way you approach your money.


How to Use This Knowledge

Now that you know the differences between behavioral finance and traditional finance, what can you do with that information? Behavioral finance looks at how people actually act when it comes to their finances. Behavioral finance helps to understand why people make money management decisions that may or may not be in their best financial interest. Traditional finance is a more “scientific” approach to money management based on facts and figures. Traditional finance helps to understand how and why markets work, and how investors can profit from market inefficiencies. With this knowledge, you can understand why certain people make the decisions they do when it comes to money, and how to help them make better decisions in the future. You can also use this knowledge to help understand how markets work, and how you can make better investment decisions to help further your financial goals.


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