News about Daniel Kahneman

Barely a week passes without mention of the powerfully appealing phrase 'early retirement' - on social media and news websites, and among bloggers and podcasters. Escaping the rat race has always held appeal but the allure appears to be growing and becoming more intense. I checked on Google Trends, just to check the rise is real. And yes, the number of searches for 'retire early' has risen three-fold in a decade. At the sharp extreme end of the 'retire early' movement is the FIRE brigade. Coined by bloggers, the acronym emerged in the aftermath of the 2008 banking crisis and captured the aspiration of many young workers who wanted Financial Independence and to Retire Early. They still do, the Google data tells us.

The Israeli-born researcher is best known for his research into how neurobiases influence decision making. The pair, along with Amos Tversky, his longtime collaborator, debunk the long-standing belief in economics that humans are 'rational actors.' The findings, which were outlined in Kaneman's 2011 best seller 'Thinking, Fast and Slow,' demonstrated how a large portion of our decision making is influenced by ingrained mental habits that can distort thoughts in a variety of ways.

Financial decision-making is often linked to level-headedness and estimation. However, psychologists emphasize that emotions, such as sadness, anger, and fear, have a major influence on our wallets. People who are sad are likely to spend more, while anxious people tend to avoid risk, according to years of academic study. Heather Pulier, a financial advisor and founder of Outset Financial, advises DailyMail.com, "you should never make a financial decision unless you're hungry, ill, lonely, or achy." Although there are no blanket rules, negative emotions are often associated with poor choices. Overspending, as well as the opposite, can be described as 'financial starvation,' by Pulier.'