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In traditional economics, utility theory assumed that investors work off probability-weighted outcomes. Prospect theory can better explain actual investor behaviour and is a better tool for designing retirement plans.
Loss aversion means some people avoid annuities because a premature death may lead to a loss of capital, but lifetime annuities with death benefits aim to address this problem.
A common concern for superannuants is how changes to the super system will affect their retirement outcomes. In reality, the proposed changes won’t affect the majority, but poor investment choices will.
Financial risk aversion defines our attitudes to taking financial risk. Your style of risk aversion could be relative or absolute or a bit of both. It's good to recognise your own tendencies for the benefit of your portfolio.
Financial risk aversion is usually measured via a questionnaire compiled by an adviser, which provides a one-dimensional numerical measure. But this does not cover all there is to learn about a client's aversion to risk.
We may already know how risk averse we are when it comes to investing, but how much of this is affected by ambiguity aversion. A better understanding of financial products could improve the investment choices we make.