What If the Best Financial Advice Has Nothing to Do With Money?
When people think about financial planning, they think about portfolios, tax strategies, and risk tolerance. But what if the most important work an advisor does has almost nothing to do with any of that?
That is the question at the heart of my conversation with Dr. Daniel Crosby on the Knowing Me, Knowing You podcast. Daniel is a psychologist, New York Times bestselling author, and Chief Behavioral Officer at Orion Advisor Solutions. His books, The Behavioral Investor and The Soul of Wealth, have been translated into 17 languages. He has spent nearly two decades doing something rare: translating academic behavioral research into practical tools for working advisors.
What he shared in our conversation reaffirmed why I built Knomee.
We Have Been Using Behavioral Finance Wrong
Daniel made a point that stopped me in my tracks. Behavioral finance, he argued, has spent most of its existence cataloging everything that is broken about us. The biases, the irrationalities, the cognitive shortcuts that lead clients astray. And while that work matters, it only tells half the story.
The other half is positive psychology: the science of flourishing, of what actually helps people live with meaning and intention. That is the lens Daniel brings to his work, and it is the lens the industry needs to adopt
He distilled the entire landscape of cognitive bias, nearly 200 identified tendencies, down to four that sit above all others:
Ego - overconfidence
Emotion - letting our feelings drive decisions
Conservatism - confusing familiarity with safety
Attention - mistaking what is loud for what is likely
Advisors who understand these four have a real advantage. But Daniel was quick to add: this framework is a mirror, not a window. The advisors who have done their own inner work stand above the rest, clients can tell.
Money Without Meaning Is Just Math
The chapter of Daniel's work that resonates most with me is on money and meaning. The research here is not soft. People who looked at a picture of their children before a financial decision saved twice as much. Clients with named accounts, a “Retire to Puerto Rico Fund” versus a generic account number, were ten times less likely to liquidate during volatility.
When meaning is present, behavior follows
Daniel draws on positive psychology pioneer Martin Seligman, who identified five pillars of happiness:
Positive experiences
Deep work
Deep relationships
A sense of meaning larger than yourself
Self-improvement
Money is excellent at facilitating the first one. For the other four, it is at best a vehicle. Most clients, and most financial plans, have over-indexed on the one dimension money can directly buy and left the rest untouched.
Rapport Is the Return
I asked Daniel for the single behavioral insight that would most improve how advisors serve clients. His answer: rapport. And, he said, dare I say, love.
The outcomes research in therapy is clear: what predicts who gets better is not the therapist's credentials. It is the quality of the relationship. Daniel sees the same dynamic in financial services. Everything advisors ask clients to do, hold through volatility, make hard tradeoffs, stay the course, is genuinely difficult. None of it sticks unless clients feel genuinely known and cared for
That is not a soft observation. That is the whole business.
This Is Why Knomee Exists
Daniel described technology's most powerful role as a fast track to human connection.
Knomee surfaces the right insights about a client's values, emotional history, and priorities so advisors can skip the surface and go straight to what matters.
We help advisors know their prospects and clients as full human beings, not just account holders. Because when clients feel seen, they stay engaged. And when advisors have the right tools to guide those conversations, everyone wins.
Financial planning is not just about returns. It is about relevance.
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