Arbitration & Mediation

Voodoo economics: seeking psychic advice for financial decision making

By Diane Levin

Pick up a newspaper these days or tune in to your local TV news station, and there it is — another story about the consequences of bad decision making.

Meanwhile, publishers fill bookstore shelves with texts prescribing remedies for poor judgment, warning us that we are predictably irrational or nudging readers toward wiser choices, while excellent sources online abound, inviting us to examine the forces that influence our conduct or shape our assumptions.

Human nature, however, seems to resist mightily these efforts to improve decision making, despite the daily reminders of the risks of bad judgment. Concerned about uncertainty in their financial futures, some people these days are seeking advice — not from accountants, financial planners, tax attorneys, career coaches, or credit counselors — but from psychics.

Are you making decisions based on magical thinking or wishful predictions about the future? Or on sound advice from knowledgeable experts, information from trustworthy sources, and good common sense?

Full post as published by Online Guide to Mediation on March 09, 2009 (boomark / email).