Reference materials on emotional investing
Curated readings, frameworks, and analytical tools assembled for seminar participants who want to work through the subject at their own pace.
Cognitive bias reference guide
1. Covers 22 documented biases that appear in investment decisions, from loss aversion to the disposition effect. Each entry includes a short definition, a realistic scenario, and a self-assessment prompt so participants can test their own tendencies before seminar discussion.
Decision journaling templates
1. A structured set of forms for recording investment decisions at the moment they are made - not after outcomes are known. Tracking the reasoning behind a decision separately from its result is one of the cleaner ways to spot recurring emotional patterns over time.
Annotated case studies: market stress periods
1. Four case studies drawn from documented market events - each analysed not for what happened to prices, but for how participants described their reasoning at the time . Primary sources include contemporaneous interviews and trading logs where available.
2. The annotations highlight where stated reasoning diverged from actual behaviour. These gaps are more instructive than either the reasoning or the behaviour alone - they show the mechanics of rationalisation under pressure.
Emotional state inventory
1. A short self-report instrument adapted from affect research. Participants complete it before reviewing a portfolio scenario, then again after. The before-and-after comparison often surfaces emotional shifts that participants did not consciously register during the exercise.
Reading list with annotations
1. Thirty-one texts selected from behavioural finance, decision science, and applied psychology. Each entry notes which seminar modules it supports and roughly how long a careful reading takes - useful for participants managing time across a full programme week.
How these materials are structured
1. Each resource is built around a specific point in the learning process - not organised by topic alone, but by where a participant typically encounters difficulty . The bias reference guide, for instance, is designed to be read before any portfolio exercise, not after.
2. Materials are reviewed and updated before each seminar cohort. When a case study no longer reflects current market structures, it is retired rather than kept for convenience. The reading list is pruned the same way - texts that have been superseded by clearer work are removed.
3. Participants from regions with limited access to English-language academic sources will find that most primary references include a plain-language summary. This is not a simplification - it is a parallel track that covers the same analytical content in fewer technical terms.
- All materials are available for the full duration of the programme, not just during scheduled sessions
- Decision journal templates are compatible with both digital and printed formats
- Case study annotations are written to support independent analysis, not to lead participants to a predetermined conclusion