Have you ever left a sporting event, following the crowd, and suddenly realized you were walking the wrong way? What if I told you this phenomenon has a name, and it impacts your money, too?

Understanding our own behavior when it comes to finance is essential because it helps us mitigate wrong-for-us decision making around money. Unless you know these roadblocks exist, you can’t do much to stop them from derailing your financial goals.

Last week, we shared why human behavior matters for our financial lives by taking a look at the first 5 out of 10 psychological phenomena that can (and do) affect your personal finance goals: greed, fear, ego/overconfidence, loss aversion, and analysis paralysis.

This week, we’re diving back into behavioral finance (one of our favorite topics) to share five more types of unchecked human behavior that can sabotage your journey to building the wealth you want.

Despite our best intentions, certain emotions can keep us from building wealth. After many years arming physicians with the information they need to achieve financial wellness, I had a significant realization.

Information is one thing – behavior is another.

As the saying goes, money is 80% behavior and only 20% math.

Not only do I want to share important information about personal finance, I also want to help you recognize how certain behaviors can (and do) affect your finances.

Drawing from one of the classic books about investing, let’s go over five common behaviors that could be keeping you from achieving your financial goals.

Many doctors and high-income professionals hire financial advisors for any number of reasons. Either they’re too busy to handle their finances themselves, they don’t really know how to invest, or they want an expert on their side to make sure they’re on the right track.

So allow me to say from the start: I’m not against financial advisors, but I am against doctors (or anyone, really) being overcharged for bad advice.

There’s no shame in asking for help – you just want to get the help you need at a fair price.

You should be equipped enough to vet and evaluate your financial advisor so you’ll know whether they’re working well on your behalf. How can you be as confident as possible they’re acting in your best interest? This episode will help you find out.