Rational Reminder Podcast - Samantha Alamas and Danielle Labotka

Goal-setting is essential for personal and professional growth, helping individuals clarify their priorities, stay focused, and achieve success. We are pleased to welcome guests Samantha Lamas and Danielle Labotka to help us unpack the topic of goal-setting and how it relates to finance. Samantha Lamas is a Senior Behavioural Researcher at Morningstar and a recipient of the Montgomery-Warschauer Award for her research in financial planning. Her work centres on investor engagement and the factors that influence an individual's decisions when it comes to investing and managing their finances. As a Behavioral Scientist at Morningstar, Danielle Labotka examines the impact of various cognitive and linguistic factors on investors’ financial decisions. Her research involves studying investors' behaviours, preferences, and attitudes in both everyday and financial planning situations. In our conversation with Samantha and Danielle, we gain insights into financial behaviour and decision-making, the biggest barriers to goal-setting, what deeper goals are, and how to focus on them. Then, we speak to Mark McGrath, who is licensed in insurance, holds several professional designations, including a Chartered Investment Manager and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), and has more than a decade of experience in the industry. Mark tells us the emotional story about his dad, what motivated him to share his experience, and why you need to start thinking about retirement now. Finally, we review a past episode with Dennis Moseley Williams, a book from Will Storr, and go through feedback from the Rational Reminder community. Tune in now!

Content Warning: Some of the discussion in this episode is about suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts about self-harm, help is available. In Canada: 1.833.456.4566 or at https://suicideprevention.ca/resources/

Key Points From This Episode:

•    How we became acquainted with the Morningstar team and background about our guests. (0:02:29)

•    An outline of the common obstacles faced in identifying the correct goals, and how it impacts financial advisors. (0:06:08)

•    Danielle explains the approach used to analyze qualitative data and how the results compared to the Rational Reminder findings. (0:09:07)

•    How the goals identified changed as respondents progressed through the survey, and insights gained from the process. (0:11:23)

•    The main takeaway from the analysis of how people should approach goal-setting and how financial advisors can leverage the research findings. (0:17:53)

•    Outline of current gaps and what is the next step for behavioural research. (0:20:59)

•    Find out what compelled Mark to share the tweet about his dad and he takes us through the story. (0:23:00)

•    How the experience regarding his dad has influenced his work as a financial advisor. (0:40:50)

•    Mark shares how the experience has impacted his approach to life. (0:42:25)

•    A final takeaway message that Mark has for listeners. (0:44:23)

•    Highlights and key takeaways from a past episode with Dennis Moseley Williams. (0:45:52)

•    This week's book review of The Status Game, and why it is a must-read. (0:48:44)

•    Research findings concerning macro socio-economic status and work ethic. (0:54:03)

•    We discuss interesting news and events, riskless assets, the advantages of Twitter, and the latest reviews for the show. (0:57:05)

Participate in our Community Discussion about this Episode:

https://community.rationalreminder.ca/t/episode-245-deeper-goals-and-retiring-with-purpose-discussion-thread/22660

Book From Today’s Episode:

The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It — https://amzn.to/40vVLix

Links From Today’s Episode:

Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.  Rational Reminder Website — https://rationalreminder.ca/

Shop Merch — https://shop.rationalreminder.ca/

Join the Community — https://community.rationalreminder.ca/

Follow us on Twitter — https://twitter.com/RationalRemind

Follow us on Instagram — @rationalreminder

Benjamin on Twitter — https://twitter.com/benjaminwfelix

Cameron on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CameronPassmore

Samantha Lamas on Twitter — https://twitter.com/SamanthaLamas4

Mark McGrath on Twitter — https://twitter.com/MarkMcGrathCFP

Samantha Lamas on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/slamas/

Mark McGrath on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmcgrathcfp/

'Mining for Goals' — http://static.fmgsuite.com/media/documents/8b5abbe8-0bf5-4321-9a4a-e04a82a11597.pdf