One size does not fit all. The importance of investors' personality in financial education

Personality theories date back more than 2,000 years. Indeed, one of most accredited modern theories of personality, the theory of temperaments proposed by Keirsey has its roots in the Hippocratic medicine. In the Twentieth Century, Jung’s theory of psychological types has represented the basis of the theory of personality types developed by Myers and Briggs, widely used, together with Keirsey’s theory for profiling purposes. A third major contribution, the Big Five theory claims that there are five main personality traits that characterize people. More recently, Pompian (2012) merged together Keirsey’s personality theory with behavioral finance, the Behavioral Investor Types (BITs). BITs tell us that different financial personalities are associated with specific cognitive biases. Personality affect all decisions, thus also financial decisions. Thus, considering personalities has useful implications in the financial field for investors, financial advisors, but also for policy makers and regulators. Providing the same advice to investors with different financial personality yields dramatically different results, because of the different perceptions and behavioral biases typical of each BIT. To be effective, educational programs, and financial communication need to address different personalities in different ways. For financial advice, and financial education, thus, one size does not fit all.