"Financial Intelligence" explores psychological reasons behind financial decision-making, equips readers with guide to improve financial plan

For Release:  April 22, 2010 – FPA Press, the book publishing arm of the Financial Planning Association^® (FPA^®) today released "Financial Intelligence: How to Make Smart, Values-Based Decisions with Your Money and Your Life," a new book that helps individuals make controlled, rational, financial and life decisions when faced with emotionally challenging personal or financial situations that may cause them to act quickly and irrationally.

Financial Intelligence author Doug Lennick, CFP^®, teamed up with behavioral psychologist and editor Kathy Jordan, Ph.D. to explore the nature of human brains and how they affect behavioral finance. According to the book, human brains are optimized for physical survival, not contemporary challenges such as financial decision-making. Lennick explains when humans find themselves in a highly emotionally-charged event, such as the stock market plummeting, they are conditioned to make instant decisions and often make the wrong one.

In his new book, Lennick provides a simple four-step method -- the 4Rs -- for making wise financial and life decisions that help individuals break the cycle of habitual and emotional decision-making that is automatically sparked in the human brain when faced with emotionally charged events. The 4Rs are:

• Recognize your automatic mental and physical responses;
• Reflect on your values and your circumstances (while accounting for your inherent biases);
• Reframe a more realistic interpretation of what is happening and what lies ahead;
• Respond to a critical situation with an understanding of it and foresight about which current actions will best serve your future goals.

With the 4R process, individuals will learn how to pause in a stressful situation, re-evaluate their core values, and transition to a state in which decisions are based on thoughtful analysis rather than an immediate, irrational decision.

Other key highlights from the book include:

• Details on the human brain and its separate, dedicated centers for coping with various situations. When triggered by highly stimulating personal or financial events, these centers can cause the brain to react reflexively, dampening the ability to think analytically.
• Technology gives individuals easy access to credit, savings, and investment accounts, allowing them to make quick, impulsive financial decisions.
• Neuroscience research shows that humans can retrain the brain to respond to financial situations more rationally.

"Financial Intelligence: How to Make Smart, Values-Based Decisions with Your Money and Your Life" is available for purchase through the FPA Online Store ($19.95 for FPA members / $24.95 for non-members).

Lennick is CEO and co-founder of the Lennick Aberman Group. He is also co-author of the books: "Moral Intelligence: Enhancing Business Performance and Leadership Success"; "The Simple Genius (You)"; and "How to Get What You Want and Remain True to Yourself."

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