Investor Bias Profile

How this works

A study of 783 institutional portfolios found that investors added approximately 100 basis points of value through their buy decisions — and gave back 80 basis points on their sell decisions relative to a random sell strategy. The performance gap is not in sourcing ideas. It is in knowing when to exit.

Answer 21 questions honestly — based on how you actually behave, not how you think you should. A few questions have a correct answer. Most do not.

Answer based on your real portfolio decisions over the last 12 months
The assessment takes about 7 minutes
There are no right or wrong answers on the behavioural questions

Your results map to three primary behavioral dimensions — Composure, Impulsivity, and Conviction — each with a specific intervention protocol.

Questions 1–4 of 20

Question 1

You're negotiating the price of a second-hand car. The seller lists it at €12,000. After researching comparable cars, you calculate a fair value closer to €9,500.

Which describes your opening offer?

Question 2

You review your portfolio and notice one position that has drifted — the original thesis has softened, and at the current price it would not clear your entry bar as a new idea.

Which describes what you do?

Question 3

You need to reduce risk. Three positions, all equal size at entry: one up 38%, one flat, one down 19%. You sit down to decide which to cut.

Which do you look at first?

Question 4

A company you are long on misses consensus revenue by 4% and guides down 6% for the next quarter. The stock falls 11% in the pre-market. You have two hours before the market opens.

Which describes your likely approach?

Question 5

You're deciding whether to accept a job offer. Three people whose opinion you trust are enthusiastic about it. One person you respect raises a specific concern — something about the role or the organisation that you can't immediately dismiss.

In your follow-up research and conversations, where does your attention go?

Question 6

Your street had a break-in two weeks ago — the first in years. You've been meaning for months to sort out the lock on your garden shed, and now you're finally dealing with it.

Is the break-in the reason you're acting now?

Question 7

You receive an unexpected €1,500 tax refund. You weren't counting on it.

When you think about what to do with it, which feels more accurate?

Question 8

A project you were involved in went badly wrong. Looking back, several early warning signs are clearly visible — team friction, missed milestones, a stakeholder who raised doubts early on.

Which is the more honest reading?

Question 9

You've been planning a significant home renovation for months. You and a contractor have mapped out a detailed scope, timeline, and budget. Your partner asks: what's the realistic worst case?

Which describes how you tend to think about it?

Question 10

You've relied on the same external agency for a critical workstream for 14 months. Delivery timelines, quality standards, and responsiveness have all missed — not catastrophically, but consistently beyond what you expected at the outset. The working relationship still feels functional.

You need to make a recommendation to your manager. Which describes you better?

Question 11

You have collected nine of ten stamps on a loyalty card at a café you find unremarkable. A better option has opened nearby.

Do you go back for the tenth stamp?

Question 12

You're doing a portfolio review. One position has sat at roughly the same weight for over two years — no trim, no add, no formal re-underwriting. Nothing dramatic has happened to it.

Which describes your approach?

Question 13

Before a high-stakes negotiation or presentation, you spend three days on thorough preparation — researching the other party, anticipating objections, assembling data, mapping out scenarios.

When you walk in, which describes you better?

Question 14

You have two uncomfortable tasks you've been putting off for weeks. One affects only you — a personal admin issue, no one else watching. The other involves walking back on a commitment you made in front of several people.

Which describes how you approach it?

Question 15

A surgeon explains your upcoming procedure has a 92% success rate. Later, a colleague frames the same procedure as having an 8% complication rate. The second version stays with you longer — even though both describe the same reality.

Does that match your experience?

Question 16

A supplier or colleague you've relied on for over a year has shown the same issue four times running — not serious enough to cause a crisis, but consistent.

Which describes your response?

Question 17

A new colleague joins your team. Their background closely mirrors someone you've worked with before — same industry, similar trajectory, broadly comparable profile. The prior person was excellent.

Before this colleague has demonstrated anything independently, which is more honest?

Question 18

A project you led over the past six months produced a strong outcome. You're presenting the debrief to your team.

Which more honestly describes how you tell the story?

Question 19

A position you have held for two years has rerated significantly. It now trades at a valuation you would never accept as an entry point on a new idea. You have not reduced it — the original thesis still feels intact.

Is that an accurate description of any position you currently hold?

Question 20

Calibration item

In 1964, the average company remained in the S&P 500 for approximately 33 years before being replaced. That figure has fallen steadily since.

What is the estimated average tenure today? Select the range you are 90% confident contains the correct figure.

Question 21

You walk into a team meeting as the main advocate for a course of action. The discussion is substantive, but two senior colleagues push back. By the end, you've moderated your recommendation — not because any specific argument changed your thinking, but because the consensus weight felt more defensible.

Which is the more honest account?

Your Investor Bias Profile

Scores reflect patterns across your responses. Treat elevated dimensions as hypotheses worth testing — not diagnoses.

This is a self-report instrument. Scores are relative to your own answer pattern, not normalised against a population sample. Most investors score positively on several dimensions. The question is which ones, and at what intensity.

CFA Institute — Behavioural Finance · 15 bias framework