Designing Better Decisions

[00:02:04] – (First question) – The conversation starts with Dan’s passion for Sci-Fi because the two talked about it at length when they first met at the evidence-based investing conference

[00:04:31] – What really makes for a good sci-fi and some of Dan’s most favorite

[00:05:39] – Your life and People like You (short stories)

[00:10:30] – What books would identify whether a person is a sci-fi fan

[00:12:46] – What does it mean to be a behavioral economist, especially when it comes to the day-to-day tasks

[00:14:11] – Designing systems that make people better investors

[00:15:15] – All of the different areas that Dan influences the Betterment experience

[00:17:03] – The idea of nudges that will help people make better decisions and improvements to the dashboard

[00:19:22] – How does Dan think about nudging people to stop making the same mistakes that are becoming more common as the tools have made trading more accessible

[00:21:33] – One system designed called Tax Impact Preview and how it helps people make better decisions

[00:23:46] – How are these systems delivered to the consumer and help them make a better decision

[00:25:00] – What other ways that Betterment nudges customers to make better decisions

[00:27:25] – How Betterment is preparing its customer base and itself for the next downturn

[00:30:48] – Preventing people on Betterment from making the same mistakes that are made in other places

[00:33:45] – Reassuring investors when they log into the site as opposed to emailing them and causing panic

[00:34:39] – Exploring Dan’s philosophy roots

[00:36:44] – How to remove fallible human factors from decision making

[00:39:30] – How worried is Dan about automation and the jobs of the world

[00:43:18] – We have to look at how to combat inequality but not as a financial problem, but as a motivation problem

[00:45:00] – Dan’s decision to come to Betterment and the idea of money vs happiness

[00:49:35] – Helping customers design indices for every single individual and every goal

[00:53:25] – What aspect of Betterment’s offering makes it so unique from its competitors

[00:55:45] – How do you scale a company and keep up the hiring of high-quality talent

[00:58:45] – Looking at Dan’s most memorable day

[01:00:07] – Kindest thing anyone has done for Dan

[01:02:48] – What advice would Dan give to students and graduate students interested in getting into the markets