Exploring Client Behavioral Needs: A Roundtable on Field Observations and Advisory Gaps

The September 2025 Applied Behavioral Economics Knowledge Circle will be held on Wednesday, September 10th at 12 pm ET.

Guest speaker Dr. Michael Thomas, Jr. will be presenting, "Exploring Client Behavioral Needs: A Roundtable on Field Observations and Advisory Gaps."

Behavioral finance is often discussed either from an academic lens or through the client-facing experiences of working professionals. What’s missing are more opportunities for academia and firms to collaborate in exploring these unique perspectives. By bridging this gap, research becomes more actionable, practice becomes more evidence-based, and innovation in serving clients accelerates.

Dr. Michael G. Thomas Jr. is a Lecturer in Financial Planning, Housing, and Consumer Economics at UGA, where he earned his Ph.D. in Financial Planning in 2019. He is dedicated to exploring the behavioral, emotional, and psychological dimensions of financial wellness—focusing on areas such as social capital, empathy, compassion, and data visualization—and teaches courses including Introduction to Personal Finance and Wealth Management while actively engaging in pioneering community outreach programs like Money Dawgs and Discovering Money Solutions.