Measuring the cognitive biases
that shape financial decisions
Sigmalign is a behavioural finance research initiative developing a psychometric instrument that identifies how individual investors are likely to decide under stress. The instrument completed an independent academic desk review in 2026 and is now being redesigned to incorporate that review's findings, ahead of panel validation and a Canadian advisor pilot planned for the first half of 2027.
Building the instrument, then the pilot
Despite decades of research establishing that behavioural tendencies systematically distort financial decisions, the advisory industry lacks a standardised, validated instrument for measuring those tendencies at the individual client level.
Sigmalign is being developed in sequence rather than in parallel. An independent academic desk review of the instrument was completed in 2026. Its findings are now being worked through in a structured redesign led by an external psychometrician. Panel validation follows the redesign, and only then does the advisor pilot open.
The pilot is not a claim to validity. It is the structured data collection required to eventually make one.
Independent academic desk review
An external psychometrician assessed the instrument against recognised standards for psychological testing. Findings are informing the current work rather than being deferred.
Instrument redesign
Construct definitions, item sourcing, and scoring approach rebuilt under external psychometric oversight, drawing on validated measures where suitable ones exist.
Panel validation
A structured validation round using an independent respondent panel, run before any advisor or client sees the instrument in practice.
Advisor pilot fielding
A 60-day observational study with a small number of licensed Canadian advisors and their consenting clients. Findings expected later in 2027.
Independent Oversight
The measurement is not ours to grade
Instrument development is overseen by an external psychometrician holding a PhD in quantitative psychology, with published work in the measurement of decision-making under risk. Scientific judgment on the instrument sits with her, not with us.
Sigmalign does not describe the instrument as validated, and will not, until the evidence supports it. Independent scrutiny comes before commercial release rather than after it.
Shaping the instrument before it launches
Beginning in early 2027, Canadian investors will see what they pay their advisor expressed as a dollar figure for the first time. Fee transparency does not change the quality of advice, but it does change the conversation — and it rewards advisors who can show what their judgment is actually for.
Sigmalign is being built with advisors rather than at them. The Advisor Council is a small named group of independent Canadian investment advisors, portfolio managers, and financial planners who review the instrument as it develops and are consulted at defined points during its design. Membership is fee-free, non-binding, and carries no commercial obligation.
Council seats are extended by invitation, and the group is deliberately small. If the work is relevant to your practice, you are welcome to put your name forward.
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Time | Under six hours a year, most of it asynchronous |
| Public listing | Name, designation, firm, and city — with your consent |
| Commitment | None. Withdraw by email at any time |
| First look | Early access once the instrument is ready, and first consideration for the pilot cohort |
| Cost | Fee-free. No commercial obligation of any kind |
Seats are extended by invitation. Expressing interest creates no membership and no obligation.
The Sigmalign Score — plainly explained
The Sigmalign Score is a psychometric assessment of the behavioural tendencies known to influence financial decision-making. It is grounded in behavioural economics and prospect theory, drawing on the published work of Kahneman, Tversky, Thaler, Odean, and others.
How it works
Clients complete a short set of scenario-based, forced-choice items, each presenting a realistic financial situation. There is no "right" answer — responses are scored for the tendency they reflect, not for financial knowledge.
Each tendency is scored independently, and dimension-level results are the primary output. The advisor receives a brief, plain-language summary ahead of a client conversation.
What it measures
A small set of decision-relevant behavioural tendencies — including loss aversion and susceptibility to social influence — drawn from the established behavioural finance literature.
The final set of dimensions, their number, and their measurement approach are being determined as part of the current redesign. Sigmalign is not publishing that set while it remains under revision.
What the pilot is designed to establish
- Internal consistency for each dimension
- Test-retest reliability across the 60-day window
- Face validity from client self-report
- Feasibility of advisor-facilitated administration
- Preliminary advisor-observed behavioural event data
What the pilot does not claim
The pilot is not a validation study. With a planned sample of 30 to 150 clients across 3 to 5 advisors, it cannot establish construct validity, predictive validity, or published test-retest reliability on its own.
It uses a two-arm design so that the contribution of the structured advisor conversation can be examined separately from the report itself. A formal study protocol is available to researchers on request.
How results are expressed
Dimension scores map to interpretive bands describing how strongly a tendency is likely to express under stress, from low to severe, with a corresponding suggestion for how the advisor might prepare for that conversation.
Band structure and thresholds are being established empirically and are not published while the instrument is in development. Bands are descriptive, not diagnostic: they do not constitute investment advice, a suitability determination, or a clinical assessment.
Where it sits in the advisor workflow
The instrument is designed to sit alongside know-your-client and suitability processes, not to replace them. It is not a risk-tolerance questionnaire and it is not a regulated suitability tool.
Its intended role is documentation of behavioural understanding that an advisor can file with existing client records and revisit as circumstances change.
Kris Podolski brings twenty years of practice as a financial planner to this research. Holding both the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and Chartered Investment Manager (CIM®) designations, he has spent two decades observing how cognitive patterns — rather than financial knowledge — determine whether clients follow their own financial plans under stress.
That observation is the origin of Sigmalign. The existing tools available to advisors — risk tolerance questionnaires, know-your-client forms, suitability assessments — measure stated preferences and financial knowledge. None of them describe how a client is likely to behave when markets move against them.
The timing is not incidental. As Canadian fee reporting moves to dollar-figure disclosure in 2027, advisors will need to demonstrate the substance of what they do rather than assert it. Behavioural understanding, documented and revisited, is part of that answer.
Sigmalign is an attempt to build that instrument properly: grounded in behavioural science, designed for the Canadian advisory context and the Client Focused Reforms, and developed through a research process that puts independent academic scrutiny ahead of commercial release rather than after it.
Kris welcomes dialogue with academic researchers working in behavioural finance, financial decision-making, and psychometric instrument development.
Interested in the research?
We are actively seeking academic researchers with expertise in behavioural finance, psychometric instrument development, financial decision-making, or related fields. Collaboration may take several forms:
- Instrument design review and item-level feedback
- Statistical consultation for the pilot analysis
- Co-authorship on research outputs beyond the pilot
- Academic advisory and ethics oversight roles
A full study protocol is available on request. We are happy to share it in advance of any conversation.
We are also open to conversations with technical and scientific practitioners interested in early-stage instrument work.
Get in touch
Start a conversation
A short note is enough. We reply within two business days, and we are happy to send the study protocol in advance of any call.