Update to Morningstar Principia Includes Economy History Lesson

A Morningstar news release said the offering contains a library of presentations and materials featuring fundamental investing concepts and strategies for clients to use as tools for client education.

According to the news release, one of the key new features of the 2009 edition is a research-based presentation on investor behavior. The presentation uses graphs, charts, and data to explore how perceptions or emotions impact investors’ decisions, and it reviews behavioral concepts like “hindsight bias,” “mental accounting,” and the “hot-hand fallacy.”

It also includes strategies to help clients cope with near-term fluctuations and address the volatility of the market in a rational and productive manner, Morningstar said.

The software module also contains 20 other presentations on topics, including market downturns and recoveries, retirement income, risk and volatility, portfolio diversification, and exchange-traded funds.

In addition, the library includes sales ideas, 10 brochures, investment white papers, and a Web-based asset allocation course that can be completed for continuing education credits.

More information is available at http://global.morningstar.com/Principia .