Its hard to find a place today where concepts of behavioral finance arent being applied to real-world situations.

From London to Washington to Sydney, governments are experimenting with the psychology nudge citizens toward better behaviors, whether that means saving more for retirement or signing an organ donation card.

Meanwhile, businesses see opportunities for higher profits. To grab more attention and dollars from consumers, companies as far afield as banks and fitness-app makers carefully design their offerings with consumers decision-making quirks in mind.

Many behavioral interventions work, whether at reducing litter and power usage or boosting savings rates and organ donations. Yet these successes arent the whole story. Even after rigorous experimentation and data analysis, the best-intentioned nudges can fall flat or backfire.

Some may be behavioral band-aids that dont address deeper structural problems such as stagnating wages.

Nevertheless, consumers have jumped on the bandwagon, eager to be manipulated into the best version of themselves, and businesses are rushing to meet the demand.

Where many people need the biggest nudge, if not a shove, is with making financial decisions. The effect of emotion on investment decisions is usually negative good old fear and greed, as well as paralysis from being overwhelmed by choice.

At the same time, even if someone wants to build an emergency fund or open an IRA, bad spending and saving habits are hard to break. To help users follow through on their good intentions, a raft of financial apps and online investing websites use a mix of encouragement, nagging, incentives and design.

Emotional triggers

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The booming business in behavioral finance