In late 2011, Allianz Global Investors and TED organized a daylong conference on behavioral finance. Several members of the Russell Sage and Sloan Foundations' Consumer Finance Working Group discussed their research and how behavioral economics can illuminate and possibly improve consumers' decisions. You can watch videos of the lectures by clicking on the links below. You can also find other TED Talks on behavioral economics here.

1. John Payne: Overcoming Information Overload in Decision Making

John Payne of Duke University explores the ramifications of information overload – the ways in which too much information can paralyze decision-making. He introduces three strategies for overcoming information overload, and help the audience to understand the ways in which they can approach the sheer volume of information in their lives in a different way.

2. David Laibson: The Failure of Self-Control

David Laibson of the Harvard Business School discusses the foundation of failures of self-control and why good intentions are so often out of sync with our good behavior. He explores why we want to do the right thing, but when it’s time to do the hard work, we push it off to the future. Professor Laibson presents commitment strategies for IRAs, 401 (k) plans to overcome the failure of self-control.

3. Shlomo Benartzi: Behavioral Finance

Shlomo Benartzi explains how behavioral tendencies often leave people financially unprepared for their future and how such challenges inspired a program to encourage them to save for retirement.