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Volume 31 Issue 4 From the Editor 

Welcome to the latest issue of Financial Services Review (FSR). If you are a member of the 

Academy of Financial Services or have been a devoted reader of the Journal, you know that FSR 

has faced several challenges over the past few years. To begin with, the long-time editor of the 

Journal, Dr. Stuart Michelson, passed away unexpectedly in March 2022. Dr. Michelson was the 

model journal editor. Dr. Michelson was quick to work with authors to shepherd papers through 

the review process. He was firm with his decisions but kind in his interrelations with authors. 

Everyone associated with FSR quickly realized that Dr. Michelson, as an editor, professional, and 

colleague, could never be replaced. 

Yet, FSR needed to move forward, even if moving forward was at a slow speed. It was at this same 

time that the Board of Directors of the Academy of Financial Services learned that the Financial 

Planning Association would no longer provide financial or editorial support to the Journal. At this 

moment of crisis, FSR might have gone away, but it did not. At that critical moment in time, Dr. 

Terrance Martin—who was an Assistant Professor at the time—stepped forward, without 

compensation or fanfare, to pick up the pieces of what remained of FSR. Without Dr. Martin's 

work, I am doubtful that FSR could have survived. 

This is where my FSR editorial story begins. I have been a member of the Academy of Financial 

Services since the mid-1990s when I was in graduate school. My first published “paper” (it was 

actually a description of something new called the worldwide web) was in FSR, and since then, I 

have been a devoted reader of FSR. It was clear to me in 2023 that someone needed to step up and 

let Dr. Martin serve the Academy of Financial Services in other ways (the daunting task of 

managing a journal is not something someone in the tenure and promotion process ought to be 

doing). I agreed to do so, but as I told the Academy of Financial Services Board at the time, I see 

my role with FSR as a bridge between the past and the future. 

A big part of building this bridge to the future involved creating a new journal management and 

submission system. FSR is now a Diamond Open Access journal. FSR is housed in the University 

of Georgia library system, which means that every issue of the Journal can be accessed freely on 

the Internet. This also ensures that authors will gain maximum exposure to their published work. 

Making the transition to Diamond Open Access could not have occurred without the dedicated 

efforts of Shawn Brayman, Dr. Inga Timmerman, Dr. Wookjae Heo, Dr. Jamie Lynn Byram, and 

the support of the Academy of Financial Services Board of Directors. Everyone associated with 

FSR is still learning about the new system, but I am happy to report that FSR is back on solid 

footing and moving forward with purpose. 

I have some compelling evidence to back up that last statement. Take a look at the papers in this 

issue. The lead article was written by Drs. Keith Campbell, Jim Exley, and Patrick Doyle. Dr. 

Campbell and his associates are, without question, the world’s leading experts when it comes to 

personality assessment as it relates to financial planning. I am certain that this article will quickly 

become the seminal paper of reference for anyone who incorporates measures of personality into 

models designed to describe household and individual financial attitudes and behaviors. The 

second article was authored by Shawn Brayman, Nicki Potts, Kira Brayman, and Yegor 

Komissarov. Again, I predict this paper will garner international attention. These authors illustrate 

ways to map investor risk profiles into suitable portfolios, products, and solutions. This is the type 



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of work regulators and financial planning professionals have been clamoring for. The third article 

was written by Drs. Michelle Kruger, Lance Palmer, and Joe Goetz. This promises to be a widely 

cited paper because it is among the first articles to explicitly describe how shared financial 

decision-making behavior among married and cohabiting partners is related to financial 

satisfaction. This issue of FSR concludes with an article written by Drs. Andreas Oehler and 

Matthias Horn. Not only is their research methodologically eloquent, but their results provide clear 

evidence that financial literacy and risk aversion play an important role in describing capital market 

participation.  

I very much hope you enjoy this issue of FSR. The Journal is on solid footing. The future of FSR 

looks, from my perspective, very positive. Let me end by encouraging you to submit a paper. I 

promise the review process will be honest, quick, and transparent. In the meantime, let your 

colleagues know about the “new” FSR. You can help spread the word by sharing 

“financialservicesreview.org” on social media sites.  

All the best, 

John E. Grable, Ph.D., CFP®