Record - DRA Web2

Place Hold

Library:	Call Number:	Location:	Status:	Date Due:
Rochester Public Library	332.024 B419W	Adult Non Fiction, 2nd Floor	Available

Summary :

Why do so many otherwise sensible people make foolish financial choices? Why do so many investors sell great stocks just before they skyrocket or cling tenaciously to lousy ones until they plummet? Why do some Americans overpay when they buy a house while others reap too little when they sell their home? And why are many shoppers willing to spend more for a product bought on credit than with cash? Indeed, whether in the stock market, the real estate market, or the supermarket, most of us keep making financial faux pas that cost us thousands of dollars every year.

Fortunately, many of the most common and costly money blunders we make can be explained -- and corrected -- by the new science of "behavioral economics." Gary Belsky, an award-winning journalist, and Thomas Gilovich, one of the leading experts in this burgeoning new area of research, reveal why people spend, invest, save, borrow, and, most important, waste money. They provide fascinating insights into all manner of occurrences --tipping, gambling, plane crashes, lotteries, and game shows, to name just a few -- to explain behavioral economics in a way that is as entertain Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Table of Contents

Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes
An introduction to the new science of behavioral economics.
Chapter 1 Not all Dollars are Created Equal
How ""mental accounting"" can help you save or cost you money.
Chapter 2 When Six of One isn't Half a Dozen of the Other
How ""loss aversion"" and the ""sunk cost fallacy"" lead you to throw good money after bad.
Chapter 3 The Devil that You Know
How the ""status quo bias"" and the ""endowment effect"" make financial choices difficult.
Chapter 4 Number Numbness""Money

Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Read a chapter or an excerpt Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Booklist Review

The authors, a psychologist and a journalist specializing in personal finance, present their views on what they call psychoeconomics, which combines psychology and economics to explain why and how people make seemingly irrational or illogical decisions when they spend, invest, save, and borrow money. The focus of this book is on patterns of thought and behavior that lead most people, in general, to get less out of their financial choices than they should. Such behavior includes different approaches to gaining money versus losing it and attitudes toward risk; the hazards of indecision; and the "herding" instinct, which leads people to conform to the behavior of others even when such action diminishes their own financial position. With the authors' examples and advice we can learn about common financial miscalculations and see ourselves in many of the situations described. Knowledge is power and we can alter our behavior through understanding why we make certain financial errors and how to correct wasteful habits. This is valuable insight into managing money wisely. --Mary Whaley Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Enter to grow in wisdom