Customer Reviews

Green With Envy: A Whole New Way to Look at Financial (Un)Happiness

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First and foremost, i loved the first and second chapters about the author's perception of her neighbors and what the reality turned out to be. This book is hilarious, a page turner and also pretty scary at times as I can relate to the slippery slope of charging more than i need to.

It's not your typical 9-steps to riches book, it's much deeper than that. I've read many personal finance books, but never came across one that really deals with the pyschological aspects of things. And that's actually where most of us need help and the book offers a very philosophical approach in the last chapter.

Absolutely recommended.

This was a surprising page turner for me, because I NEVER read books like this....I don't even slow down by the personal finance section of Barnes & Noble. I decided to read it because I felt like I was seeing mention of it everywhere - CNN, NPR and USA Today. Figured if it was getting this much press, it was probably worth a try....and I was right.

I enjoyed it so much that I bought a copy for my parents, my in-laws and several accountant friends. And they have all enjoyed it....and for different reasons, my parents and in-laws liked the personal stories (the confessions of other people's dirty financial secrets) and my accountant friends liked Boss' mental approach to other people's money in the conclusion.

I plan on continuing to give copies as gifts - great for recent college graduates, newlyweds, etc.

While it's true that there is not a great deal of "new" information in this book-that's largely true of most books on money. There is only so much money information to dispense and there are many, many books on money out there. Green with Envy gives a new and interesting spin on that information. It is also fun and--I'll admit it--a little gossipy. It was particularly interesting to read about the money woes of our members of congress. Many people, myself included, read books on money not so much for information, but for incentive to keep saving, and the encouragement of knowing that we're doing pretty well compared to, well, the Joneses.

From mini-vans to 500-foot yachts, Americans are obsessed with keeping up with the Joneses.

Starting with her next-door neighbor and traveling all the way to the nation's capital, author Shira Boss explores why Americans are no longer saving, how credit cards have become the replacement for the "emergency fund," and where we are headed from here.

Green with Envy: Why Keeping Up with the Joneses is Keeping Us in Debt is not your typical book on personal finance. Boss's perfect mix of real-life stories and statistical facts offers a shocking, entirely new and life-altering perspective on how and why we are consistently living beyond our means--a book too fascinating to put down.

For anyone who has ever wondered how their sister/neighbor/friend could afford that house/car/vacation, this book is a MUST READ.

Armchair Interviews says: You'll never look at Paris Hilton the same way again.

By interviewing some folks about their intimate monetary foibles / decisions, and sharing some of her feelings on the subject, Shira offers some insight into how many Americans are digging themselves ever-deeper into debt.

On the positive side, I think her observation that many folks are likely completely deluding themselves about the enormity of their debt problem, by only focusing on the minimum payments is likely correct. Her observation that such self-delusion leads to economic disaster if carried to extremes is unsurprising.

Positive also, was her input from various sources that it is so "taboo" to discuss money matters in this country, that folks all too often fail to seek help (i.e. advice), even when the problem is clearly reaching crisis proportions. Apparently this fits with the commonly cited feeling people have of being "alone" in their financial mess.

On the negative side, there's not much new here. The idea that psychology is a key part of modern economic thought is certainly not new, and several books detail such findings with the type of empirical measurements that give such subjects meaningful context. Also the litany of negative psychological impacts that such thinking is clearly having on the folks Shira interviews (but aren't actually named), such as the hedonic treadmill, are well known and documented.

She tends to use words like "we all" have such tendencies or traits more than I'm comfortable with. Stating that many or most or nearly all would be far more credible.


As stated in one of the editorial reviews, the solutions seem to be little more than new-age platitudes, at best.

Given how much focus was given to envy as being a major contributor to this problem, and how much the peddlers of goods from electronic toys to homes to debt of many forms keep such envy ever-present in peoples' minds -- it seems like platitudes will be meaningless until something can bring about enough pain or outrage to raise peoples' awareness to the true cost of such behavior.

Shira does correctly observe that this country hasn't known significant overall financial hardship requiring actual sacrifice since the forced rationing of WWII. Sadly enough, it may take a financial awakening of that scale (the source could be debt overload instead of war) to bring about meaningful change.

I REALLY liked this non-fiction book - one of the best "how to's" I've read in a looooong time. I found myself laughing and also compelled to keep reading. I felt a bit like a voyeur learning about other REAL people and their difficulties keeping within a budget. I'm buying another copy for my kids in the east - even want my 14 year old granddaughter to read it, getting her off on the right foot. And I'm insisting that my California kids read it too. With the right mindset about "wants" and "needs" people can be a lot happier with what they have. It's all about seeing the cup half full or half empty... and unfortunately too many young families see the cup as completely empty. What children need today from their parents is TIME, not things.
This book is a must for all young couples BEFORE they get married.

An amazing book. Not your typical financial advice/wisdom book, but that's what makes it so unique and amazing. This book addresses the psychological aspects of how we relate to money, success, status and our perceptions of it. If you've ever felt jealous of another person's job or wonder how a friend or neighbor can afford luxurious vacations, or wonder who's buying those fancy condominium lofts or driving those flashy BMWs and how they did it, this is the book for you. A total page turner.

Its got a lot of good information, but its way too wordy. Its really about a 40 page book "crammed" into 200 pages.

Her points are well taken. When I worked in the financial planning industry I felt like a priest listening to confessions; but, priests only hear about impure thoughts, yada yada, you get to hear the good stuff: what do people really make and quickly realize how many folks are total "posers."

Hope she writes another one, just chop out the wordiness and give more examples with more data of income, debt load, %debt to equity ratios, etc.

First I would like to say what this book is not going to do. It is not going to help you develop a budget, and it is not going to give you advice about different ways of getting out of debt. There are a plenty of books out there that will help you with those questions (Ramsey, Orman, etc). What it does do is tell stories about regular people who have found their financial situation in shambles, and there are a lot of roads that lead to the same cliff. I didn't find the stories voyeuristic as another reviewer stated. I was able to see bits of myself and saw that some of the decisions they had made were also some that I had made. The book talks about how the discussion of money is one of the last taboos among friends, as well as delving into some of the psychology of why we make bad decisions in our dealings with money. Like many people I'm on my own journey to developing a healthy relationship with money, and I found this book to be a helpful addition to my library of financial books.

I heard about this book on the radio and recently purchased it. It was a really fun book to read with lots of insight about how our spending habits are largely affected by those around us.

A particularly interesting section of the book discusses how our spending habits often get us into situations where we could use some counseling (psychological and financial). Unfortunately, at the current time, the majority of psychologists/psychiatrists don't feel qualified to give advice on financial issues (what is appropriate income/expense ratio, etc.) so they often avoid delving into this topic. At the same time, our financial planners often don't feel qualified to delve into some of the issues with anxiety and depression that are associated with financial issues. It seems to me that our psychologists could probably use some continuing education from financial planners about managing finances, recommended income/expense ratios for the average household, paths to financial soundness, etc.

Overall, this is a great book and I would recommend to people in all walks of life.