Customer Reviews

Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes--and How to Correct Them: Lessons from the New Science of Behavioral Economics

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

People don't act like computers when making economic decisions. This book is full of examples that show why people make miseconomic decisions. The basic point is that we have rules of thumb learned in daily life that we apply to economic decisions, and the results are costly.

This book reminds me of Robert Cialdini's excellent book, Influence, that explains the psychological biases that harm us as consumers and how to protect ourselves against unethical sellers. If you read and apply them both, you will have much more prosperity in your life.

Here are some examples: We are all more careful about saving money in some areas than in others. For instance, I'll go to great lengths to save money on air travel, but frequently buy expensive wines in restaurants (not a great value).

Most of us are more concerned about avoiding losses than in making gains. This often translates into holding stocks with losses, rather than selling them, even if there is not much chance of a rebound. I know I'm guilty of this.

Another example is assuming that we have knowledge that we really don't have. Someone who is good in math may not take the time to mathematically evaluate the choices. For instance, a 15 year mortage on your home is only a little more costly per month than a 30 year mortgage. The different in the cost of the total interest you pay is enormous, yet almost everyone gets a 30 year mortgage. Almost everyone has the skill to compare the two choices, but few take the time to do so. This kind of stalled thinking can be irresistible, and your wallet will inevitably be lighter as a result.

When you discover that you have a weakness in one of these areas, you can then be more cautious in avoiding your biases in the future. This book is very helpful in this regard because each chapter explore one bias and begins with a question to test your instincts. In answering that question, you will probably find (if you are like me) that you make the wrong choice.

This book will return its cost in time and money hundreds of times over the rest of your life. Be sure to read and apply it!

I have a Ph.D. in economics and a bachelor's degree in psychology. I've always found the fields of behavioral economics and experimental economics rather fascinating and wished to know more about the results of their research. So when I was shopping for a retirement investment guide recently I saw this book in the personal finance section and purchased it as well.

As a primer on the basic findings of behavioral economics, this book is great -- interesting, well-explained, and much more fun to read than pouring through academic journals. It's quite interesting to see that how we make money decisions is based as much on psychological principles (namely loss aversion, sunk costs and framing of the gain or loss) as on a rational calculation of cost and benefits. Also explained somewhat here are money mistakes that people make not because of emotional tainting of financial decisions but simply because they draw incorrect conclusions from incomplete calculations, such as not correcting for inflation in the housing market, not calculating total interest payments over the terms of different loans, not realizing the power of compound interest.

While it's a great book to explain certain irrational behaviors of your own and to explain a few financial chestnuts such as ignoring the financial pages, this book is not really an investment guide and is thin on suggestions for changing irrational behavior (other than realizing what you are doing will make you less likely to repeat the same mistakes).

I would disagree with some reviewers who suggested that the book is insulting to their financial acumen. While it's true that there are people who have been able to 'beat the market', the authors merely report studies suggesting that most people who choose their own investments under-perform the market, and why this happens (framing of investment decisions, emotional investing, loss aversion, sunk costs, etc.). I think that's important information to have as an investor. If you choose your own investments, you will make smarter decisions by understanding understanding this research.

I'm a little amazed at the reviews on this book. It isn't nearly as good as most of the glowing five star reviews make it out to be. It is a fluffy book of around 200 pages that I read in a single day. It has maybe 10 main irrational behavior we exhibit when it comes to money. Even though it was only 200 pages I couldn't help but feel that it could have been edited down substantially.

On other hand, I'm even more amazed at the negative reviews. I'm not sure what the reviewers were expecting or whether they even read the same book I did. The book doesn't attempt to explain everything. In the introduction it clearly explains that this is an attempt at a popular airing of some of the main findings of behavioral economics. Certainly there are some things you already knew, like our tendency to follow the herd or be paralyzed by indecision when faced with too many choices. But there are also things you might not have known, like how easily we "anchor" on completely random numbers.

I wouldn't have paid $20 for a hardcover copy of this book; I checked it out from the library. And I don't begrudge the time I spent reading it because I learned something. And that's really all you're supposed to get from this little book.

WHY SMART PEOPLE MAKE BIG MONEY MISTAKES is full of examples of decisions you might have to make. You get to choose an option, and then the authors tell you what you should have chosen. This is a great learning technique to bring home the lessons of this superb book. The authors point out several biases that most people have about money (such as it's okay to blow certain money, but not other money -- all money is really the same), themselves (people always overrate their abilities and get taken as a result), and circumstances (even people who got an A in statistics will usually misanalyze the risks they take). Since money is ultimately about math, a lot of your lifetime income and earning potential is lost in the process of following these biases. This book could make or save you a million dollars. You cannot afford not to read it. I was reminded of a parallel book on the same sorts of problems about bad thinking habits as they apply to work situations called "The 2,000 Percent Solution" which you should also read. If you use the lessons of both books, you will be enormously better off financially in your lifetime. It'll be like owning the casino, instead of losing money in it. Good luck!

This book is a must for anyone who wants to improve his/her financial life. The authors introduce technical terms pert to behavioral economics in so skilled a manner and with so many anectodes to help understanding, that this book is a very easy read. It is extremely easy to identify oneself with many (if not all) of the financial situations described in the book.

The fallacies of discriminating money based on its source, the aversion we have to losses, the over-confidence on the part of the common investor are all highlighted with solid research findings to support their conclusions. After reading this book I realised many of the errors I have made in the past while handling money. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, irrespective of financial status, who is interested in self improvement. This is a must read!

Hi:

This book is probably the best book I have read in the last five years. It takes what some may consider to be a relatively complicated area, behavioral finance, and breaks it down into easily understandable concepts. It is a quick, easy read and is absolutely fascinating. I would strongly recommend this book and have already read it twice myself.

Andrew Stoltmann

This book is one of the 10 best investing books of 1999 and 2000.

People don't act like computers when making economic decisions. Our minds act much more like broken-down wheels stuck in muddy ruts, instead.

This book is full of examples that show why people make miseconomic decisions. The basic point is that we have rules of thumb learned in daily life that we apply to economic decisions, whether these are good rules or not, and the results are costly to us.

This book reminds me of Robert Cialdini's excellent book, Influence, that explains the psychological biases that harm us as consumers and how to protect ourselves against unethical sellers. If you read and apply both books, you will have much more prosperity in your life.

Here are some examples: We are all more careful about saving money in some areas than in others. For instance, I'll go to great lengths to save money on air travel, but frequently buy expensive wines in restaurants (not a great value). I could drink better wines at home for less money. Now, how dumb is that?

Most of us are more concerned about avoiding losses than in making gains. This often translates into holding stocks with losses, rather than selling them, even if there is not much chance of a rebound. I know I'm guilty of this.

Another example is assuming that we have knowledge that we really don't have. Someone who is good in math may not take the time to mathematically evaluate the choices. For instance, a 15 year mortage on your home is only a little more costly per month than a 30 year mortgage. The different in the cost of the total interest you pay is enormous, yet almost everyone gets a 30 year mortgage. Almost everyone has the skill to compare the two choices, but few take the time to do so. This kind of stalled thinking can be irresistible, and your wallet will inevitably be lighter as a result.

When you discover that you have a weakness in one of these areas, you can then be more cautious in avoiding your biases in the future. This book is very helpful in this regard because each chapter explore one bias and begins with a question to test your instincts. In answering that question, you will probably find (if you are like me) that you make the wrong choice.

This book will return its cost in time and money hundreds of times over the rest of your life. Be sure to read and apply it!

I also suggest that you examine where you have rules of thumb in noneconomic areas. When you are busy and someone in the family wnats your attention, what do you do? Your choices may be costing you closer relationships and effectiveness. Take the time to make good decisions and at least adopt better rules of thumb!

I took "Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes" on my vacation to the Gulf Coast and I read it in one day, cover to cover. Not only is this book extremely informative, it's absolutely fascinating in that it explores the behavioral aspects of why we spend the way we do. Belsky is a master at writing. I loved his columns in Money Magazine and at Crain's New York Business and his earlier book, "On Second Thought." This book is a definite keeper -- one I'll buy more of for gifts and pass on to my family. Bravo!

The book is terrific. I think it has to be read with a bit of humility, though. In my view is the only way we can recognize our own flaws, to give it a shot at correcting them.

The book presents several psychological traits that most humans, in one way or another, present when reacting to money decisions. Some of us tend to have more of one than another, but I think we all have some of each.


The authors present simple real-life dilemmas that we all encounter at some point . We are not talking about how to pick the next hot hedge fund or whether to sell an option short. Then they ask the reader what their reaction would be to those dilemmas. Making it an almost interactive book, without getting you to exercises like "get a notebook and right the top-ten...". I do not like those exercises other books have since I tend to read in places where I cannot write, at the airport, in my bus commute, in bed.

I am a very avid reader of personal finance books, I'm also a CPA. The nice part about this book is that it was beyond the technicalities of money decisions. And puts them in a perspective that is very helpful, and also that any human being can relate and understand, without needing a financial background.

I consider myself very unemotional when it comes to money decisions, so starting to read the book I was a bit cocky about my expectation. You know, I thought to myself "this might be a book for all those people that go buy stuff, just because is on sale, not because they need them" and things of that sort. To my surprise I found myself guilty of many of the traits that are part of being human. This I found, thought me a lot of lessons. I will not say the book has "fixed" me. But it certainly has made me more aware of my thinking process, which ultimately helps on getting a better perspective.

I'm typing this review several months after having read this book. I just stumbled over it here at Amazon, and thought that it was worth of my first ever review.

I am a "debt elimination specialist" - a financial consultant who teaches people how to pay off their debts and achieve financial independence quickly. Every day, I see smart people who have made big money mistakes, so the title caught my eye. I read the book thinking that it would be useful in helping me to understand my clients better. It did that AND MORE. I was surprised at the self-revelation that I received. At several points, I thought to myself, "These guys must have been reading my mail!" I'll never make any decision (financial or other) in quite the same way as I used to. I highly recommend the book.