Book Review: Dollars and Sense by Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler

Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter
by Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler (332.024 Ari)

Modern life has given us endless financial instruments: credit cards, mortgages, car payments, buy-now-pay-later, and student loans, to name a few. All of these often purposefully obscure our ability to understand how we are spending our money now can affect our future.

 

This book discusses human economic behaviors in a humorous way, citing many studies and anecdotes that cause one to take a look at their own spending habits. Such as, Why do we pay $4 for a coffee at a cafe when the same basic drink is available for $1 in a convenience store next door? Why would a vacationer who decided to save the money on breakfast by “just having the bagel” in the hotel, then turn around and spend $5 on a soda at the museum gift shop? Why does the man caught in the rainstorm refuse to pay the price when the convenience store has a “rain special” that ups the price of an umbrella from $5 to $10?

 

Why did the JCPenney shoppers throw a fit when, instead of coupons and discounts off of artificially inflated prices, the new CEO set a “Fair & Square” policy where every item was simply marked with the price to pay? Why is it that in our minds $100 is a greater cost than half off of $200? Are we really the savvy shoppers we think we are?

 

These topics and more are discussed in an easy to read way. If you are pressed for time, and not so interested in the anecdotes, even though they are engaging, the final chapter is a quick and understandable guide to “tricks of the trade” with many useful hints that one can apply to their own spending habits.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending by Elizabeth Dunn, or The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things With Money by Carl Richards.)

 

( official Dollars and Sense page on the official Dan Ariely web site )

 

Recommended by Carrie K.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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