The Behavior Gap

The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money by Carl Richards

Carl Richards accessible new book discusses the errors we all make when it comes to money. Carl uses personal stories and simple ideas — literally sketched on the back of a napkin — to explain why we keep making bad choices. We’re often making decisions with our emotions rather than our intellect, and it costs us. Richards isn’t saying that investors try to eradicate their emotions; rather, they should aim for an investment strategy that balances managing fear and greed in a way that “truly reflects your own emotional strengths and weaknesses.” Once readers recognize what influences their decisions, they’ll be much better able to act rationally.

Reviews:

“Though 2012 has only just begun, I suspect Carl Richards’ new book, The Behavior Gap, will be the best financial book of the year. And it will be because it’s not another step by step guide on dealing with money and investments. Rather, it is a brilliantly simple book about the relationship between people and their money.”
-Alan Roth, CBS Moneywatch

“Carl Richards is the anti-Jim Cramer. He doesn’t pick stocks, and he doesn’t shout. In wise, calm style, The Behavior Gap teaches us how to rein in the emotional saboteur within us-the voice that leads us to double-down when the market is peaking and to make a panicky exit when stocks are a bargain. Richards shows us that, when it comes to our financial security, slow and steady wins the race.”
-Dan Heath, coauthor of Made to Stick and Switch

“The Behavior Gap is the best combination of practical advice and emotional encouragement that I’ve seen in a personal finance book in quite some time.”
-Manisha Thankor, Forbes.com

“Who says common sense is common? Smart, tactical, practical advice for anyone who has done dumb things with their money.”
-Seth Godin, author of We Are All Weird

“Carl Richards’s deceptively simple sketches in The Behavior Gap will make you laugh, change your relationship with money, and leave you the wealthier for it. This one is bound to be a classic!”
-William Bernstein, author of A Splendid Exchange and The Investor’s Manifesto

“Carl has a knack for showing-gently and with charts!-that when it comes to money, most of us are idiots. Carl prods us to master money, rather than letting it master us.”
-Laura Vanderkam, author of All the Money in the World

“A brilliant guide to the ways we often trick ourselves into staying poor. Read this before you make your next financial decision.”
-Zac Bissonnette, author of Debt-Free U

9781591844648 the Behavior Gap – Chapter 2

“Excerpted from The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money. Published by Portfolio/Penguin. Copyright Carl Richards, 2012.”