The Inner World of Money: Taking Control of Your Financial Decisions and Behaviors

by Marty Martin

Overview

Unlike most guidebooks for improving personal finances, this breakthrough work helps readers defeat the often debilitating anxieties over money that can affect financial decision-making.

For more than a decade, psychologist and business professor Marty Martin has helped hundreds of people around the globe overcome the psychological barriers to developing a healthier relationship with their money. With The Inner World of Money: Taking Control of Your Financial Decisions and Behaviors, Martin puts his practical, proven tools for effective earning, saving, spending, and investing in your hands.

Bookstores are full of titles on improving personal finances, but none focus on the often debilitating worries that can lead to poor money habits. The Inner World of Money addresses those worries head-on with time-tested strategies for dealing with bill-paying, personal debt, splurge spending, investment, and household budgets. Going beyond simply explaining bonds, stocks, CDs, and mutual funds, Martin provides genuine, life-changing support based on the latest advances in neuroeconomics, evolutionary psychology, positive psychology/happiness studies, sustainability, socially responsible investing, and behavioral finance, an emerging science combining the best of finance and psychology.

• Self-assessments that help readers understand the current state of their personal finances
• Checklists that break down strategies into easy-to-follow steps
• Exercises to help drive home important ideas
• Tip sheets for avoiding common financial misunderstandings and pitfalls
• Real-life examples that show the effectiveness of the author's approach with actual people

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313398247
Publisher:	ABC-CLIO, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/25/2012
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Marty Martin, PhD, is associate professor in the College of Commerce at DePaul University.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

1 Money Makes the World Go 'Round 1

2 Are You Taking Responsibility for Your Financial Life? 21

3 Financial Scripts 33

4 Why Do I Feel Stuck in This Financial Rut?: Confronting Inertia, Procrastination, and Underearning 57

5 The Deadly Dozen: How to Spot 12 Decision-Making Traps and Avoid Them 75

6 Am I an Impulsive-Compulsive Shopper or Spender? 95

7 Why Can't We Talk about Money?: Equipping Yourself with Skills to Talk about Money like Adults 119

8 Talking with Your Kids about Money and Preparing Them for Financial Independence 139

9 Am I Searching for More Money or More Happiness?: Insights and Evidence from the Emerging Science of Positive Psychology and Happiness Studies 163

10 Are You Ready to Change Your Money Habits?: A Five-Step Approach to Making and Sustaining Healthy Money Behaviors 183

Index 201

Editorial Reviews

A financial psychologist encourages consumers to take an introspective approach to achieving financial independence. While Martin's book is largely a thoughtful exploration of how people--Westerners in particular--relate to money, it also serves as a useful guide for managing one's personal finances. In almost equal measures it introduces academic concepts regarding income and expenses as well as practical approaches toward spending and saving, so the book may be particularly useful for young adults who are newly or soon-to-be on their own, especially if they weren't paying attention or didn't get the best financial advice from their parents. With a doctorate in clinical psychology and a master's degree in personal financial planning, Martin challenges readers to recognize and address their cognitive distortions regarding money and to use the power of positive self-talk to correct negative financial thoughts and behaviors. Such an approach puts this book in a different category than the stereotypical "how to make more money faster" primers. In fact, in contrast, Martin explores the seemingly foreign concept that there's such a thing as "enough" money. Although the book doesn't cover basic checkbook-balancing principals, the author offers several practical exercises designed to help readers understand the sometimes-unnoticed motives that explain their financial behaviors. In short chapters, Martin addresses the basic rationality required to ensure that daily shopping habits--i.e., If I wait a day, will I still want to buy it?--as well as more complex behaviors, like how to talk to kids about money, will be confined by realistic financial needs and desires. In addition to offering sound advice for discussing money matters with spouses, Martin explains how (or whether) certain personality types should invest in the stock market. Also valuable are his step-by-step suggestions for overcoming "inertia" regarding important financial decisions such as asking for a raise or saving for retirement. While it's not a road map to riches, this comprehensive guide can help lead you to greater financial understanding and maybe even achievement, no matter your income level.

Kirkus Reviews