He spends, she spends! When it comes to gender and money, there’s no shortage of stats on how the sexes stack up. But while you’re probably used to hearing those differences dissected in discussions of salaries and pay inequality, it turns out there’s a bit more to it; gender plays a role in a whole range of everyday money matters. Case ... Read More »

Dan Ariely, a world recognized behavioral economist and I had an opportunity recently to sit down and talk about a number of issues and underlying unconscious choices that lead people in debt to make good or bad decisions in dealing with debt. Dan talks about the mistakes the financial services industry makes and the best approach to controlling spending to ... Read More »

The other day I was sitting in the office of Dan Ariely at Duke University and we were chatting about behavioral economics from the point of view of getting out of debt. During the conversation the comment was made that if people became aware of the connection between spending and the “high” or good feelings they experienced as a result, ... Read More »

I’m giving your reading muscles a break today and instead of writing you an article here’s a video based on a study put out by Cornell University in 2009 about the “Effects of Menu-price Formats on Restaurant Checks“. The study suggested that people were more inclined to purchase and spend more if the dollar sign ($) was dropped in front ... Read More »

I was doing some research on Dan Ariely, a fabulous behavioral economist who I’m hoping to interview. In my research I came across the video below. So before you watch it. Who do you think cheats more, New York bankers or Washington politicians? Read More »

I wish I could remember who I was having the conversation with a year ago about consumers will have learned a fundamental lesson about how to manage money as a result of this economic downturn we’ve faced in 2007-2010. My point was that any trend downwards in credit card spending is temporary and if consumers are given a chance to ... Read More »

I’ve written a lot about how shopping malls, and stores are deigned to intentional trigger your subconscious impulses to get you to spend money. And then when people do, they are cursed by their creditors for being irresponsible. Granted all spending is not beyond our control, but some formulas to make you buy are very devious. How about chocolate chip ... Read More »