Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes

  • 84 percent of those whose $25 was framed as a “bonus” spent some or all of it, but only 21 percent of students who had their $25 described as a “rebate” opened their wallets (1) – page 26
  • The average bid of subjects using credit cards was twice as large as the average bid using cash (2) – page 34
  • Although stocks seem to rise slowly over time, they actually do so in major fits and starts – a few big gains on a small number of days throughout the year (3) – page 55
  • There is a tendency to hold losers too long and sell winners too soon (4) – page 59
  • 57 percent chose the Emerson microwave… When a smaller but more expensive Panasonic was added to the list of choices, more people chose the larger, cheaper Panasonic… 50 percent of subjects chose the expensive model and 50 percent chose the cheapest… When an even more expensive selection was added, twice as many people preferred the medium priced camera (5) – page 87
  • When students change an answer on a test, it was more often than not a smart move… students felt the pain of switching to a wrong answer more strongly than when they answered incorrectly initially, leading them to think it was bad to change their answer (6) – page 99
  • Participants who were reminded that they were covered by medical insurance believed they were less likely to suffer health problems than people who were not reminded… participants who were reminded they didn’t have auto insurance were more likely than insured participants to think that a car accident was in their future (7) – page 116
  • When subjects were shown complete profiles of two restaurants, none of the subjects had a clear preference for either restaurant… When students were shown attributes sequentially, they were decisive in favoring one over another based on whichever restaurant they had liked after hearing the first pair of attributes… 84 percent of subjects chose the restaurant that they had liked best when hearing the first pairing (8) – page 133
  • Newcomers from expensive cities rented pricier apartments than those arriving from less costly cities (9) – page 140
  • Customers bought more cans when labeled as “four for $2” than “50 cents each”… Those who saw a sign reading “Snickers Bars – buy 18 for your freezer” bought more than when the sign said “Snickers Bars – buy them for your freezer” (10) – page 142
  • People were willing to pay more for “P97” phones and a meal at “Studio 97” than “P17” phones or a meal at “Studio 17” (11) – page 147
  • The households that traded the most earned less than those who did not trade at all (12) – page 169
  • Investors who received no news performed better than those who received a constant stream of information… those who remained in the dark earned more than twice as much money as those whose trades were influenced by the media (13) – page 202
  • 94 percent of the time goalkeepers quickly dived to their left or right, despite the fact that their best chance of stopping the ball was to stay in the center of the goal crease as long as possible (14) – page 224
  1. Bonus of rebate?: the impact of income framing on spending and saving
  2. Always leave home without it: a further investigation of the credit card effect on willingness to pay
  3. Stock market extremes and portfolio performance
  4. The disposition to sell winners too early and ride losers too long theory and evidence
  5. Context-dependent preferences
  6. Counterfactual thikning and the first instinct fallacy
  7. Insurance, risk, and magical thinking
  8. Predecisional Distortion of Product Information
  9. Mistake #37: The Effect of Previously Encountered Prices on Current Housing Demand
  10. An anchoring and adjustment model of purchase quantity decisions
  11. Incidental environmental anchors
  12. Trading is hazardous to your wealth
  13. Judgmental extrapolation and market overreaction: On the use and disuse of news
  14. Action bias among elite soccer goalkeepers: the case of penalty kicks