Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes

“The authors have a wonderful collective voice, and then each of them separately has a distinctive and informed voice. Tom Gilovich is one of the leading cognitive psychologists in the world. Gary Belsky is a sports journalist…You might think that being a sports journalist has nothing to do with financial decisions, but you’d be wrong. Anyone who is an informed sports fan knows perfectly well that there are a lot of analogies between sport and money management. That’s not just because it all seems to be about who is ahead and who is behind. It’s also about understanding the proper use of statistics, being aware of the strategy behind the scenes, and keeping in mind that who is on top is not necessarily who wins the championship in the end. This book seeks to explain a central puzzle in personal finance, which is, ‘Why don’t smarter people consistently have better financial lives?’ On average, you would expect they would, and in many cases they do, but it’s far from universal. There is even some evidence that intelligence and investment performance may be inversely linked.” Read more...

The best books on Personal Finance

Jason Zweig, Journalist