This book stresses the psychological perspective in explaining financial behavior. Traditionally, financial behaviors such as saving, spending, and investing have been explained using demographic and economic factors such as income and product pricing. The consequence of this way of thinking is that financial institutions view their clients mostly from the perspective of their income. By taking a psychological approach, this book stresses the perspective of consumers confronted with a quickly changing financial world: the changing of financial offers and products (savings, investments, loans), the changing of payment methods (from cash to cheques, cards and mobile payments), the accessibility and temptation of goods, and the changing of insurance and pension systems. The Psychology of Financial Consumer Behavior provides insight into the thought processes of consumers in a variety of financial topics. Coverage includes perceptions of wealth, the pleasure or pain of spending, cashless transactions, saving and investing, loans, planning for the future, taxes, and financial education. The book holds appeal for researchers, professionals, and students in economics, psychology, economic psychology, marketing and consumer science, or anyone interested in financial behaviors.

Autorentext

Dominika Maison is a Professor working at the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Warsaw and owner of the marketing research company Maison & Partners specialised in research for financial sector. Her main scientific research is connected to psychological processes underlying financial behaviour, unconscious consumer processes, methodology of marketing research, especially qualitative methodology, cause-related marketing, and pro-social behavior. 

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Wealth how much money do we have and how do we think about it?

• What does it mean to be rich?

• Objective (salary) vs. subjective financial situation (perception) two dimensions of a financial situation.

• The relation between an objective (salary) and subjective (perception) financial situation with satisfaction of life.

• About the psychological backgrounds of financial satisfaction what psychological factors influence our perception of financial satisfaction?

• The relation between financial satisfaction and different financial behavior (saving, spending, insuring, taking and paying back debts). 
  Chapter 2. Spending money pleasure or pain?

• Why some people spend money easily and others have a problem with it?

• The subjective value of money what influences our perception that something is cheap or expensive?

• Money Spending Style (MSS) presentation of our own model of financial management styles:

• Money Spending Style the difference between wasting money and the pleasure of spending;

• Money Spending Style the difference between being tight with money and money management. 

• Money Spending Style Scale presentation of our own scale to measure MSS. 

• The relation between our Money Spending Style and different financial behaviors: success in saving, openness to taking debt, skills for paying back debts.
  Chapter 3. How to pay: with cash or with card the mystery of cashless transactions

• Symbolic vs. functional values of money.

• Why everyone is not equally open to use cashless transactions.

• Love for money psychological barrier in using cashless transactions.

• Presentation of Love for Money Scale (LfM Scale). 

• The relation between Love for Money and different financial behaviors (saving, spending, investing, using financial products, insuring).
  Chapter 4. Saving and investing

• Why people don't spent all the money they have motivations underlying saving and investing.

• Different strategies for saving.

• How to have success in saving fit between strategy and personality traits.

• Goals of saving as motivating factors for saving.

• Investing higher level of saving.

• Investing vs. openness to risky decision-making.

• How to make people save more and invest wisely the role of financial education.
  Chapter 5.  Loan needed or wanted? 

• Different attitudes toward loan and debt.

• Motivations and emotions underlying raising loans, paying it back conscientiously, or having problems with debt. 

• What makes people successful in debt management?

• Segmentation of debtors presentation of representative nationwide survey results: Forgetful (27%); Indebted to others (24%); Careless (19%); Lost in finances (18%); Intentional Avoiders (12%).

• Debt management style in different segments of debtors.
  Chapter 6. Thinking about the future insurance and pension

• Time perspective theory the sense of psychological time and its' relation to financial behavior. 

• Why everybody is not thinking about the financial future lack of imagination or lack of psychological skills?

• Discrepancy between attitude toward insurance and having insurance.

• Pension assuring the future or unnecessary threat? 

• Responsibility for retirement what I get or what I create?
  Chapter 7. Taxes why do I have to pay it?Understanding taxes relation between paying and demanding. 
  Knowledge about taxation system and understanding it.
  Tax avoidance behavior motivations an...