Thinking in Dollars: Behavioral Economics in Everyday Life

Thinking in Dollars is a practical, engaging guide to understanding the hidden forces that drive our financial decisions. Blending behavioral economics with real-world scenarios, it explains why we often act irrationally with money, and how to turn those instincts into smarter choices. The book explores the psychology behind everyday spending, saving, and investing habits, revealing how emotions, cognitive biases, and social pressures shape our financial behavior more than pure logic does. Through relatable examples and simple explanations, it covers concepts like loss aversion, mental accounting, decision fatigue, and the power of defaults, showing how these ideas play out in daily life, from grocery shopping to retirement planning. Written in a clear, conversational tone, it avoids heavy economic jargon while still delivering valuable insights. By the end, readers will not only recognize the mental traps that cost them money but also have practical strategies to make more rational, confident, and rewarding financial decisions. This is behavioral economics you can actually use, whether you’re managing a household budget or making big investment moves.