The Paradox of Choice - Barry Schwartz

Subtitled Why More is Less: How the Culture of Abundance Robs Us of Satisfaction, this interesting text explores the common perception that more choice equals more freedom, and finds that the converse is true.
Schwartz opens with the incident that first alerted him to this counter-intuitive idea, jeans shopping. This was a task he thought relatively straight forward, but he soon discovered that, since the last time he bought a pair of 'just regular' jeans, the world of denim pants had expanded, offering him a vast variety of colours, lengths, closures, treatments (acid wash, stone wash...) and six types of fit from fitted to extra baggy. What was once a five minute purchase had become a task that occupied not only significantly more time but also a elicited a lot of concern where once there was none, including anxiety about making the wrong choice.
And it's this aspect that Schwartz discusses the most. The more choice we have, he says, the greater the likelihood that we'll be paralysed by fear of picking the wrong, or perhaps least good, option. And experiments show that the more options there are to choose from the less likely we are to make a decision - shoppers given a choice of six types of jam are far more likely to buy some that those confronted with twenty four varieties.
This disparity between what we think we want and what we actually want runs across the board - though up to 65% of people say they'd want to pick their own cancer treatment, more than 88% leave treatment modalities to their physician, while doctors faced with choosing between two medications or referring to a specialist are twice as likely to make a referral as doctors asked to chose between one medication or referral.
There are too many really interesting facts raised in this book for me to do them justice in this review. So my take home message - you can save yourself a lot of stress by deciding that sometimes 'good enough' is better than hunting until you find 'the best' regardless of whether that's a jumper, a restaurant or a house; making rules that limit some of your choices (eg only go to two shops when looking for crockery, only drink one glass of wine at dinner) will streamline your life; avoid reversible decisions (like being able to return items to shops) because that increases your potential for regret; work out what decisions are important to you (where to work, who to spend time with, for example) and what aren't (which kind of pasta to buy, where to have dinner tonight) then focus on those choices; be grateful for and appreciate what you have instead of thinking about what you don't; choose to regret less often; be aware that we quickly adapt to things so that something that brought up great pleasure rapidly becomes taken for granted and less pleasurable.
I've yet to out these changes into action but look forward to making them part of my life - Alex

Women Talking Money - Leslie Falkiner-Rose

Falkiner-Rose interviewed over a hundred Australian women about their ideas about how they manage money and what their thoughts and feelings about financial management were. The women range in age from 24 to 85 and covered a spectrum of living arrangements (single, married, divorced) and levels of education.
I read books like this for two reasons - to pick up ideas about improving my own relationship with and management of money, and to reflect on how I am now and how I've changed. One of Falkiner-Rose's participants divides women into categories - spenders, credit card junkies, strapped for cash, savers and day-to-day survivors. I've been all of those and am moving toward a category 'Angela' didn't mention - savvy. That said, while reading the introduction I was distressed to realise that my failing to file a tax return for the last ahem-years (even though the ATO owes me money) is precisely the kind of behaviour Falkiner-Rose discusses when describing friends of hers who act stupidly with finances.
There were some insights that were interesting and applicable for me, including the section on how we develop our attitudes to and about money, and a distressing assessment of how women are treated by the financial planning industry (twice as hard to make an appointment, three times less likely to receive a follow up phone call, more likely to be told things rather than listened to). One hopes things may have changed in the five years since Women Talking Money was published but it's not been long. More encouragingly, Falkiner-Rose quotes financial planner Susan Jackson, who says learning about money management is a process that should be tackled like learning to ski - starting on the beginners slope
And I got to feel smug about a couple of things, including how I've improved my credit card management (pay off everything twice a month), debt in general (currently don't owe anything to anyone), and having specific financial goals.
There were some valuable tips about resources, including women-only courses run by financial institutions and the Council of Adult Education (CAE), the Rule of 72 (to calculate how long it will take to double your money when you reinvest your returns divide 72 by the interest rate you're receiving - at 8.1% my ING term deposit will take 9 years to double) and a website that helps compare accounts and rates (www.cannex.com.au), and other financial websites like the FIDO section of the ASIC website (www.fido.asic.gov.au) which has do-it-yourself tools for calculating your financial position; the site also has a booklet called "Don't Kiss Your Money Goodbye" that sounds interesting. Although she recommends several books I'm going to start with two, a 1936 classic apparently still relevant today (The Richest Man in Babylon by George S Clason) and The Courage to be Rich by Suze Orman. I'm also going to check out www.kathleengurney.com (where I can apparently download a personality profiling test that will help me understand how I deal with money). Watch this spot! - Alex

How to Win Competitions – Sherry Sjolander

In 2001 Sjolander read an article about competition entering that said “if you aren’t winning you’re not trying hard enough” – she began devoting more effort to participating in the countless competitions that, combined, are worth billions of dollars every year in cash and prizes, and was soon rewarded with a steady stream of wins; in How to Win Competitions she explains how you, too, can become a successful comper, either alone or in a comping club.
Sjolander systematically takes the novice through the process, from an overview and advice on getting started, to a guide through the terms and conditions (including why it’s vital to read and understand them), to a step by step explanation of the various kind of competitions available – magazines, in store and product purchase promotions, how to improve your ‘words or less’ responses, and the use of the internet. She includes sections for children, and a comprehensive discussion about cheating (don’t do it, but this is how those who successfully cheat do it). The final chapter is the diary of a month in the life of a novice Sjolander guides through the process, from her first day to her being successfully hooked on the competitive thrill, including a $1000 win, movie tickets and a free mascara.
This is a comprehensive and (so far as I can tell) accurate guide to the (previously unknown to me) world of serious comping. Tailored tot he Australian market, Sjolander discusses tax consequences, the differences between state regulations, and potential pitfalls. To be a successful comper clearly requires organization, discipline and dedication, as well as thriving on the competitive nature of the hobby. She includes links to internet groups, and advice on joining (or even creating) local organizations of like-minded folk, and suggests an organisational system to keep track of what you’ve entered, when the prizes are drawn, and when the second draw prizes will be announced. She also has advice on what to do if you win but nothing arrives, from how long to wait to what to do if the organisers are unhelpful.
The first thing you need to know is that, though you can earn in excess of $20,000 a year in tax-free rewards, this takes dedication. In addition to the financial outlay – which varies depending on how and what you enter, but includes stationary and postage, SMS texts, buying dozens of magazines a month and copious volumes of products for their barcodes – the Sjolander method consumes vast quantities of time. There are tasks for the morning and afternoon of every weekday, and the anonymous diarist says there are always more competitions to enter.
If you’re at home, have broadband already, have some down time, an eBay account to sell your unwanted prizes through, and want to make some extra money, this could be the answer for you. However, for me (work full time, study part time, don’t drive, and am already a little overwhelmed by chaos) participating in the world of quasi-professional comping would be more stressful than successful. - Alex

The Savvy Girl's Money Book - Emily Chantiri

As you know, I'm newly on a budget and interested in learning how to save money and best utilise what I've saved so far. A few years ago Chantiri and some friends decided to take control of their finances and turned their book group into a finance and investment group, and started making money. They wrote a book(The Money Club), then followed it up with another book (Financially Fit for Life). In The Savvy Girl's Money Book Chantiri takes what she learned from the club, from her financial decision thus far, and her previous forays into writing, to create a handbook for young Australian women who're ready to take control of their financial futures.
There's some very useful information, including a number of neutral organisational URLs (for the Australian Stock Exchange and financial advisers etc), and Chantiri has laced the drier aspects with real life accounts of financial transformation, including the experiences of two of her sisters.
On the down side these accounts are printed in an irritating green that's hard to read in dim light, or even day light, particularly in contrast with the high gloss back ground. Having already read a few of these advice books now I didn't find much that was new (except the websites), but this doesn't mean it wouldn't be useful for those just starting out. That said, I'll soon be reviewing the book I've found most helpful thus far, and would certainly recommend that as a great place to start. - Alex

Save Karyn – Karyn Bosnak

Unfulfilled and stagnant, producer Karyn Bosnak left Chicago for the bright lights of New York, to work on a new, Judge-Judyesque program. Starting from scratch in a new city, and keeping in mind the maxim that, though you might spend a little more, quality’s worth it, she rented a great apartment, furnished it piece by piece, bought some amazing clothes and accessories, and essentials. She was earning a good salary and on track for a promotion. And in just over a year she racked up over $25,000 in credit card debt with no way to pay it back.
Save Karyn, subtitled One Shopaholic’s Journey to Debt and Back, tells how it happened, her efforts to pay the debt back, and how she came up with a revolutionary way to get help – she started a website asking strangers to donate whatever they could spare to pay down what she owed. In exchange she posted snippets from her life, including savings she’d made each day, reflections on her previous profligate lifestyle, and selected emails from a rapidly-growing online audience (about evenly split between favourable and attacking readers).
As word of mouth spread, Karyn’s site got more hits, her donations increased, and she became the focus of increasing media attention. I remember hearing about this website (which is still up – www.savekaryn.com) at the time, though I never visited, and that in part is what prompted me to read the book. The other part is that, after almost twenty years of my own profligate spending (and managing to rack up $10,000 in credit card debt in a year, twice), I’ve decided to start saving – watch out for a slew of finance books in the next few weeks.
Bosnak has an engaging voice – in response to the oft-answered question “why not consolidate your debt and read a finance book?” she responded that she has consolidated, and the books all made her depressed about how far behind she was (a sentiment to which I can wholly relate!). Karyn moved to New York in 2000, and September 11, and her reaction to it, therefore feature, but are not the focus of the book. The final few pages are reflection on what Bosnak learned, about debt and about the kindness of strangers. Reading Saving Karyn made me feel more comfortable about my own financial situation, impressed by her ingenuity, and warmer to the world in general. This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. – Alex

Only 104 Weeks to Your Home Deposit - Peter Cerexhe

Possibly good for those who've given little thought to getting a home deposit together, I didn't find Only 104 Weeks to Your Home Deposit particularly fresh or informative. Unlike the other finance books I'm consulting, it deals almost solely with developing a home deposit, which I grant you is evident from the title. Cerexhe therefore concentrates on the two years of saving for this, rather than any other areas of financial investment, with the (no doubt valid) idea that you can do almost anything for that period of time in order to scrape together as much as possible - try for a raise, work overtime, pick up extra work, and (my favourite, clearly aimed at people who have a very different life than I) find people who'll sponsor your saving efforts. As Cerexhe points out, if
parents or relatives are prepared to subsidise your savings you can make between $200 and $20,000 for every $10,000 you save (depending on whether they're subsidising you at a rate of $1 for every $50 you save through to $2 for every $1). Not so much a valid strategy for me. Or anyone I know. And I already work full time, with maximum penalties, and am studying part time, so there's not much spare time for another job. Of course, I'm also looking at my long-term future and not just the time where I'm gathering a deposit. This might be useful for young people who are just starting out, but for a woman in her thirties with a life and an established career it's all too narrow and regimented for me. - Alex

Your Mortgage and How to Pay it Off in Five Years – Anita Bell

Anita Bell and her husband Jim paid off their first mortgage in three years, and this book explains how the prepared reader can do the same thing – living sparingly, making a real effort to put as much money each week/fortnight into the mortgage, and making sure that the loan, conditions and property are good value.
If you’re thinking about entering the property market, or you’re young and thinking about saving for when you’re ready to buy, this book certainly has some helpful hints, particularly the section on early saving and compound interest.
Although a lot of the advice is useful, it is heavily geared to a two-income (preferably no kids) couple, and much of the advice isn’t that helpful if that’s not your situation. The most eye-opening aspect for me, though, was what as insight it gave me into how much the Australian property market has changed in the eight years since this was published – the average house price she refers to is $150,000, which won’t buy you much of anything anywhere now. – Alex

How to Live Smarter – James Parker

Parker's aim is to provide the kind of information that will immediately improve people’s lives, by discussing ways that we can not just work but live smarter. Divide thematically, chapters cover how to get people to do what you want them to do, how to successfully negotiate everything from a pay raise to a better rental deal, how to effectively increase your income (through better banking, jobs you can do to supplement your income, and gambling tips), excuses to get out of work/leave early/arrive late, time management strategies, public speaking tips, advice on picking good fruit and vegetables, directions for making great coffee and picking good wine, strategies to prevent hangovers, first aid kit suggestions, chess pointers, hints on when to suspect your partner is cheating and how to pick a liar, and a miscellaneous advice section.
I would have thought that a lot of the information was common knowledge (is there anyone who needed to be told that a wrinkled, bendable, shrivelled, soft, patchily yellow cucumber should be avoided?). On the other hand, I was surprised a Biggest Loser contestant didn’t know that package list ingredients in order of percentage (highest to lowest), and shocked that Maggie Beer didn’t know bananas become sweeter the longer they ripen (demonstrated by their brown speckles – she used to discard or freeze them as soon as they began the process), so maybe some of my common knowledge isn’t as common as I thought.
This is clearly self-published – there are a few typos, the web site addresses are all underlined, which interrupts the flow of reading, and some sentences are clumsily structured (eg “If they get a whiff of the fact that you are bluffing, your chances for them to concede to anything after that have just about plummeted.”) He also utilises one of my most hated hyperboles – that you can save “up to X or even more” – if you can save more then X isn’t “up to,” the second figure is.
The last chapter, a miscellany of advice, is fairly random and includes insights like “When it comes to relationships, the person who cares the least will always have control” and “The older you get the more you will come to realise this… that most people who work (wherever) aren’t particularly that great at their jobs. And nor do they care…” – the ‘and’ in “and nor” is unnecessary, I don’t know what’s with all the ellipses, and it’s hardly an earth shattering revelation that many people don’t care that they aren’t great employees.
These faults aside the book is generally worthwhile, in a hunt-and-peck fashion, and I don’t regret the purchase despite the fact that I once again broke my vow to refrain from buying new books. Shocking. Its purchase is justified (to me, at least) by the fact that I really will make my money back within a year – although I’m already frugal in some areas, this has made me look at areas of painless economy I hadn’t previously considered. I’m not looking for work at the moment, but I’ll certainly consult HTLS before my next interview and when I’m brushing up my CV, and I’ll be thoroughly reviewing the section on public speaking before my first conference presentation later this year. – Alex