W. Fred Van Raaij

Government policies, marketing campaigns of banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions, and consumers' protective actions all depend on assumptions about consumer financial behavior. Unfortunately, many consumers have no or little knowledge of budgeting, financial products, and financial planning. It is therefore important that organizations and market authorities know why consumers spend, borrow, insure, invest, and save for their retirement - or why they do not. Understanding Consumer Financial Behavior provides a systemic economic and behavioral approach to the way people handle their finances. It discusses the different types of financial behaviors consumers may engage in and explores the psychological explanations for their behavior and choices. This exciting new book is essential reading for scholars of marketing, finance, and management; financial professionals; and consumer policy makers.

Government policies, marketing campaigns of banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions, and consumers' protective actions all depend on assumptions about consumer financial behavior. Unfortunately, many consumers have no or little knowledge of budgeting, financial products, and financial planning. It is therefore important that organizations and market authorities know why consumers spend, borrow, insure, invest, and save for their retirement - or why they do not. Understanding Consumer Financial Behavior provides a systemic economic and behavioral approach to the way people handle their finances. It discusses the different types of financial behaviors consumers may engage in and explores the psychological explanations for their behavior and choices. This exciting new book is essential reading for scholars of marketing, finance, and management; financial professionals; and consumer policy makers.

Consumer Financial Behavior deals with the questions of how consumers should manage their financial affairs and how the market can educate and aid consumers in making better financial decisions, and become more customer-centric. By analyzing financial behavioral acts and skills, and the economic, sociological, and psychological variables that may influence them, the author focuses on the determinants and consequences of spending, saving, borrowing, insuring, and investing, and explains how both the market and consumers can achieve responsible financial behavior. The objective of Consumer Financial Behavior is to bring together the scientific knowledge of this topic in a systematic way to improve our understanding and provide insights into this behavior. Section 2 focuses on money management, spending, and budgeting. Section 3 examines saving behavior, saving motives and goals. Section 4 reviews Credit behavior and debt problems. Insurance behavior and the avoidance of potential financial losses is covered in section 5. Section 6 considers pension plans and old-age provisions. Section 7 examines Investment behavior, which is often risky and full of biases and heuristics guiding private investor's behavior. Section 8 considers Tax behavior, compliance and evasion. The monograph concludes by examining Responsible financial behavior - the ultimate goal for consumer financial behavior.

Consumer Behaviour is the first truly European consumer behaviour textbook, placing the subject clearly within its economic, psychological, sociological and historical context. The authors provide greater insight for readers by examining both the determinants and the consequences of consumer decision making. Antonides and Van Raaij include numerous examples, cases and sociodemographic data and provide complete coverage of core topics together with important new ones. Innovative chapters are included on: * financial behaviour * welfare, wellbeing and property * families and household production * consumption and the environment * shopping behaviour. The authors explore the full consumption cycle, not only the first stages of orientation and procurement, but also the usage and disposal of products.