A Good Summer Read

The Behavior Gap – Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money

by Carl Richards

For as long as I can remember, summer has always felt like a time to get caught up on the books I’d like to read. Maybe it was the contests the local library was always running to see how many books or pages we could read each summer, but I still find myself getting excited about the potential for more time spent reading when summer comes around.

Full disclosure: I dislike most books about money. Although my initial interest in money sprung from reading a lot of books about it, the more I work with people and their money, the more I realize the potential pitfalls in a lot of “one-size fits all” books that are out there delivering advice to you about your money, given that they don’t really have any actual information about you or your money. My skepticism has been heightened by the fact that many of these so-called financial gurus who once gave independent advice are now running major enterprises of their own that are designed to make money for themselves and their financial partners and sponsors. 

But there remain a few gems out there worth picking up, and one of the most foundational is Carl Richard’s, The Behavior Gap – Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money. Richard’s advice in The Behavior Gap is timeless, it’s forgiving, and it’s as applicable to someone who has decided to finally work their way out of credit card debt as it is to someone who is trying to decide if and when to retire.

It’s also simple.

Book cover for

This book isn’t going to tell you how much to save for your kids’ college or to put in your 401(k). It’s not going to tell you what the perfect asset allocation is for your portfolio, or at what age you can retire. It’s not even going to tell you how to figure that out. Which is one of the reasons I like it. It’s not pretending to know you and your money. It’s not delivering advice that may or may not be applicable to your unique financial situation. It’s challenging you to reframe the way you think about money and money decisions, no matter your level of wealth or stage of life.

Financial Planning at all stages of life

I have what I consider the great privilege of looking at hundreds of people’s balance sheets and net-worth statements. And I can’t think of a single financial recommendation that I would have delivered to every single client I have. Financial advice is too personal for that level of universality. As Richard’s points out “Financial products—including things like bank accounts and insurance policies as well as investments—should be judged on how well they help you reach your goals. Since your goals are unique, what might be right for you could be a disaster for someone else.” (P. 30)

And yet, I’d recommend this book to all my clients – the wealthiest, the youngest, the most financially frustrated. It’s a framework for thinking about money, and one that we could desperately use in this country. It’s a framework for making better decisions about money, no matter what your net-worth statement currently says, and it’s also an easy read.

So, before you pick up another book that’s going to tell you what to do with your money, take a few hours to sit down with The Behavior Gap, and give yourself an underlying framework for how to think about your money, spending, and saving decisions.