This book is about consumer financial behavior, and financial products and services at the generic and domain-specific level: choice and expenditure within a product category or between
product variants. The book is not about the specific level of brand choice (van Raaij & Verhallen, 1994). This means that particular brands of financial institutions and service/product
brands will be mentioned only occasionally.
This book contains five chapters on general psychological concepts and topics: (2) comparisons and perception of gains and losses, (3) risk preference, (4) consumer confidence and trust, (5)
self-control, and (6) time preference. See Figure 1.1. Each of these chapters can be read independently and not necessarily in the order of the book.
In the second part, different types of financial behavior will be discussed: (7) money management, (8) saving behavior, (9) credit behavior and debt problems, (10) insurance behavior, (11)
pension plans and old-age provisions, (12) investment behavior, and (13) tax behavior: compliance and evasion. Each of these chapters can be read independently and not necessarily in the
order of the book. The final and concluding chapter (14) is on responsible financial behavior.
The objective of this book is to bring together the scientific knowledge of consumer financial behavior in a systematic way in order to improve the understanding and insights of this
behavior. Target groups for this book are:
1.Teachers and students of marketing, finance, and management (university level).
2.Financial advisors and planners.
3.Consumer educators.
4.Communicators and consumer advisors of financial institutions.
5.Consumer policy makers.
