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About the book

We are all crazy about money. We spend too much of it and save too little. We hoard it and we sink into debt over it. We lavish it and are stingy with it. We lie about it and fight over it. We think about it all the time and we avoid thinking about it at all.

What makes most of us so crazy when it comes to money? We like to believe that our choices and actions are guided by rationality. But in fact, reason often has little to do with our money behavior. Rather, our decisions are governed by our emotions and money beliefs.

If our money emotions and beliefs are balanced and clear, we will act wisely with it. If our feelings/beliefs are confused, we will make poor decisions, creating financial havoc and deep unhappiness. Crazy About Money helps readers identify the unconscious emotions and beliefs that usually come from childhood and drive money decisions as adults. It also shows readers how to change misguided attitudes that lead so many into money trouble.

Crazy About Money uses real and composite cases drawn from the author’s 30 years of psychology practice. Readers learn about Mary, who has a basement full of Internet purchases she made to get even with her seemingly indifferent husband. And about Harry, an 89-year-old multi-millionaire bachelor who nearly decided to move into a state assisted living facility for fear he would run out of money. Readers also meet others who, like themselves, over-spend, under-save and make poor investment decisions.

In-depth discussions detail how many people, once they understand their motivations, are able to break short-sighted or destructive money attitudes and patterns of behavior. Exercises at the end of each chapter will help readers examine their own feelings and actions and point the way toward smarter choices with money, whether in saving, investing, spending, giving or sharing.

In today’s economic climate, it is crucial that we understand how we make our money decisions and how we can improve them. This includes learning how to recognize that even some financial professionals can be crazy about money. Emotional clarity about money and financial literacy are necessary 21st century survival skills.

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What you will get from Crazy About Money

1. As you connect with others in the stories and the story explanations, you’ll become more aware of the complexities of money and the emotions and beliefs embedded in it.

2. You’ll learn how to recognize and sort out your own money beliefs and emotions.

3. You’ll be able to identify what you need to change in your money behavior and develop awareness to choose to change it or not change it.

4. “You’ll learn to make smarter choices with money, whether in saving, investing, spending, or giving.

Testimonials

Crazy About Money takes a uniquely direct approach to how and why so many of us struggle with money.

Dr. Maggie Baker draws on her extensive professional experience with financial psychology and her personal journey with her own finances to teach us that a healthy relationship with money is both freeing and attainable.

Her straightforward tell-it-like-it-is style makes this book a great read for anyone looking to understand his/her own attitudes and spending habits. For the financial professional, this book is a valuable tool to help build a strong, open and honest dialogue with clients.

Leslie Gordon Mayer, Ph.D. President &CEO, Mayer Leadership Group; Fellow, Wharton School of Business

In Crazy About Money, psychologist Maggie Baker helps us grapple with our “money devils.” Through her insights and exercises, we can understand more deeply and fully where our money attitudes originate, learn how to change them, and eventually become Money Masters. A priceless contribution to the field of money psychology, this book is a must-read for individuals and couples facing money conflicts or money avoidance. Mental health professionals and financial professionals will also find it a great resource.

Olivia Mellan, psychotherapist, money coach, speaker, and author of Money Harmony, Money Shy to Money Sure (with Sherry Christie) and The Client Connection (www.moneyharmony.com)

Maggie Baker’s Crazy About Money is a critical and extremely timely contribution to dialogues about money, our number one source of stress. Bringing together personal, clinical, and behavioral finance knowledge in a clear and understandable way, Maggie suggests real solutions for individuals and families across the wealth spectrum who have difficulty dealing with money. Read this book — and insist that your financial advisors read it as well!

G. Scott Budge, Ph.D., Psychologist/Managing Director, RayLign Advisory, LLC

Maggie Baker’s Crazy About Money is unique in describing how we form and act on money scripts at various stages of life, from childhood through retirement. Using her own story as well as her experience as a clinical psychologist, she has created a readable, useful book that can help you build a healthier relationship with money.

Rick Kahler, M.S., CFP ®
Kahler Financial Group and Board Member, Financial Therapy Association

What about this: In Crazy About Money, Dr. Maggie Baker taps into her 30 years of counseling clients and distills her advice into an entertaining blend of actual cases, why we REALLY see talking about our money as the last taboo, and what just understanding what money type we are is so important to understanding why we handle it the way we do.

Those childhood experiences with money, and how they fit into the rest of our background, doom us to being enslaved by old and destructive patterns until we see them, clearly. Because we see other people’s cases, we can painlessly recognize our own money blind spots.

As a person who has worked with couples and individuals full-time for 30 years, I find this book is the most down-to-earth, absolutely useful tool I’ve seen. Financial advisors will find it indispensable, and will want to hand copies to clients, for sure. Funny, humane, and to the point, this will be the most fun you’ve had while learning why we act as we do. This will be a bible for anyone who teaches or counsels people about their money.

Kent Engelke, Chief Market Strategist/Managing Director of
Capitol Securities Management, often quoted on Dow Jones Newswire

About Maggie

Maggie Baker, Ph. D., has been a practicing clinical psychologist for more than 30 years. After counseling many individuals, couples, children and families dealing with financial stress, she developed an expertise in behavioral economics and the psychology of wealth.

In addition to her therapy practice, Maggie Baker gives financial workshops designed to help people get a better grasp of how their emotions link to their money habits. She is a member and past president of, The Profits Investment Club, under the umbrella of the National Association of Individual Investors Corporation, a national organization committed to providing sound investment information, education and support to lay investors.

Recognized as an expert in personal finance and financial therapy, she has been quoted in a variety of national and local publications, including Money magazine, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Main Line Times. She has given presentations on financial wellness, the psychology of money and holistic wealth for organizations like Merrill-Lynch, Women in Insurance and Financial Services, Women of Wit and Wisdom and national/international psychology meetings.

Maggie Baker lives near Philadelphia with her family. For more info go to maggiebakerphd.com

Dr. Maggie Baker in the Media –

The Wall Street Journal : So, How Does Money Make You Feel?