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Broke Millennial Takes on Investing: A Beginner's Guide to Leveling Up Your Money by Erin Lowry
bootman's review against another edition
5.0
From age 18 until almost 27, I was addicted to drugs and alcohol, and I racked up an insane amount of debt due to my addiction. Now, I'm 35 years old and am finally on my feet. After being able to keep a decent amount of money in my savings account for the first time in my life, I figured it was time to start learning about investing, but I had nowhere to start. Last year, I read over 280 books (a lot about cognitive psychology and decision-making), and many discussed investing and those decisions, but none of it made sense. I needed a book that started from the beginning and could dumb it down for me because I don't even know how a 401k works except that I should have it. That's when I came across Erin Lowry's book.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that I binged this book in a day. Lowry starts the book by explaining what I've run into, which is books and others skipping a lot of steps when giving investment and saving advice, and people like me don't even know where to start. In an early chapter, Lowry gives a bunch of definitions that went over my head, and she said they'd make sense later. By the time I finished the book, she was right. It's like I learned a new language. I was even able to share the concepts in a semi-decent way to my girlfriend as I was reading it.
I can't give this book enough credit for how helpful it is, and I wish I read it sooner. As the father of a 12-year-old son, this is definitely getting added to the list of books I'm going to have him read as a young adult in five or six years. Today, I walk away from this book with a plan of where to put my money, what services to look into, and how to make good decisions when doing it. I think my favorite part of this book was her chapter on ethical investing. I really appreciated it, and I can't wait to go binge her other two books now.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that I binged this book in a day. Lowry starts the book by explaining what I've run into, which is books and others skipping a lot of steps when giving investment and saving advice, and people like me don't even know where to start. In an early chapter, Lowry gives a bunch of definitions that went over my head, and she said they'd make sense later. By the time I finished the book, she was right. It's like I learned a new language. I was even able to share the concepts in a semi-decent way to my girlfriend as I was reading it.
I can't give this book enough credit for how helpful it is, and I wish I read it sooner. As the father of a 12-year-old son, this is definitely getting added to the list of books I'm going to have him read as a young adult in five or six years. Today, I walk away from this book with a plan of where to put my money, what services to look into, and how to make good decisions when doing it. I think my favorite part of this book was her chapter on ethical investing. I really appreciated it, and I can't wait to go binge her other two books now.
nickjagged's review against another edition
3.0
Better than average guide, doesn't have the same stink of other investment books. Does a great job of explaining some of the harder things for beginners to grok, plus it doesn't feel coercive or manipulative. It's a low bar, but that's where we are right now.
haylstormer's review against another edition
5.0
The title may be corny but the content is not. It’s real, tangible information on investing that simplifies everything into digestible bits. These are full of powerful truth nuggets and an absolute must for anyone new to investing or interested in getting started
igorboskovic's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.75
jyukidavidoff's review against another edition
5.0
Although I knew a lot of the principles from things I had read online, it was good to review them in greater detail and confirm what I knew. The language was clear and easy to understand, and any buzz words were explained thoroughly. Good read for a beginner investor.
mx_manda's review against another edition
medium-paced
2.5
Once again, I am reminded that even though my age category was ripped from Gen X and labeled as Millennials, we're not actually who anyone is talking about or to when something is "for Millennials." You're over the age of 30, let alone born before 1985? This book isn't meant for you.
This book is...fine.
There are a few truly helpful chapters with definitions for investment terms and some nuggets here and there; it could be truly helpful for the newly graduated who are just starting out. But I didn't see anything in here that isn't already available in various forms to everyone, and been done in more digestible and relatable ways. But I found the voice of the author very grating, and couldn't help envisioning Steve Buschemi's "Hello, fellow kids," bit: I truly felt like a 60 year old man was lecturing at me the entire time, rather than the conversational tone of an almost 30 year old woman. The attempts at jokes didn't land. And it was very difficult not to infer politics and other things from the tone and framing choices as I went through the book, which just further grated.
If you want the same neo-liberal, wealth worshipping and work obsessed investing advice, this will scratch the itch. (And in this current hellscape, I get it.) As long as you make enough money and are fortunate enough to not have any real obstacles barring you from doing so. But if you have any actual struggles like medical bills, disability, starvation wages, coming from generational poverty, etc, this isn't going to help you. There are moments where the author almost hits a poignant idea, but quickly shies away from it and gets back on script. The chapter about how the wealthy think versus everyone else was especially off-putting, missed the mark, and avoided the more realistic sides of that coin, choosing to frame them as fun and harmless. (Spoiler: generational wealth and a lot of luck play into it, along with a disgusting amount of effort put into not paying taxes to fund society.)
Clearly I was hoping for something different here. Maybe someday there will be advice and a book aimed at the 40-45 year old crowd who got left behind.
This book is...fine.
There are a few truly helpful chapters with definitions for investment terms and some nuggets here and there; it could be truly helpful for the newly graduated who are just starting out. But I didn't see anything in here that isn't already available in various forms to everyone, and been done in more digestible and relatable ways. But I found the voice of the author very grating, and couldn't help envisioning Steve Buschemi's "Hello, fellow kids," bit: I truly felt like a 60 year old man was lecturing at me the entire time, rather than the conversational tone of an almost 30 year old woman. The attempts at jokes didn't land. And it was very difficult not to infer politics and other things from the tone and framing choices as I went through the book, which just further grated.
If you want the same neo-liberal, wealth worshipping and work obsessed investing advice, this will scratch the itch. (And in this current hellscape, I get it.) As long as you make enough money and are fortunate enough to not have any real obstacles barring you from doing so. But if you have any actual struggles like medical bills, disability, starvation wages, coming from generational poverty, etc, this isn't going to help you. There are moments where the author almost hits a poignant idea, but quickly shies away from it and gets back on script. The chapter about how the wealthy think versus everyone else was especially off-putting, missed the mark, and avoided the more realistic sides of that coin, choosing to frame them as fun and harmless. (Spoiler: generational wealth and a lot of luck play into it, along with a disgusting amount of effort put into not paying taxes to fund society.)
Clearly I was hoping for something different here. Maybe someday there will be advice and a book aimed at the 40-45 year old crowd who got left behind.