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bookiecharm 's review for:
3.5 stars*
Money Diaries is a nonfiction, finance book inspired by the popular series on Refinery29 aiming to inspire millennials to take control of their debts, budgets, emergency funds, and savings for the future.
I'm not familiar at all with the popular web series so I found it very interesting to see how the 9 women included spent money. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of personal finance and explores a women's finances for a week, day by day and hour by hour. Much of these sections read like journal entries complete with day to day thoughts and mundane activities. I liked that a Money Diary was included per chapter because I can imagine how boring financial advice could be for a beginner. It was smart to disperse the Diaries throughout because this could get redundant if the entirety of the book followed the diary format.
I thought the book was easy to follow and very introductory for young women that haven't had much experience with finance. In other areas, that I was more knowledgeable about like mortgages and 401ks, I felt validated because the author never talks down to the reader. The weight and pressure of my student loan debt is difficult to bear but throughout these stories I felt a sense of justification for my decisions. Sometimes it's just nice to hear about women with similar struggles and issues as your own. While some may find the financial goals of saving for a rainy day fund depressing (this is a huge take away), I found it inspiring and within reach. I'm going to a bank soon to open up a high yield savings account.
Other chapters and advice annoyed me. It's really insulting to give advice to save money by trading in your daily Starbucks coffee order for a free coffee at the office. As if all millennials ridiculously spend their money at Starbucks every morning or have the luxury of free coffee at their place of work. These blind spots and assumptions are throughout and warn against going out to eating and drinking out all the time. I could see how older generations could get frustrated with the advice given in this book too because it's clearly aimed at easing the worries of millennials, specifically. If that means taking a less aggressive route to paying off student loan debt so you can live a little, then so be it. I like that message but I know some won't.
There's also an interesting chapter about finances in relationships and dating and I appreciated the bisexual women's accounts here. However, there were some eye roll inducing white people problems when discussing prenups, inheritances, and the horror of a breeder clause. I'm noisy though so I still read it all and learned a lot.
This book is very basic in it's format and advice. I found the audiobook entertaining with the diary portions so I still recommend it if you are interested and new to finance.
Money Diaries is a nonfiction, finance book inspired by the popular series on Refinery29 aiming to inspire millennials to take control of their debts, budgets, emergency funds, and savings for the future.
I'm not familiar at all with the popular web series so I found it very interesting to see how the 9 women included spent money. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of personal finance and explores a women's finances for a week, day by day and hour by hour. Much of these sections read like journal entries complete with day to day thoughts and mundane activities. I liked that a Money Diary was included per chapter because I can imagine how boring financial advice could be for a beginner. It was smart to disperse the Diaries throughout because this could get redundant if the entirety of the book followed the diary format.
I thought the book was easy to follow and very introductory for young women that haven't had much experience with finance. In other areas, that I was more knowledgeable about like mortgages and 401ks, I felt validated because the author never talks down to the reader. The weight and pressure of my student loan debt is difficult to bear but throughout these stories I felt a sense of justification for my decisions. Sometimes it's just nice to hear about women with similar struggles and issues as your own. While some may find the financial goals of saving for a rainy day fund depressing (this is a huge take away), I found it inspiring and within reach. I'm going to a bank soon to open up a high yield savings account.
Other chapters and advice annoyed me. It's really insulting to give advice to save money by trading in your daily Starbucks coffee order for a free coffee at the office. As if all millennials ridiculously spend their money at Starbucks every morning or have the luxury of free coffee at their place of work. These blind spots and assumptions are throughout and warn against going out to eating and drinking out all the time. I could see how older generations could get frustrated with the advice given in this book too because it's clearly aimed at easing the worries of millennials, specifically. If that means taking a less aggressive route to paying off student loan debt so you can live a little, then so be it. I like that message but I know some won't.
There's also an interesting chapter about finances in relationships and dating and I appreciated the bisexual women's accounts here. However, there were some eye roll inducing white people problems when discussing prenups, inheritances, and the horror of a breeder clause. I'm noisy though so I still read it all and learned a lot.
This book is very basic in it's format and advice. I found the audiobook entertaining with the diary portions so I still recommend it if you are interested and new to finance.