Finance Book of the Month

Finance Book of the Month – Get Rich Lucky Bitch

February 19, 2019

As I make progress towards becoming debt free, I am making it a priority to educate myself more about money. I want to have a better understanding of handling finances, financial mindsets and many other useful topics. My favourite way of doing this is reading. This is a part of my journey that I’m particularly keen to share with you as I believe you could get a lot of value from it. This month I would like to share Get Rich, Lucky Bitch.

Finance book of the month – Get Rich Lucky Bitch

Now on first reading of the title you’re probably having the same reaction that I did. That sounds like a really obnoxious book and definitely won’t be for me. I really want to urge you to look past the title and read on because this book has been incredibly beneficial to me!

I wouldn’t blame you for assuming that the book’s pages are filled with get rich quick schemes and tips on how to make a million in your first week, however this couldn’t be further from reality. In fact, the author focuses with great importance on incremental change and simplicity. This one portion of the book alone has been invaluable for me.

I have a bad habit of covering my noticeboard and planner in a lot of different goals. Instead, I now have one simple goal set and marked clearly. I’ve found myself more focused and intentional as a result. My brain isn’t jumping from one to the other and therefore neither are my actions.

Mindset is also a key factor in Denise Duffield-Thomas’ book, but not in the outlandish way that many books use it. Denise spends many of the pages focusing on money mindset and blocks. She takes a healthy approach to handling bad money memories and encourages you to deal with and clear them. Then you go on to explore and adapt your current money habits in order to move forward.

Most importantly she encourages you to become comfortable with the idea of money. Being rich doesn’t make you a bitch and it certainly doesn’t come from luck. It’s OK to want more. Having a lot of money will not make you a bad person. It opens up opportunities and gives you freedom.

A book that first appeared very over the top and aggressive to me actually turned out to be one of the most common sense pieces I’ve read in a long time. Get Rich Lucky Bitch isn’t about making your fortune at all. It is about becoming familiar with yourself and your behaviours and growing these gently over time in order to achieve the big life goals you have your heart set on, without fear of judgement.

You can find Get Rich, Lucky Bitch here. (This is an affiliate link. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to use it. Thank you!)

I absolutely encourage you to begin reading (or listening to audiobooks) as part of your debt free journey. Not only do you learn something as a result, but it also allows you some time to switch off from your debt and all the other goings on in life and just focus on the book in hand.

You can read my previous Finance Book of the Month post here.

Finance Book of the Month – get rich lucky bitch

Financial Book of the Month – The Slight Edge

November 19, 2018

Finance book of the month – The Slight Edge

This month, I’m sharing a book with you that is not specifically based on finance, however it has everything to do with each of our financial journeys. Let me explain.

The slight edge is not just the title of Jeff Olson’s book; it is an attitude to life. It encompasses the principle that small daily habits, both positive and negative, have a long lasting effect on our lives. Throughout his book, Jeff conveys the importance of having an understanding of these daily habits and the power they have in determining whether we are each on the road to success or failure.

As an example, consider eating habits. An individual can make the decision to eat healthy food or unhealthy food. If they make the choice to eat a healthy diet for one day, this may have no real impact on their weight or fitness. However, if they eat well every day for a year we all know that this will have a very positive impact on all aspects of their health.

By the same note, if an individual chooses to eat a very unhealthy selection of food one day they will see no instant impact. Eat an unhealthy diet every day for an entire year however and they will definitely witness it having a very negative impact on their health and wellness.

Daily Debt Habits

We can of course apply these same principles to debt. Say we decide one day, to pay £10 towards our debt. It feels like it has very little impact. What if we turned that into a positive daily habit and paid £10 towards our debt each day? We might not see much of a difference in our totals after a week or even a month. However, one year down the line our debt total will have been reduced by £3650. You don’t need me to tell you how incredible that would feel.

For the benefit of your debt journey, I think it is also healthy to recognise the negative daily habits which have led us to this moment in our lives. For myself, it was snap shot borrowing decisions and the “oh I can pay it off later” attitude which resulted in my debt total. Instead of looking to the future and the impact that those decisions would have, I put more emphasis on my need for money now, in that moment.

Maintaining Progress and Success

Whilst many of us are able to grasp the importance of positive daily habits at a basic level, it is the next point that Jeff makes that has really stuck with me and that I will be taking forward in my own financial journey once I become debt free. Jeff explains that in life the majority of us sit on a sort of rollercoaster of success and failure.

As we work towards a goal we adopt positive habits that we know will help us to get there. Using a budget, tracking spending and using the debt snowball are all great examples of this. Once we reach our goal we celebrate our achievement, as we should. Then, however, we fall out of practice. When we do this, we are at danger of going backwards and falling into negative habits once again. There is a key point here in our journeys where we need to remind ourselves of the incredible impact our positive habits have had on our lives, and keep practising them despite having already achieved our initial goal.

I could go on for many more paragraphs talking about The Slight Edge and it’s incredible message. I encourage you to read it, absorb every page and really take on board Jeff’s advice. You are entirely capable of reaching success. It just starts with one positive habit today.

You can find The Slight Edge here on Amazon. (This is an affiliate link. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to use it. Thank you!)

You can read my previous Finance Book of the Month post here.

Finance Book of the Month – The Meaningful Money Handbook

October 15, 2018

Finance book of the month – The Meaningful Money Handbook

Published just one month ago, the Meaningful Money Handbook by Pete Matthew is brand new to the finance book world but it is already being received very well. The main reason for this is Pete’s approach to talking about money. He discusses everything in basic terms, ensuring that everyone can understand and absorb the information that he is sharing.

The book follows a structure of three main topics: Spend less than you earn and clear debt, Insure against disaster, Build up your savings and invest wisely. The intention is that if you follow the advice on these three topics in the order that they are shared you will ensure a secure financial future for yourself and your family.

Pete lays out all of this knowledge that he has gained over his years in the financial industry, all the while ensuring that you are taking a sensible approach to handling your money and doing things in the right order. Whether you’re at the beginning of your money journey and starting from zero, or have achieved debt freedom and are ready to delve into the realms of investment and security, this book has something for you.

What I love about Pete’s approach is that he breaks each topic into manageable chunks and then writes about them in a way that makes you feel like you’re chatting to a friend about money. There are no textbook style breakdowns or over the top inspirational speeches that seem to pop up in nearly every book nowadays. You don’t feel like you’re being lectured. It’s just straightforward advice.

Spend less than you earn for example, is broken down into subheadings such as budget, spending less, getting out of debt and so on. It’s not complicated. It’s a simple common sense approach. Even better, there is no judgement conveyed in the book. You’re facing a mountain of debt? OK, let’s fix that. This is exactly the sort of writing that I need. A style that makes me feel supported and encouraged.

The book’s layout also allows you to dip in and out as you make progress with your finances. Often it can be overwhelming to take on so much information at once, especially if you have little to know understanding of healthy money habits. Instead, taking on one point at a time can be a more digestible approach. Then you can return to the next step as you adopt new habits and find yourself making progress based on Pete’s advice.

You can find The Meaningful Money Handbook here on Amazon. (This is an affiliate link. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to use it. Thank you!) Pete also has a podcast which I would definitely recommend, called the Meaningful Money Podcast.

You can read my previous Finance Book of the Month post here.

Finance Book of the Month – Money and Mindfulness: Living in Abundance

August 13, 2018

Finance book of the month – Money and Mindfulness: Living in Abundance

This week I would like to share a book that I first read around three years ago. I don’t believe that it is well known in the debt free community, however I think that it is incredibly relevant.

Lisa Messenger, the author, is the founder of the global brand the Collective and launched a magazine that has been sold in 37 countries. It is deemed an incredible success and has made an outstanding profit…and she funded it entirely from her own pocket. I should add that Lisa did not come from money, she just found her own way of doing things.

Lisa demonstrates that normal is not always best. After all debt is “normal”, and we all know how we feel about debt!

At the very beginning of her book Lisa challenges the taboo of talking about money, and this is what first drew me in. For those of us in debt, the thought of having an open discussion about it can make your knees shake. Following our debt free journey what then happens when we find that our financial health continues to grow? Perhaps we begin to do rather well with money and become what is considered “well-off”. Would we be OK talking about money then? Well of course not, that would be boasting.

Lisa explores this ridiculous attitude that the world has towards money and encourages us to think positively about it. It is OK to have it, it is OK to enjoy it and it is OK to want more! In one of the opening pages of the book she states “I love money, not because I dream of having a driveway full of fast cars and a closet full of designer outfits…but because the moment I stopped seeing money as the root of all evil and saw it as a fuel of fulfilment, everything changed for me.”

As a result of such a negative experience with money, many of us may struggle to come out of the debt cloud with a positive outlook towards the wealth that we may be about to build. Money and Mindfulness opened my eyes to having money as a positive thing. It also suggested that the goals we set for ourselves and our finances in the future are entirely achievable, whether that means having a comfortable amount in your bank account or earning millions. You don’t need loans from the bank or years of experience in business. What you need is a level head and a healthy attitude about success.

Currently, I see very little of my income go towards enjoyable spending and the concept seems so foreign. As we move towards becoming debt free, it is so important to become familiar with having money that does not disappear straight into a credit card payment or loan. The transition might be a tricky one for a lot of us, but this sort of preparation will be a big help!

You can find Money and Mindfulness: Living in Abundance here on Amazon. (This is an affiliate link. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to use it. Thank you!)

You can read my previous Finance Book of the Month post here.

Finance Book of the Month – The Total Money Makeover

July 16, 2018

As part of my journey towards becoming debt free, I am making it a priority to educate myself about money. I want to have a better understanding of handling finances, financial mindsets and many other useful topics. My favourite way of doing this is reading. This is a part of my journey that I’m particularly keen to share with you as I believe you could get a lot of value from it. Here is my finance book of the month.

Finance book of the month – The Total Money Makeover

This week I would like to begin by sharing a book I have mentioned many times before already. A lot of you may have already read this, especially if you are also on a debt free journey, but I want to share it none the less.

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey is what I would describe as the most effective and most sensible approach to debt payment. The book provides you with a straightforward method to handle your money. It is easy to read and to understand. When you are already in stressful situation, possibly even a full on panic about your finances, the last thing you need is the confusion of unfamiliar words and complicated guides.

Dave’s money makeover system is made up of several baby steps, set in a specific order, that help you handle and control your money. He begins with building your emergency fund. I spoke about this here earlier in the month. He then progresses through debt payment, further saving, preparing for retirement and so on.

The Total Money Makeover is not the sort of book you read once and forget about. You will find yourself referencing it again and again. It will be relevant even once you are in the habit of handling your money well. I have just read it for the third time myself. As the title suggests, Dave’s intention is not to help you find a quick fix for your money. The steps guide you into healthy money habits that you will keep for life.

You can find The Total Money Makeover here on Amazon. (This is an affiliate link. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to use it. Thank you!)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1595555277/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1595555277&linkCode=as2&tag=mydebtdiary-21&linkId=b5421f231e544a87201db271924def21

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

I absolutely encourage you to begin reading (or listening to audiobooks) as part of your debt free journey. Not only do you learn something as a result, but it also allows you some time to switch off from all the other goings on in life and just focus on the book in hand, literally.

Claire from The Money Freak reflects on her own experience of discovering Dave Ramsey and his method in her blog post here.