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A review by poppyfitzclark
The Financial Diet by Lauren Ver Hage, Chelsea Fagan
2.0
Parts of this book were actually helpful to me, as someone who isn’t super knowledgeable about finances. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I had no idea how building credit works and how I could possibly improve my credit score. I didn’t really have a good idea of how much I should have in my emergency savings account. That info was good and helpful for me.
Some advice was just inaccessible. I can’t pay my bills, pay towards my credit card debt, have an emergency fund that contains 3 months of expenses, AND have 1000$ in my checking account after paying bills each month because my income literally doesn’t allow it.
Some advice was like a joke for someone with my income. Stuff like “learn how to cook at home instead of ordering takeout” or “learn how to fix up second hand furniture” is just a no-brainer when you’re not able to throw money around and pay your bills.
It became incredibly clear that the advice in this book is for people who earn more than I do.
This book has “girl boss” written all over it. Between references to Sex & The City characters, referring to bosses only with she/her pronouns, and the outfit investment tips (theoretically helpful but written in a way that was almost condescending and very very basic like “buy a good bag”) it was hard not to roll your eyes.
The underlying thesis of the book that financial freedom is empowering to women is....sort of true on an individual level but not the be all end all empowering feminist feat it seems to be labeled as here.
Some advice was just inaccessible. I can’t pay my bills, pay towards my credit card debt, have an emergency fund that contains 3 months of expenses, AND have 1000$ in my checking account after paying bills each month because my income literally doesn’t allow it.
Some advice was like a joke for someone with my income. Stuff like “learn how to cook at home instead of ordering takeout” or “learn how to fix up second hand furniture” is just a no-brainer when you’re not able to throw money around and pay your bills.
It became incredibly clear that the advice in this book is for people who earn more than I do.
This book has “girl boss” written all over it. Between references to Sex & The City characters, referring to bosses only with she/her pronouns, and the outfit investment tips (theoretically helpful but written in a way that was almost condescending and very very basic like “buy a good bag”) it was hard not to roll your eyes.
The underlying thesis of the book that financial freedom is empowering to women is....sort of true on an individual level but not the be all end all empowering feminist feat it seems to be labeled as here.