A review by aquietglow
The Financial Diet by Chelsea Fagan, Lauren Ver Hage
3.0
I'm not sure I can write a fair review.
Money's emotional, it's tied to security and so many other things... I had to really quickly skim the second half of it because it spun me into a panic attack. I actually talked about it with my therapist. It makes me feel like being depressed in my early twenties ruined everything and there's so much I need to consider and work on, it feels overwhelming and impossible. And that's not the book/author's fault!
That being said, I absolutely already recommended it to my younger sister. There were things here and there I found helpful. I think the blog might be helpful for researching more specific questions as they come up. I would be more interested in learning how to decide how to invest, how to find good advisers, balancing saving vs. investing vs. paying off debt, figuring out how to set up a retirement account, what you can do if you're working part time, etc. I spend money on gas and every couple months I splurge on books. There is not that much to cut back on (please let me have some joy and dreams), and how many side hustles can you take on and not totally drain yourself? I'm mostly frustrated.
Another reviewer pointed out it's more of a lifestyle book rather than a financial book, and that might be true! Maybe part of the issue is the lifestyle I'm trying to build doesn't match what they detail? Like... my family is not financially stable, I can't lean on my parents very much, I'm not an executive and don't plan to be. I'm a fat person, I don't need you guys to tell me what clothes to buy? I'm going to look into some of the books other reviewers have listed.
Money's emotional, it's tied to security and so many other things... I had to really quickly skim the second half of it because it spun me into a panic attack. I actually talked about it with my therapist. It makes me feel like being depressed in my early twenties ruined everything and there's so much I need to consider and work on, it feels overwhelming and impossible. And that's not the book/author's fault!
That being said, I absolutely already recommended it to my younger sister. There were things here and there I found helpful. I think the blog might be helpful for researching more specific questions as they come up. I would be more interested in learning how to decide how to invest, how to find good advisers, balancing saving vs. investing vs. paying off debt, figuring out how to set up a retirement account, what you can do if you're working part time, etc. I spend money on gas and every couple months I splurge on books. There is not that much to cut back on (please let me have some joy and dreams), and how many side hustles can you take on and not totally drain yourself? I'm mostly frustrated.
Another reviewer pointed out it's more of a lifestyle book rather than a financial book, and that might be true! Maybe part of the issue is the lifestyle I'm trying to build doesn't match what they detail? Like... my family is not financially stable, I can't lean on my parents very much, I'm not an executive and don't plan to be. I'm a fat person, I don't need you guys to tell me what clothes to buy? I'm going to look into some of the books other reviewers have listed.