Review: Rich Girl, Broke Girl

I don’t know about you, but trying to think about finances and all that goes with it makes me feel pretty dumb. I’m good with money but investing and retirement savings and all that *waves arms* make my mind turn off. My hope going into reading Kelley Keehn’s book Rich Girl, Broke Girl was that it would give me some good tips to apply to my own finances - and I did learn a few things along the way.

Here’s the book’s description:

Do you want to know how to pay off that debt and start saving?
Ready to negotiate a salary raise or better benefits?
Do financial terms and options make your head spin?
Here’s the good news: we as women have more financial freedom and money now than ever before. Here’s the bad news: when it comes to money, many women become paralyzed by financial management and sometimes even defer big decisions to other people, much to their detriment.
What’s the solution? Financial empowerment.
In this handy guide, you will learn how to:
-Discuss money with your partner
-Determine realistic and attainable goals
-Negotiate for the salaries and benefits you deserve
-Splurge occasionally while still saving money
-Understand financial risks and make good investments
-Gain control of your financial destiny
With years of experience as a personal finance educator, bestselling author Kelley Keehn will give you the tools you need to keep and grow your wealth, even if you don’t have much to start from—yet. This unique book brings to life the most common financial conundrums women face, teaching you how to save, spend, invest, and plan for a strong financial future.

This book is written specifically for women, which I really liked. It’s still a pretty broad approach and not everything is going to be applicable to everyone but having it written with women in mind, by a woman, is so helpful. All women know there are certain things we have to deal with and stereotypes and beliefs about who can or should control finances is one of them. I’m lucky that I don’t have to deal with that in my own life but I know others do so I’m glad this kind of book exists.

As I said, this is a pretty broad approach to finances. There was a lot that did not apply to me at all. The sections I was most interested in had to do with investing and preparing for retirement even if it seems so far away (Adulting is no joke, yo). While I still don’t really know what I want to do with my savings, reading this book helped me understand a little bit more. Obviously, I know I need to talk to a financial advisor or planner or someone who’s not, you know, the Internet to figure out how best to sort out my life, now that I’m in a more stable job. But this book explained the basics yet again and it made a little bit more sense this time around.

I liked how Keehn laid out this book. Each chapter introduced someone (who didn’t really exist but was a composite of some of Keehn’s past clients) who was dealing with a particular financial issue. Keehn laid out the issue, what the person was doing wrong, and how it could be fixed. Any jargon was broken down and explained with lots of helpful information along the way. And lest you feel stressed that you’re in the same situation as this fictional person, Keehn also lets us know how they were doing after they got themselves out of the financial pickle. This all helped the book from becoming too dry and it allows the reader to really feel connected with the tips and see how they could be applied to their own life.

Rich Girl, Broke Girl is a great book to check out if you’re still new to figuring out your finances or even if you’ve been managing your money for years and think you could be doing better (I’m a mix of the two, personally). Kelly Keehn has written an interesting and helpful book for anyone who wants to get on track and prepare their finances so their future selves are in good shape.

*An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*