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15 years ago, I was 19, working as a minimum wage receptionist and taking community college classes online. Living in San Diego was expensive, so I was broker than broke (despite living in a crappy apartment with an alley view!).
I couldn’t go to the grocery store without checking my bank account balance first. I lived in constant fear that something would go wrong (like I’d get a flat tire or my computer would crash, or I’d need a cavity filled), and I wouldn’t have the money to cover it. Does any of this sound familiar?
Then my mom gave me a money book that changed my life forever.
Cut to Today…
Not to brag, but I’m kinda livin the dream!
I’m living abroad, working as a freelance writer with complete control over my projects and my time. And I’m able to travel, which is my true passion! In the past year alone, I’ve been able to visit Venice, Milan, Paris, Luxembourg, and Greece. Plus I can afford trips back home to see my family in Illinois.
I have a house in LA and a house in San Diego, both rented to reliable tenants who are basically paying down my mortgages and putting a little extra money in my pocket each month.
I have an M.B.A. in Management and Strategy, which is helpful for running my business projects and for attracting new clients in the business world.
My retirement account is on autopilot, growing every month with zero effort on my part. And I have a secure emergency fund, ready to cover my tush whenever something goes sideways.
I feel like I sound obnoxiously smug. Sorry. I just want you to know how much my life has changed in the last 15 years!
And it’s all thanks to this $15 book!
Ok, So What is this Magic Money Book?
Drum roll, please…
The money book that changed my life forever is Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach.
And, guess what! An expanded and updated version has just been published! So you’ll learn everything I learned, but in a more modern context with more current examples and methods.
Lessons from Smart Women Finish Rich
Now, I obviously can’t walk you through the whole book in a single blog post. But I can tell you about the top 5 lessons I learned from Smart Women Finish Rich.
If you take these lessons to heart, and then take action, your life will change forever like mine did.
Lesson #1. It all starts with an emergency savings account
The first step in fixing your finances for good is to build an emergency savings account.
Little emergencies pop up all the time. Your car breaks down, you slip and break your arm, or you lose your job without warning. These emergencies totally derail your financial plans!
Unless you’re prepared for them.
If you have an emergency savings account with 3 months’ worth of living expenses saved up, you’ll be prepared for these routine emergencies. You won’t have to put your new transmission on your credit card or borrow money from family to pay a doctor’s bill.
Knowing you have money ready and waiting to cover your financial emergencies makes life a lot less stressful!
Lesson #2. Be smart about debt
Here’s what it looks like to be in control of your debt:
- NEVER have to pay interest on a credit card. You should pay your credit card bill in full every month. Or finance big purchases with a 0% APY card, which you pay off before the 0% deal expires.
- Throw some extra money at medium-interest debts (like car loans and student loans) so you save yourself a fortune in interest over the term of the loan.
- Make friends with smart debt. As much as I adore financial guru Dave Ramsey, I disagree with his position that you have to be debt-free. Debt can be super useful! In fact, I’m over $800,000 in debt right now. And I’m totally fine with it.
If you have credit card debt, pay that off asap! Then turn your focus to those medium-interest debts.
By the way, we highly recommend (and personally use!) David Bach’s “debt snowball” method of paying off debt. At Savings and Sangria, we call it “The Champagne Waterfall” method 😉 You can read our post to find out how this method can save the average American family $38,600. But, as much as we love our post about it, you may want to read about it directly in Smart Women Finish Rich. The book just gives so much more detail than we can squeeze into a blog post.
Oh, one last thing…part of being smart about debt is being smart about credit. I wrote a post a while back about how good credit can save you over $90,000. Spend a few minutes on that post. Your future self will thank you.
Lesson #3. Don’t wait to start saving for the long-term
You need to start saving for retirement today.
Oh, you’re only 21 years old?
I don’t care. Start saving for retirement today.
See, there’s this magical financial thing called compound interest. But it takes time to work. The more time you give it, the more magical it becomes.
The nutshell explanation: Compound interest means your money makes its own money, and that new money then makes its own money. So you make money on the money your money is making.
You can read all about it in The $831,751 Reason to Save for Retirement While You’re Young and Broke. My source material for that post is…you guessed it…Smart Women Finish Rich. David Bach opened my eyes to this concept, and now I want to shout it from the rooftops!
Lesson #4. The secret to fool-proofing your savings plan
Ok, your financial plans are worthless if they rely on your willpower to save. Because we’re only human. We get sidetracked by shiny things. And we sometimes just plain forget to move money to our savings accounts.
There is a way to fool-proof your saving plan so you literally can’t mess it up. The secret is in automation.
It’s so simple. Set it and forget it, simple! All you need to do is set up automatic transfers. Have your bank automatically transfer a percentage of every paycheck to your savings accounts. That’s it.
You’ll never forget to save. You’ll never spend the part of your paycheck you wanted to save on a whim. The money will be taken from your checking and moved to a savings or investment account that you can basically ignore.
Without any time, effort, or even thought, you’ll be saving money, and cashing in on that compound interest!
Lesson #5. You’ve got to earn!
Seriously, there’s only so many expenses you can cut to save money. At some point, it just makes more sense to make more money! And there are so many ways to make more money.
First, ask for a raise. Women, in general, are hesitant to ask for more money long after we’ve proven we’re worth it. If we’re gonna close this pay gap, we need everyone to get used to us asking for a fair wage. So get out there and ask.
And if that’s not enough, we live in the age of side hustles! Your options are limitless. Here are a few posts to help you start making some money on the side:
- High-paying ways to make extra cash
- Top 10 passive income ideas
- 25+ ways to make $100 this weekend
- Side hustle your way to an extra $500 every month
- 20+ weird ways to make money in your spare time
Grab Your Own Copy of this Life-Changing Money Book
Do you want to turn $15 bucks into a brand new life? Then go get your copy of Smart Women Finish Rich asap. Like right now. If you wait to take action, you’ll get caught up with life’s other little chores and concerns, and you’ll forget all about it. So do it now while you’re thinking about it and dreaming of the life this little money book can bring you!
Bonus points if you comment or contact us after you read it to tell us what you thought of it and how it’s gonna change things for you 🙂
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