Financial Feminist

i ended up skimming a lot of this after reading the first couple chapters and realizing it wouldn't be anything groundbreaking. there are a handful of things i found helpful, but this was largely a regurgitation of most of the financial advice already out there.

if you don't already understand feminism 101 and/or if this is your first finance book, you may learn something new. otherwise, this is just a run of the mill financial advice book tied in white cishet feminism. while the book acknowledges intersectionality, those sections are more about facts than about how those who are marginalized may need to navigate finance differently.

the self promotion gave me a bit of an ick too. i understand authors promoting their own work, but it felt disingenuous for her to dissuade readers from using professional investing help while suggesting her own course as an alternative.

Painfully bad. The actual financial advice is incredibly basic and the rest blames men for keeping women from being empowered by their money 🤪 because men don't ever struggle with money, obviously. 

If you're looking for a finance book, this isn't it. If you're looking for someone to blame for all your money problems, you're going to love this. 

I also cannot get on board with taking money advice from someone who never actually struggled with money. 

These money books are all kind of the same - lots of exercises you're supposed to do throughout (I don't lol), stories from other finance experts or people who have followed their methods, and lots of you messages. What makes Tori's story a little different are 1) her thoughts on balancing debt repayments with saving for retirement and 2) her focus on intersectional feminism. Her methods are not going to going to fix poverty, but her advice is helpful for someone who doesn't want to be shamed for being in debt - who wants to use their money to promote social causes - who want to feel good about their spending. I give it four stars only because I found it a bit hard to read all the way through.

This book is so helpful and has so many great (non outdated -cough Dave Ramsey cough-) tips. I just struggle with what to do when you are behind and are needing to get out a hole first because of illness or life kicking you when you're down and sadly this book didn't help me there but I do know what to do after that. Definitely recommend. Read this ASAP!