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31-year-old Nancy Trejos was supposed to be an expert on handling her money - after all, she's the personal finance columnist for one of the nation's leading newspapers, The Washington Post. But a few months ago, she found herself in her own dire financial straits. Faced with a mountain of bills, debt, and no way to pay her rent, she was forced to call her parents to ask them for a loan. That night was a wake-up call - she vowed to get herself out of debt and into financial solvency. In Hot Broke Messes, Trejos takes readers along with her on her journey. She meets with a financial planner and a therapist to deal with all the issues young people face today - from credit card debt and student loans, to impulse buying and emotional spending, to the cost of having a social life, to buying a house with someone during a potentially impermanent relationship and more. Trejos learns what causes these problems in herself, how she can fix them, and how she can pass that advice on to other young people going through the same experiences. Even better, she shows readers how they can address these problems without completely giving up their lives - no "give up your latte a day" type advice here! Trejos' personal and unique voice, along with her experiences that everyone can relate to, will lead readers to relatively painless financial security.
Reviews with the most likes.
I actually read a ton of personal finance books, but I skim them so I never log them on here. This one is different. I read it cover to cover (in one sitting last night). It reads like a memoir, so I was super interested. Trejos and I have some things in common (student loans, car payment, etc) and I could have skipped the credit card debt portion, but I hung in there because I actually wanted to hear how she handled it. This is a clearly explained book that I found to be fun to read and I learned some stuff I did not know.
That said, I wanted to smack her by the end for 1. mooching food off her friends instead of learning to prepare meals at home and 2.bitching about her weight and paying for cabs. So what seems obvious to one person, can be missed by another.
I think millennials and my generation need to read more books like this because many of us were set up to fail financially.