She’s on the Money
By Victoria Devine
There are some really great books out there about money mindset and it’s probably one of the hottest topics on self-help shelves and in the world of personal development right now. I think so many of us were raised with either poor examples of money beliefs and money management, or we witnessed very mixed and confusing behaviour in the financial activities of our families, or we’ve been unhelpfully influenced by various people and experiences over our lifetime so far. Or all of the above! Having helpful and healthy perspectives and beliefs about money is fundamental to an abundant life.
What also helps of course is to know what to do at a practical level. I’m quite sure at some point in my schooling we learnt a bit about personal finances. I certainly recall something about budgeting in one of my economics classes, but it has always mystified me why good money management wasn’t taught all the way through our school curriculum. Anyway, I won’t get on my high horse about that but what I will say is that there are also some great books about how to actually manage your money. That might mean practical processes to have in place to support your savings goals, how to plan for the future, or how to think about growing your money or keeping it safe. One of those books I bumped into while at a friend’s place a few months ago is She’s on the Money. Written by now-famous podcaster, financial expert and author, Victoria Devine it’s a great read for anyone wanting to get started with good financial planning, overhaul their financial position or fine-tune it.
Victoria Devine makes talking about money (and being responsible and powerful with it) a pleasure.
This easy-reading, practical and wise book covers anything you can imagine related to managing and growing your own money. The chapters and topics include all the usual suspects including fresh and current perspectives like ‘financial freedom is the new retirement’. Here’s a preview:
– Cashflow
– Banking 101
– Debt
– Taxes
– Superannuation
– Insurances
– Property and home loans
– Side hustles
– Relationships
– Family planning
– Estate planning and more.
Just the chapter on Save Sister Save alone is worth picking up the book for. If you still don’t quite have the practical side of your savings goals in place and keep thinking about it more than actually making it happen, this chapter provides a really useful structure for setting that up. Once you’ve mapped out what you want your accounts to look like and where you want money to go it’s literally, perhaps an hours’ job, to make any adjustments to your current bank accounts, add the odd additional online account and bingo – you’re already on your way to making your goals actually happen.
The book comes with a range of tools including a twelve-month planner and a journal template.
“Honest, relatable, non-judgemental and motivating, Victoria is a financial adviser who knows what millennial life is really like and where we can get stuck with money stuff.”
Whilst it’s written by an Australian for an Australian millennial audience, I would say over 90% of the advice applies to anyone anywhere and certainly here in New Zealand. A bit like Denise Duffield-Thomas’s Get Rich Lucky Bitch, anyone can pick it up and get lots of great advice from it. If you’re pretty financially savvy already and feel like you have most things in hand, it would be a good book to skim to refresh yourself on a few salient points, and potentially pick up the odd new tip.
The information is really current and very relevant to the way we live today, how our digital lives work and the sorts of goals many people have such as buying a home, investing in shares and having good insurance in place.
Devine shares many client case studies throughout the book so there is a load of inspiration of what others are doing or have achieved, and examples of how the strategies she recommends actually play out in life.
A great read at any time of the year of course, but a good one to start the year with if you want to front-foot your finances and money goals. Here’s the book (Kindle and Audible versions available too) and catch her podcast here.
Karen x