Financial Feminist - Tori Dunlap
‘‘When you have all you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence’’
How I discovered it
Instagram. It was at the very beginning of my financial freedom jounrey where I was saving every single penny possible. I came across a few of her videos on Instagram and I simply got curious because her videos was rebeilous. She would say things like ‘‘You can save and buy that avocado toast’’ for which I always felt guilty. There must be a way to save more money and not restrict myself so much. And just when I was thinking about that, a video of Tori explaining investing came up and I was sold. I bought the book.
Who should read it ?
It’s an eye opening book, I think it’s for everyone. Although it’s called The Financial Feminist and the book is dedicated to women, I strognly encourage men to read it too. Did you know that men are bigger spenders than women? I would have never guessed, but stats don’t lie. If you decided to start the jounney of financial freedom then this book is for you.
Summary and impact on me
This was the first financial book I’ve ever read and so far had the biggest impact. I wonder if there is a book that will influence me more than this one.
Anyway Tori covers a vast selection of topics, look below for a summary of each chapter:
Chapter 1: The emotions of money
In the first chapter the author talks about all the emotions that are being surrounded around money, and the first one and the stringest one is shame. We are expected to be financially mature and spend consciously, but the money education lacks from everywhere.
We are taught that talking about money is impolite, while it is actually a necessary discussion that we should have.
In majority of the times the internet is like a water fall of bad financial advice, no surprise that we are feeling ashamed when we spend, especially as womens.
Chapter 2: Spending
Did you know that financial articles dedicated to women talk about ‘‘You should not buy that 5th pair of jeans, it is not necessary’’, ‘‘Great manichure can be done at home, here are the top 5 cheap essentials you need’’, while the financial articles dedicated to men talk about investing. This was certainly eye opening for me. But the most shocking part from this chapter was that men are bigger spenders than women and they spend more money on unecessary items than women.
The most important type of spending is the conscious spending, which means that we get to spend guilt free only on things that bring us value.
Chapter 3: The financial game plan
Get your priorities in place! If you have debt Tori’s best advice is to make a list of everying that has to be paid off and sor it by priority. Then from the remaining budget you have to take a % and save it for the emergency fund. What I really loved is that even with debt, she strongly advices on an emergency fund, and for a personal treat time to time. This is called balance and with her strategies money anxiety is gone.
Chapter 4: Debt
You can have fun and save even if you have debt. Of course this has to stay at the top of your mind, but it should never limit you to life a guiltly life whenever you spend.
Chapter 5: Investing
Tori makes investing easy, in fact investing is easy. She talks about shares and bonds (which sound so complicated but it is so easy), keeping money in saving accounts which offer high interest and buying ready made investing portofolios. It is as easy as it sounds. At the end of the book she even provides an investing glossary to clear up all the complicated terms.
Chapter 6: Earning
Salary negociations and job swaps. It is so important to learn how to nogociate on salaries, something which again we are never taught. Just by negociating our salary we are takeing the first stem towards financial freedom. She gives great examples of women who followed her techinuqest and won the salary negociations.
Chapter 7: Living a financial feminist lifestyle
Living a financial feminist lifestyle is about guilt free spending on things that bring us value. Money do bring happiness, it is great to know that we don’t have to stress for the day of tomorrow, ‘‘what will I do’’. Living a financially free life is about not giving any sort of explanation to anyone on whatever we spend, as long as we get the priorites in the right order we are free to spend on whatever we want.
How the book changed me
I used to save every penny of my salary and spend money only on whatever was a necessity. Long before I purchased this book I made a financial spreadsheet where I tracked every single spending and yet it never crossed my mind that I should evaluate the value that each purchase brought me. I realised that I am spending money on things that I don’t value that much and I immediately changed that. The worse part was that I was feeling so much guilt with every purchase I made. I bought once a couple of plants of £15 (I really love plants) and felt so guilty because ‘‘ I aleady have so many plants’’ that I almost made myself sick. Thanks to Tori I finally have a no guilt budget and I spend on things that bring me value. I can proudly say that I don’t even remember last time when I spent on something that I didn’t value.
Conclusion
If this review didn’t convince you to get this book then I don’t know what else it will!
A healthy way of living and saving!
