Book Review: The Financial Feminist

Tori Dunlap's book Financial Feminist is an absolute must-read for women who want to take control

of their financial future. Although her intended audience is Young Millennial/GenZ, her advice is solidly for women of all ages. It’s a New York TImes Bestseller for multiple reasons. Dunlap, a certified financial planner, debunks the myth that personal finance and planning for a better future is only for men. She provides clear, concise advice that is easy to understand and implement, even if you feel like you have no resources. (Plus if you listen to her podcast @ www.Herfirst100K.com, you get the added joy of hearing her take shots at David Ramsey and other members of the patriarchy. She also has a new series within her podcast - called Financial Foundations).

Okay, back to the book review. The book itself has themes running through each chapter, lots of stories and guest speakers. Throughout the book, Dunlap challenges the traditional male-dominated view of money - and illuminates how pervasive these beliefs are - and encourages women to think about their finances in a more empowered and equitable way.

• There’s an Assessment: what are the challenges and obstacles that you face in your search for stability and wealth

• Next an Action Plan: step-by-step instructions on how to get to the root of how we think about money and then create a budget, pay off debt, save for retirement, and invest.

• The Toolkit: This section includes worksheets, templates, and resources to take action on your financial goals.

Financial Feminist is empowering. Dunlap's writing is clear, clever and engaging, and her advice is practical and actionable. This is really important: these are things that you can do in 5 minutes, there are things that could take 30 minutes. All of them are intended to move you forward. The book is full of helpful tips and resources, and, while not every piece of advice will be personally relatable or you may have already set some of it into motion, a lot of the advice will be useful

in your quest to meet your financial goals.

So why am I, a Lab Person in the Cellular Therapy field, recommending this book to you? I’m not a financial guru, obviously, but I do strongly believe that you need to be well-rounded in your life skills. It’s another form of self-care, just like

. Future us will be happy about the care we are taking now. Tori’s advice focuses on reducing stress around money issues and being honest with ourselves and our partners. If your financial life is low stress and a little bit on auto-pilot, then you can have laser focus on the things in your life that are important - whether that is Career/Job Management or your kids or your parents or your hobbies that make life bearable. If you’re too stressed about your finances it makes it really hard to see your goals, let alone reach them. Here are some of the things that I specifically like about the book and Tori’s approach:

• Tori is adamant about prioritizing mental health and reducing stress.

• The book covers all of the basics of your personal finance, from budgeting to investing and provides a solid foundation for your life.

• You can start at any time.

• She does a great job of explaining complex financial concepts in a way that is easy to understand (listen to her podcast for even more financial literacy beyond the basics in the book).

• She isn’t interested in judging you and your lack of knowledge - she genuinely wants you to succeed.

• The book is packed with helpful tips and resources, including worksheets, templates, and online courses - and you know I love templates and worksheets. Nothing beats writing it down and sorting it out. The act of writing is actively helping you to illuminate your beliefs and set change into motion.

• Tori encourages women to take control of their financial future rather than just drifting along in the current pulling us into the future.

tl;dr… I think Financial Feminist is a great book - empowering and actionable - and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about personal finance and take control of their financial future.