Happy March Reader!

Today, I want to share with you a book by Scarlett Cochran from One Big Happy Life. Now, I've read A LOT of personal finance books and many of the books out there have a very specific formula with straightforward advice on what to do with your money. This book is a bit different.

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"It's Not About The Money" is a personal finance book, but I found it to be more than that. It's a book that helps you understand what the role of money should be in your life. Yes, money pays the bills, money buys food, and money supports amazing adventures with your loved ones, however, many of us still have negative money stories that prevent us from using money in a way that helps us build the kind of life that we want. So in this book Scarlett Cochran dismantles many of our money stories and provides a new framework for those stories. Stories relating to past bad money decisions, debt, wanting nice things, not making enough, thinking it's too late to save, and being bad with numbers. If you have money stories that you've believed as fact, this may be the book to help change those stories.

Toward the end, she covers how to expand your money knowledge. I appreciate that she pushes her readers to be lifelong learners of money. Money is continuously evolving and it's vital to understand the history of our current money system and how it's changing so that we have the skills and confidence to navigate all of the financial decisions that come over time.

(Side note: In the last newsletter, we covered how The Fed's interest rate hike will affect your finances. This is one of those evolving economic conditions that many of us should know and understand so that we can make smart money moves today.)

Cochran is an attorney, financial expert, and entrepreneur with stints at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (where she worked on fair lending and equity issues) so you will see her provide advice that considers the entire monetary and economic system because even though personal finance is personal, the systems in place have a significant impact on how we view, manage, and talk about money.

There are many practical exercises throughout the book. At the end of the book is where you will find most of the tactical action items when it comes to your money. There's an exercise called the "One Year Spending Plan" to help you map out your plan for your money. Doing this exercise can be eye-opening because it helps you see where the majority of your money is going.

I'd recommend picking up a copy of the book or requesting it from your local library. Thank you to Avery Books for sending me a copy.

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