Deeper Than Money: Ditch Money Shame, Build Wealth, and Feel Confidential AF

Elise, CEO of the financial literacy company Deeper Than Money, debuts with an informative primer aimed at young women on how to save for the future and accumulate wealth. To get started, the author recommends setting up a checking account with a linked debit card and putting enough money to cover a month of expenses in a high-yield savings account. She details how to come up with a budget, suggesting readers conduct an audit of how they use their money each month and adjust expenses to accord with their goals. Tips for freeing up money include canceling infrequently used subscriptions and renegotiating the interest rate on credit card debt. Elise emphasizes focusing one’s spending on what one cares about rather than cutting expenses across the board, describing how she helped a client renegotiate her rent so that she could afford to continue frequenting “coffee shops to work and get into a creative headspace.” The straightforward discussions of financial matters (Elise explains the purpose of credit scores with an imagined anecdote about lending money to an unreliable friend who doesn’t pay back promptly) and chatty prose (“Ya just gotta get this one done,” she writes about completing a self-audit) are ideal for readers intimidated by more technical finance fare. The result is a solid introduction to how young people can start saving. (Aug.)