Financial Feminist | Book Review
I’ve listened to and read A LOT of finance books in the last couple of years. I tend to gravitate towards female authors (because eff the patriarchy), and because honestly they have the best advice that I’ve been able to apply to my own life.
I’ve been following Tori Dunlap of “Her First 100K” for a while, so when her new book popped up on my Audible suggestions list, I HAD to get it.
She is US based, and sometimes American based finance advice doesn’t always apply to me, in Canada- but she did not offer any advice that I wouldn’t be able to apply to my life here.
Here are some reasons I LOVED this book:
The financial priority list
Tori talks a lot about how budgeting is not an all or nothing thing. She believes in treating yourself, getting Starbucks once in a while, and not depriving yourself of fun wants in life. She came up with the Financial Priority List to help with saving money and paying off debt. It’s 5 points to follow in this order:
1 | Build an emergency fund with at least 3 months of living expenses
2 | Contribute to your 401K / RRSP
3 | Pay down high interest debt
4 | Save for retirement and pay off lower interest debts
5 | Save for the big life stuff (vacations, new car, etc)
Unlike the Dave Ramsey method, Tori believes that we need more than $1000 in our emergency fund, because we need to be prepared to be without an income for a few months if needed. It also gives us the flexibility to leave bad job situations and search for something else, if we know the money is there to cover basic necessities.
The 3 Bucket Budget
Tori has broken down your possible spending categories into 3 buckets:
Bucket # 1 | Bare Necessities: This is everything you need to live, and can not cut out, such as rent, groceries, utilities, etc.
Bucket # 2 | Goals: This is building savings, paying debt, saving for big life goals like buying a house, etc.
Bucket # 3 | Fun Stuff: This is your spending money.
The amounts that you contribute to each bucket will be different for everyone. She also suggests prioritizing what you spend your fun money on, based on what you REALLY want. Come up with 3 value categories that are important to you- for example they could be travel, eating dinner at fancy restaurants, and buying plants. (those aren’t mine, just an example, although plants would rank high on the list.)
Once you have your 3 value categories, try and lower any spending you’re doing on things that don’t mean as much to you. If you collect Rae Dunn and realize that you’d rather have travel money than a house full of dishes, maybe start putting that Dunn money into a travel fund instead.
Overall Thoughts
I really enjoyed this book and would encourage anyone looking to figure out budgeting and getting out of debt to read it. I really love Tori’s information about gender inequality in the work place, and advice specifically for women on how to grow wealth.