Book Review & Giveaway: Get Financially Naked: How to Talk Money With Your Honey

“Happily Ever After IS NOT A FINANCIAL PLAN” Love it!

When I recieved a copy of, Get Financially Naked: How to Talk Money with Your Honey, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. My honey and I talk alot about our finances and where we are going with them. So, I didn’t think I was going to stumble on pertinent information that would pertain to us. But was I wrong!

We all hear money is one of those subjects in a relationship that can cause marital/relationship conflicts; potentially leading to divorce or seperation. But after reading this book, you realize that it doesn’t need to be that way.

Break the silence! Thakor and Kedar help women avoid the kind of financial stress that destroys relationships and to get them to own their financial future. Get Financially Naked: How to Talk Money With Your Honey is a guide for stripping the layers to find the naked truth in a committed, long-term relationship.

Here are points I really enjoyed from the book

-”Five Power Steps to Financial Success” - If you get these five steps right, you’ll be well on your way to financial nirvana.

-”When you learn the basics of personal finance and have your financial house in order, you can make major life decisions from a position of strength.”

-One woman expresses what “Financial Empowerment Means to Me” – “Financial Empowerment means choices, freedom, independence. Choices in how I provide for myself and those I love and give to my community. Freedom to be in charge of my life. Independence to pursue my dreams.”

-Home Buying Rules of the Thumb - “Build up a 20 percent down payment…”If the price of your home goes down and it comes time to sell, “you’ll really want that 20 percent cushion so you don’t end up owing the bank more than you get for the sale of your home”. <==Great point!

-The magic $100 bill and the power of compounding <== need to implement with my kids!

-Strive to save 15 percent of your before-tax income - 5 percent towards your emergency fund and big-ticket items combines. Ten percent will go toward your retirement savings. Nice breakdown.

-Eliminating Credit Carditis (love the term) and the Rules of Thumbs for paying off credit card debt.

-How to Invest your money: Keep-It-Simple <==love this portion of the book.

-And the Q & A for particular situations.

Conclusion

I learned a lot from this book. The books speaks to women in many different financial situations. It helps that Thakor and Kedar mix there own examples and how they apply to this book; especially because I share similar situations with Thakor’s life.

When we are swept up in the arms of a true love we are more likely to share out intimate desires than our credit rating. Get Financially Naked: How to Talk Money with Your Honey, by Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar, offers the answer on how to speak to your husband/finace/boyfriend about money. They show readers how to address this critically important subject, take financial responsibility and keep the love alive.

To Win a Copy of this Book

One copy of this book is up for a giveaway. Leave a comment, by Sunday, February 21st 8pm PST, telling me: What does Financial Empowerment Mean to You?

The winner will be chosen by random picking.

If you enjoyed this post, please re-tweet.

• Want to see what happens when you DON’T speak about money with your honey? Check out my Financial Foul-up at My Next Buck.

Crystal is the Winner. Please contact me so that I may have the publisher send you your copy! Congratulations!

The 4-Hour Workweek Book Review

BOOK: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9 – 5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated)

AUTHOR: Timothy Ferriss (@tferriss)

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

When I bought my copy of “The 4-Hour Workweek”, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from author Timothy Ferriss. But what I got was completely different than what I thought.

Tim’s no-nonsense approach to crafting a 4-hour workweek made me feel like he is nonapproachable and egotistical S-O-B. And so everyone that follows will be the same.

What made me come to this conclusion about Tim? It’s about automating your emails, being direct and to the point with the associates around you whether on the phone or in your emails, and hiring virtual assistants do everything for you. Tim, do you hire someone to ______ and _______ (fill in the blanks)?

Being a DEALmaker

The book talks about reformating your lifestyle to those of the New Rich by using the acronym D-E-A-L. He states, “the steps and strategies can be used with incredible results”.

They are:
D for Definition: Define the rules and objectives for living like the New Rich.
E is for Elimination: Eliminating the destractions that kill your ability to be effective. Using Pareto’s Law or the 80/20 Rule.
A is for Automation:: Automate, outsource, and arbitrage. Hiring those to do everything for you.
L is for Liberate: Testing the waters by taking mini-retirements.

Of course, Tim backs up his method by showing off his accomplishments as the First American in history to hold a Guinness World Record in tango, being an MTV breakdancer in Taiwan, to being a National Chinese kickboxing champion. He throws in how he speaks like 6 languages (somewhere along that number). Yes Tim, we know you are the know-it-all guru.

Despite the egotistical notions

You are a love-hate relationship. I comment on your blog knowing I will never receive a response back. I would never send you an email or call you because it would either be answered by a VA or you would offer a military, direct response as to what I want.

Yet, I find myself becoming a #4HWW groupie. I went to work putting myself on a low-information diet and acheived more work in one day then I have for previous weeks. I’ve learned to delegate my lower priority tasks to my coworkers, thus freeing up my time to work on higher items on the agenda. This also in turns, have made my coworkers feel more important and responsive to the needs of our team.

I come home to do the same and find more time to play with my children, talk with my husband, crochet a baby blanket and read a book. My TV has been off for two days straight. I love it!

Now I am considering outsourcing the housework, lawn maintenance and perhaps batch cooking family meals for the week. Crazy I know. But I will explain why in a future post.

Conclusion

Even if I didn’t want to travel the world nomadically or completely put my life an automatic… Even if I want to stay an employee or become an entrepreneur…

Tim’s tactics/reasoning for achieving more freedom, WORK.

I love focusing just only the important jobs at work, I love spending time with my family, having more time for myself and my hobbies. It’s great! And it is creating a synergistic postive effect with my family and coworkers.

It’s refocusing your life around your drive, love and passion. It’s making time to spend with those you love – your friends and family.

He even has chapters for facing your fears and making the 4-hour workweek possible for anyone. I definitely need chapters like this, because my fear is what freezes me in taking the next step(s).

Since I am an employee, I am working on the acronym D-E-L-A. Liberating before automating. Going to see if I can virtualize my job 2 times a week by working from home. If that does not work, than I am looking into creating a small business that will work within Tim’s guidelines.

The book is a worthwhile read. I read it straight thru, once. Now I added flags to the front page of my book, because as I start reading it a 2nd time… it is time to mark all the pages I will needed to refer and re-refer to as I move along the steps.

Remember, Tim accomplished those pompous ass achievements because he is focused on the important aspects for living life to the fullest.

Take a reading to it – in my book its a win-win situation.

To read more about The 4-Hour Workweek or Tim Ferriss:

• Associated Content: Interview with Timothy Ferriss, author of the Bestselling The 4-Hour Workweek
• Get Rich Slowly: Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek
• Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist: 5 Time Management Tricks I Learned from Years of Hating Tim Ferriss
• MBA in the USA: Top 3 Things to Transform Your MBA Career, Tim Ferriss-style
• The Blog of Tim Ferriss

 

Tales of a Travelling Mum

I’ve had the wonderful pleasure of following Alice Griffin on her travels through her blog. Now she has written a book that is a great addition to her blog and am happy to read & review such a fun book.

Alice Griffin (http://www.alicegriffin.co.uk/index.html) is a delightful writer! I’ve had the pleasure of following Alice & her family in their travels through her blog Fanciful Alice (http://fancifulalice.blogspot.com/). This book is a great addition to her blog!

 

I love how Alice found love with a man who shares her independent spirit for travel and that they both took forth to travel as a family; they didn’t let the hodge podge of daily life keep them down.

When she notes that children do let you see the world with fresh eyes – it’s so true – I can relate as a mother. But, I can also relate to the qualms of being a mother – changing a diaper in an inconvenient spot, the high pitched screams in the face of company, and the need to keep little ones busy. It was a great laugh to revisit these issues in Alice’s book. So no matter whether you are in your home country or out and about traveling you will face the same situations as a mother of a young child. It’s just a matter of choice where you will be doing them. And all these issues lead to some great tips about travelling with baby through out the book.

What I love most about this book – Alice has a beautiful way with words – very descriptive: landscapes, wine, olives, purest blue skies, bliss, front of her apron cradling eggs. It is so descriptive that you almost feel like you are living within its pages. Especially when the family visits Almendra – oh how I want to visit this magical place. Well, without giving too much away…

This is a wonderful book! Especially if you want to be wisked away to beautiful places. A definite must read!

Memorial Day Weekend – Farm to Table

It’s Memorial Day Weekend here in the States. And you know what that mean…Beach & BBQ on the Grill with friends & Family!!!! *Woo Hoo* (And a 3-day weekend)

So, I am reading this great book called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.). It’s about a family that takes the challenge of moving to the farm for a year to eat local farm food and grow their own; the sustainable movement. They are brave people. But, what I really like about this book is when they started discussing how to throw a 100+ guest list party with only local foods. It was neat to read how farming families pull their resources together to make a wonderful party. One person may have free range eggs, the other free range chickens and someone else had lettuce beds to make wonderful vinaigrette salad. Or rhubarb & strawberries in the garden to make the crisp for dessert (the one I will be trying in a couple of days).

So, what does this book have to do with Memorial Day Weekend? Since it is my challenge to break the bounds of consumerism I have decided to try and cook most of my meal using locally harvested food from the Farmer’s Market. And I wanted to share my menu:

Lemonade and/or Moroccan Mint Iced Tea
Cherry tomato & mozzarella skewers with Basil
Corn on the Cob
BBQ free range chicken
Potato Salad with Bacon-Vinegar Dressing
Baked Beans
Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

I can pick up the lemons, cherry tomatoes, corn, strawberries and rhubarb at the farmer’s market. The mint and basil is from my own garden. From our local natural grocery store I will get the free range chicken and mozzarella cheese. Everything else I already have in my pantry or fridge.

I can’t wait until the BBQ. I am salivating already! I’ll let you know next week if this menu proves to be frugal, too.

What’s on your menu? Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

The Richest Man in Babylon – your copy free!

The Richest Man in Babylon

If you haven’t read this book it is a must! This little book has such powerful, but simple financial lessons that everyone can learn from.

You can download your free PDF copy of this book, Richest Man in Babylon (Free PDF copy).

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