The Financial Diet

A guide to personal finance that will help teach budgeting skills, stocking a budget-friendly kitchen, talking to friends about money, investing, and more.

Whether you're living paycheck to paycheck or just trying to make smarter financial choices, let award-winning writer and Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary show you the practical steps you need to take for the financial peace you long for. In The 21-Day Financial Fast, Michelle proposes a field-tested financial challenge: for twenty-one days, put away your credit cards and buy only the barest essentials. What happens next will forever change the way you think about wealth. With Michelle's guidance, you'll discover how to: Break bad spending habits Plot a course to become debt-free with the Debt Dash Plan Avoid the temptation of overspending for college Learn how to prepare elderly relatives and yourself for future long-term care expenses Be prepared for any contingency with a Life Happens Fund Stop worrying about money and find the priceless power of financial peace Join the thousands of others who have already discovered practical ways to achieve financial freedom and experience what it truly means to live a life of financial peace and prosperity.

Does fear and insecurity keep you from looking at your bank account? Is your financial anxiety holding you captive? You don’t have to stress about money anymore. YOU can take back control. As a newly divorced single mom making $24,000 per year and facing down $77,000 in debt, Kumiko Love worried constantly about money. She saw what other moms had—vacations, birthday parties, a house full of furniture—and felt ashamed that she and her son lived in a small apartment and ate dinner on the floor. Worse, when her feelings began to exhaust her, she binge-shopped, reasoning that she’d feel better after a trip to the mall. On the day she needed to pay for a McDonald’s ice cream cone without her credit card, she had an epiphany: Money is not the problem. Self-Doubt is the problem. Shame is the problem. Guilt is the problem. Society’s expectations for her are the problem. She is the solution. Once she reversed the negative thinking patterns pushing her toward decisions that didn’t serve her values or goals, her financial plan wrote itself. Now, she’s not only living debt-free in her dream home, which she paid for in cash, but she has spread her teachings around the world and helped countless women envision better lives for themselves and their families. Now, building on the lessons she’s taught millions as the founder of The Budget Mom, she shares a step by step plan for taking control back over your financial life—regardless of your level of income or your credit card balance. Through stories from navigating divorce to helping clients thrive through recessions, depression, eviction, layoffs and so much more, you will learn foundational practices such as: How to use your emotions to your financial advantage, instead of letting them control you How to create a budget based on your real life, not a life of self-denial How to create a motivating debt pay-off plan that makes you excited about your future, instead of fearing it My Money My Way will give you the tools to align your emotional health with your financial health—to let go of deprivation and embrace desire. Love’s paradigm-shifting system will teach you how to honor your unique personal values, driving emotions, and particular needs so that you can stop worrying about money and start living a financially fulfilled life.

When were you last happy with your finances? Create lasting happiness with your financial situation — not by creating a blistering budget but by living the life you love! Ashley Feinstein Gerstley was working in financial services when she came to the shocking realization that even she was stressed about her personal finances. How could that be, with all her education and experience in dealing with money? Ashley quickly realized that her stress didn't only arise from a lack of knowledge but the way that we as a society treat and talk (or rather don't talk) about our money, and she created a system to turn the entire practice on its head! Through Ashley's system, in just 30 days you will have created a healthier, happier relationship with your money by: Eliminating all money stressors Finally knowing where your money is going Breaking those panic-inducing bad money habits Learning the basics of how and where to invest Making a plan that you can not only live with but enjoy Readers who have tried the 30-Day Money Cleanse have, on average, saved over $950 through the course of the month! Are you ready to cleanse?

NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER • A ten-step plan for finding peace, safety, and harmony with your money—no matter how big or small your goals and no matter how rocky the market might be—by the inspiring and savvy “Budgetnista.” “No matter where you stand in your money journey, Get Good with Money has a lesson or two for you!”—Erin Lowry, bestselling author of the Broke Millennial series Tiffany Aliche was a successful pre-school teacher with a healthy nest egg when a recession and advice from a shady advisor put her out of a job and into a huge financial hole. As she began to chart the path to her own financial rescue, the outline of her ten-step formula for attaining both financial security and peace of mind began to take shape. These principles have now helped more than one million women worldwide save and pay off millions in debt, and begin planning for a richer life. Revealing this practical ten-step process for the first time in its entirety, Get Good with Money introduces the powerful concept of building wealth through financial wholeness: a realistic, achievable, and energizing alternative to get-rich-quick and over-complicated money management systems. With helpful checklists, worksheets, a tool kit of resources, and advanced advice from experts who Tiffany herself relies on (her “Budgetnista Boosters”), Get Good with Money gets crystal clear on the short-term actions that lead to long-term goals, including: • A simple technique to determine your baseline or “noodle budget,” examine and systemize your expenses, and lay out a plan that allows you to say yes to your dreams. • An assessment tool that helps you understand whether you have a “don't make enough” problem or a “spend too much” issue—as well as ways to fix both. • Best practices for saving for a rainy day (aka job loss), a big-ticket item (a house, a trip, a car), and money that can be invested for your future. • Detailed advice and action steps for taking charge of your credit score, maximizing bill-paying automation, savings and investing, and calculating your life, disability, and property insurance needs. • Ways to protect your beneficiaries' future, and ensure that your financial wishes will stand the test of time. An invaluable guide to cultivating good financial habits and making your money work for you, Get Good with Money will help you build a solid foundation for your life (and legacy) that’s rich in every way.

Where do you want to be in one, three, or five years? Even small adjustments can bring about enormous results to your personal success. Where does that “winning edge” you’ve heard so much about come from? How do some people seem to find success simply from waking up and getting out of bed? World-renowned performance expert Brian Tracy has spent decades studying uncommonly high achievers. Instead of finding commonalities such as Ivy League educations, gold-star connections, and a dash of blind luck, Tracy discovered that the keys to their success were more often small adjustments in outlook and behavior. In this easy-to-follow guide, Tracy lays out a simple, clear plan for anyone to be able to unlock their potential and find the success they previously thought was unattainable for them. In Personal Success, you will learn to: Change your mindset to attract opportunity Banish self-limited beliefs Build your self-confidence Practice courage and taking risks Sharpen your natural intuition Continually upgrade your skills and more! Packed with simple but game-changing techniques, Personal Success is the answer you’ve been searching for to gain that winning edge and turn your dreams into realities.

After healing her own unhealthy relationship with money, and transforming her financial disaster into prosperity and security, Karen McCall created a recovery program she has now used for more than twenty years to help individuals, couples, and businesses large and small. In the midst of her money troubles, she saw a need for something other than financial planners, accountants, and credit counselors. These experts could tell her what she should be doing differently, but she needed someone to help her understand the underlying causes of chronic, self-defeating overspending and credit card debt, underearning, and low or no savings. To save herself, she created practical, holistic tools that address these sources of pain and shame. McCall’s program supports people as they uncover their deep-seated attitudes about money; provides simple, step-by-step tools for healing areas of physical, emotional, and spiritual deprivation; and teaches skills and strategies for experiencing lasting personal and financial fulfillment even in the midst of economic challenges and reversals.

In The Meaningful Money Handbook, personal finance expert and podcaster extraordinaire Pete Matthew guides you through everything you need to KNOW and everything you need to DO to build a secure financial future for yourself and your family. This is achievable for everyone by following three simple steps: 1. Spend less than you earn and clear debt. 2. Insure against disaster. 3. Build up your savings and invest wisely. You will learn: • How to get out of debt as quickly as possible. • Techniques for good financial control, so you can avoid getting into debt again. • The importance of insurance for laying down a foundation on which to build a solid financial plan, which isn’t washed away by an unexpected disaster. • How to save and invest simply and efficiently so that you can work your way towards future financial freedom. No matter your starting position, or your existing level of comfort with dealing with your money, Pete Matthew’s calm, straightforward and jargon-free approach will appeal to you and help you to set out on the right path. The Meaningful Money Handbook is a practical guide to succeeding with money by cutting out the stuff you don’t need to know, and clarifying the essential things you need to do, to make a real difference to your life. Don’t put it off any longer – pick up this book and start to take a meaningful approach to your money today.

A guide to investing basics by the author of Broke Millennial, for anyone who feels like they aren't ready (or rich enough) to get into the market Millennials want to learn how to start investing. The problem is that most have no idea where to begin. There's a significant lack of information out there catering to the concerns of new millennial investors, such as: * Should I invest while paying down student loans? * How do I invest in a socially responsible way? * What about robo-advisors and apps--are any of them any good? * Where can I look online for investment advice? In this second book in the Broke Millennial series, Erin Lowry answers those questions and delivers all of the investment basics in one easy-to-digest package. Tackling topics ranging from common terminology to how to handle your anxiety to retirement savings and even how to actually buy and sell a stock, this hands-on guide will help any investment newbie become a confident player in the market on their way to building wealth.

*A Refinery29 Best Book of 2018* *One of Real Simple's Most Inspiring Books for Graduates* *Indie Personal Finance Bestseller* How to get good with money, even if you have no idea where to start. The Financial Diet is the personal finance book for people who don’t care about personal finance. Whether you’re in need of an overspending detox, buried under student debt, or just trying to figure out how to live on an entry-level salary, The Financial Diet gives you tools to make a budget, understand investments, and deal with your credit. Chelsea Fagan has tapped a range of experts to help you make the best choices for you, but she also knows that being smarter with money isn’t just about what you put in the bank. It’s about everything—from the clothes you put in your closet, to your financial relationship habits, to the food you put in your kitchen (instead of ordering in again). So The Financial Diet gives you the tools to negotiate a raise and the perfect cocktail recipe to celebrate your new salary. The Financial Diet will teach you: • how to get good with money in a year. • the ingredients everyone needs to have a budget-friendly kitchen. • how to talk about awkward money stuff with your friends. • the best way to make (and stick to!) a budget. • how to take care of your house like a grown-up. • what the hell it means to invest (and how you can do it).