Refinery29 Money Diaries: Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know About Your Finances... And Everyone Else's

by Lindsey Stanberry

Overview

Does it feel like you’re NEVER going to finish paying back your student loans? Do you spend more on coffee per month than you put into your 401(k)? Do you avoid looking at your bank balance because it’s easier to live in denial? The first step to getting your financial life in order is tracking what you spend.

Money Diaries, the breakout series from Refinery29, offers readers a revealing and often surprising look at the personal finances of others: what they spend, how they save, and even the purchases they hide from their partners and friends. Featuring all-new Money Diaries, valuable advice on how to get rich (and afford life in the meantime) from a handpicked team of female financial advisers, and money challenges that will save you up to $500, Refinery29 Money Diaries will empower you to take immediate control of your own money, including:

• Why budgets are bulls&!t and what to do instead

• How to make repaying your loans as painless as possible

• How to start an emergency fund even if you’re living paycheck to paycheck

• How to effectively ask for a raise and make sure you’re being paid fairly

• How to have fun without going broke

• The joy of saving for future you

With a vision of what your dream bank account balance looks like, some expert advice to help you achieve it, and the support of a powerful community with the same goal, you’ll be a step closer to taking control of not just your wallet, but your life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501197994
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Publication date:	09/04/2018
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	1,010,218
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

As Work & Money Director at Refinery29, Lindsey Stanberry provides millennial women with the smart, entertaining, financial and career advice they deserve. She developed her passion for these topics after her story “How I Saved $100,000 To Buy an Apartment” received a massive response from R29 readers. In 2015, she launched Refinery29’s first Work & Money vertical, covering everything from retirement funds and paid family leave to the inspiring female entrepreneurs she met in Haiti while interviewing Chelsea Clinton. She recently appeared on CBS This Morning as part of the Refinery29 series on the financial lives of millennials. She lives in Brooklyn with her frugal husband and one-year-old son. Refinery29 Money Diaries is her first book.

Refinery29 is the leading digital media and entertainment company focused on women with a global audience footprint of 550 million across all platforms. Through a variety of lifestyle stories, original video programming, social, shareable content, and live experiences, Refinery29 provides its audience with the inspiration and tools to discover and pursue a more independent, stylish, and informed life. Money Diaries has been featured on CBS This Morning and in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, and more.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1: Life & Money (Or How to Afford Life) CHAPTER 1Life & Money(Or How to Afford Life)
I love to talk about money, but until we launched Money Diaries in January 2016, I didn’t really know that other women felt the same way. The runaway success of the series—where millennial women share the intimate details of their financial lives—clearly struck a nerve.

It’s probably not that surprising. After all, it’s fun to read Money Diaries because you get a peek into someone else’s world. We marvel at—and judge—the diarist as she navigates her week, spending too much on avocado toast or dutifully meal prepping on Sundays. We admire those who set aside more than 10 percent for retirement or are aggressively paying down student loans. We finally get an answer to the question that nags many of us: How do they afford their lives?

I imagine a lot of you opened this book for the diaries, but I hope you’ll stay for the education and frank conversations about personal finance. Though most of us care a lot about our money, it’s still a rather unpopular conversation topic—in a 2017 Refinery29 survey, we found that only 18 percent of millennial women talk about money with their friends at all.

Maybe that’s because money is emotional. But just because it makes you squirm doesn’t mean you can ignore it. And my hope is that by talking openly and honestly about it here, in the pages of this book, we’ll begin to feel even more confident about how we spend and save.

In this chapter, we’ll dive into the nitty-gritty (how often to check your bank balance) and even get a little philosophical (money mantra, anyone?). It’s just the beginning. Throughout the book, you’ll find the tools you need to get more comfortable with your finances so that you can afford the life you want.

Editorial Reviews

Named a Buzzfeed Best Book of 2018: “Actionable (and voyeuristic)”

“Stanberry is the Work & Money director at Refinery29, which includes the addictive online Money Diaries, in which young women track their spending for seven days and share the results. Refinery29 Money Diaries expands on that theme, offering clear, sensible advice on getting into financial shape... The audience is definitely millennial professional women... and they will be well-served.”
—Booklist

“The addictively voyeuristic yet introspective nature of these diaries is sure to help women everywhere better understand their spending and saving behaviors.”
—Library Journal

“Completely fascinating.”
—Kai Ryssdal, Marketplace

“If anything will inspire you to track your finances, it's this.”
—Business Insider

From the Publisher