The Financial Diet

A Total Beginner's Guide to Getting Good with Money

By: Chelsea Fagan, Lauren Ver Hage - designer

Narrated by: Chelsea Fagan

Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

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).

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2018 Chelsea Fagan and Lauren Ver Hage (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Genuinely interesting!

THE FINANCIAL DIET is written by and mostly for for female millennials (Gen Y which includes people currently 23 to 37 years old). Being a 75 year old married male (very late "silent generation") I am not part of this group. My wife is early Baby Boomer generation, our adult offspring aand their spouses are all mid Gen Xers and all six of my grandchildren are all Gen Z. I first learned about this book when leafing through a copy of my wife's Real Simple magazine which recommends it. When it came up as an Audible Daily Deal I purchased it. (Ironically, I suspect that most Real Simple subscribers are older that the Gen Y target group for this book.)

Author Chelsea Fagan's financial recommendations are certainly sound. This audiobook is listed at 3.5 hours in length, but when the time to read and understand the 184 page PDF which is included with the audio book a better estimate of time is likely 8 hours. Lauren Ver Hage is the author/illustrator.

Interestingly, THE FINANCIAL DIET is also is also a cook book because it provides both kitchen supplies and recipes to avoid eating out as much (or at all) as part of becoming financially sound. The book does not use the term but it makes the strong case for "living below your means". Fagan's book also gives dating advice and financial advice within marriage (she should have her own money to spend as she pleases separate from the family money). My wife and I handled this differently after trying separate checking accounts by having her handle our money while I stayed out of it and did not question her decisions; since she is more conservative than I financially it has worked well. The author does a nice job of narrating her book. I did not expect to like the book as much as I do; nor did I expect to spend more than 8 hours with it.

I stated earlier that my three adult children (and their spouses) are mid Gen X (that generation is approximately ages 38 to age 53). The Gen Y group this book was written for takes frequent use of crude words that Gen X started to use in everyday language to a new level. The author writes in a conversational style. If you object to almost constant use of crude language you should skip The Financial Diet. Me? I am frequently around my 40-something daughters and daughter-in-law so I'm accustomed to crude language.

Only if you are completely money illiterate

Then this book is for you. I stopped listening when cooking recipes started. If I wanted a cookbook, I would of gotten one. If you have any concept of working and saving, you are already ahead of this book. This is for those who have never handled money on their own.

I LOVED This Book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

100% yes, it was informative, easy to follow, and the printable that comes with it is VERY helpful.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Financial Diet?

I like the chapter where they talked about how to cook more food at home in order to save money, complete with recipes!

What about Chelsea Fagan’s performance did you like?

I thought she was a very clear performer, easy to understand!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I preferred to break it up, sometimes even listening to a section more than once - I wanted to be able to absorb the material. Will definitely be listening to this one over and over again.

Really geared towards very young people

Useless when you're a bit older (not twenties anymore). Returned because, yeah, not in my twenties.

good, but preachy

the advise is good. the style is not bad, but the constant comments that the author was preaching to "millennials" got really obnoxious because it was true. she is pandering to an audience rather than just writing useful material. the material is good, but it was heavily inflated by an entire chapter at the end that had nothing important to say about finance. overall, very good, but that last chapter could have been about 40% shorter and less gender focused.

fan of the YouTube channel - fan of the book!

first off let me state that I am probably smack in the middle of the target demographic for this book. I already know TFD from their blog and YouTube channel, so I was exciting to read the book! it was nice to have an in order guide for really getting my $ life in order. and it's great to have digital copies of the info graphics available. the book is a good basic strating guide for getting you to think about money in the right way, it is not a textbook for answering all your financial questions more of a primer to get you going in the right direction. As a 20-somthing women it was inspiring and helpful, already knowing TFD there were no major surprises and already familiar with Chelsea Fagans voice from YouTube I didn't mind her as a narrator.

Overview

This book is a short and sweet overview to what financial freedom should look like at any salary starting point. It takes a nonjudgmental approach but also doesn’t allow you to bring excuses to the table. I was a little surprised at how far reaching the author went into details of how to save money. She spent some time on recipes. While it’s a good idea, I chose to skip through most of them due to the fact that I’m a vegan and many do not apply. Plus, if I’m listening to the information I’m not in a place to write down the recipes.

Excellent Check List, Beware Profanity For Effect

Great Daily deal. A must buy if you have any issues YOU want to face, but have not!
Easy material, well worth the listen, and the download is a good visual to actually help you. Get started or boost you to the next level you want in your life.
I certainly am not a prude, and I can swear with the best of them, but as a member of Toastmasters International, the profuse use of profanity was a bit distracting as author used it to reach out to her core audience of Millennials. There are great speakers and comedians who don’t rely on so much profanity. I am fairly confident author will improve her delivery just as she has done with the aspects in her life as demonstrated in this book.

Excellent introduction for young adults

Female centric but good advice for everyone. A nice dash of humor thrown in to liven up the discussion. Well done.

So helpful and relatable

I'm thinking I'll get this for my best friend who also can feel lost #adulting. This book was great because I s simple and easy to understand which is important considering how intimidating finance conversations can be