Broke Millennial Talks Money

Description

A comprehensive guide to talking about money in every aspect of your life, including at work, with friends and family, and in relationships, from the author of the Broke Millennial series.

Let’s face it–talking about money is always awkward. In this user-friendly and approachable guide, finance writer Erin Lowry helps take the stress out of these tricky conversations. With scripts, tips, and troubleshooting advice, she takes you through every possible money talk scenario, including:

Lowry arms you with all of the financial knowledge you’ll need in order to get the most out of each interaction, whether that’s with your friends, your spouse, your employer, or your mom. It’s time to demystify our money and hash out these tough topics with the important people in our lives, and this helpful book will make it all much easier.”Erin Lowry is THE voice of personal finance for millennials. In Broke Millennial Talks Money she delivers a powerful prescription for financial health and a roadmap for navigating some of the most challenging money conversations we face.”
– Dr. Brad Klontz, Financial Psychologist & Author

“This is Erin Lowry’s best book yet. She removes the taboo of talking about money by providing actionable advice, sample dialogues and real-life examples for practically every financial conversation imaginable. After reading Broke Millennial Talks Money, you’ll no longer shy away from money discussions with your co-workers, friends, family members or romantic partners. You’ll be ready to talk!”
– Cameron Huddleston, author of Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations With Your Parents About Their Finances

“Learning how to talk about money is the first step in making more of it. While the focus may be on money, this book is really about the relationships we have with each other and what we value in our lives. It is straightforward, engaging, and relatable. I highly recommend it for everyone – not just millennials!”
– Claire Wasserman, author and founder of Ladies Get Paid
 
“Money conversations aren’t the sexiest tactic in Personal Finance, but they’re fundamental to reaching your financial goals. If you’ve been stalling, this book takes ‘I don’t know where to start’ off the table. If you’ve ever frantically texted your Group Chat in search of the right words to react to an awkward situation with money, this is the book for you. Read it if you want to stop adding layers of cringe to already-awkward moments because you don’t know what to say. The scripts offered in Broke Millennial Talks Money aren’t abstract or colorless. They’re the kind of insights that can only come from thousands of thoughtful interactions over time. I walked away from it feeling seen. I was able to recognize my own conversational shortcomings and gain a greater appreciation for the struggles that everyone faces. There’s no shortage of tips and tricks to get unstuck regarding financial goals, but a productive conversation remains unmatched. I’ll be referencing this book every time I need to get out of my own head and just talk!”
– Kiersten Saunders, co-founder of Rich & REGULAR

“In Broke Millennial Talks Money, Erin Lowry makes messy and awkward money conversations easy and straightforward. No matter if it’s talking money with our boss, friend, or parents, she gives us scripts we can use as a guide, shares important context about why talking about money is difficult to begin with and cheers us on to have these important conversations (see ya, pay gaps!). We all need to read this book!”
– Ashley Feinstein Gerstley, founder of the Fiscal Femme and author of The 30-Day Money Cleanse 
Erin Lowry is the author of Broke Millennial, Broke Millennial Takes On Investing and Broke Millennial Talks Money: Scripts, Stories, and Advice to Navigate Awkward Financial Conversations. Her first book was named by MarketWatch as one of the best money books of 2017 and by Business Insider as one of the best personal finance books for 2020. Her second book was named one of the best self-help books for personal finance by VICE in 2022. Erin’s style is often described as refreshing and conversational.
 
She’s appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, CNBC and The Rachael Ray Show and quoted in the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Erin has written for The New York Times, Cosmopolitan Magazine, USA Today and Bloomberg Opinion and spoken at Fortune 500 companies, SXSW and universities around the country. Erin lives in New York City with her husband and their rambunctious dog.

Introduction

On a surprisingly warm New York City winter night in 2020, Peach and I were exiting a recording studio when he said, “I think it’s important to make sure people know we don’t always reach a clean, easy solu­tion to our money disagreements.”

The two of us had just completed a rare media interview together. Over the course of my then- seven years being “Broke Millennial,” Peach— my pseudonym for my husband— had been a character in my work. He had the authority to decide if and how he wanted his image and information shared, but he usually wasn’t the one being interviewed.

We’d been asked to do an interview for a podcast about the experi­ence of getting a prenuptial agreement— a highly taboo subject that al­most always elicits an immediate reaction from people. (You probably just had one yourself.)

Before the interview, we’d had several conversations about our own boundaries and what we were and weren’t comfortable letting the world know. I share a lot with you in my books and on social media, but, per­haps surprisingly, there are morsels I keep for myself.

Because we’d gone into the interview knowing where we drew the line— and we were more than a year removed from our prenup process— it had started to come off like we’d just flawlessly navigated the experi­ence with nary a speed bump. That was, of course, not the case.

We had disagreements that sometimes escalated to fights with hurt feelings. We learned things about each other and our relationships to money, possessions, and perceived ownership and entitlement. We still have one reoccurring debate that has yet to be settled. (Don’t worry, we’re going to talk a lot more about prenups in part 4!)

Even though Peach and I don’t always see eye to eye on finances, we do one thing a lot: talk.

Talking about money is critical.
 
Why I Wanted To Write This Book

A few years ago, I noticed a trend in what people were asking me to speak about at events and in the media. They really wanted to learn how to talk about money. Okay, no one phrased it that way. They’d ask specific ques­tions about awkward interactions that were seemingly only made un­comfortable because of money. For example, getting a Venmo request from a friend asking you to split the cost of the wine she purchased for the movie night she invited you to. Or how to travel with friends when everyone is on a different budget. Or whether you should help pay off your boyfriend’s student loans. Or whether you really need to [you can fill in the blank with anything about wedding season here].

This got me thinking about the fact that there really wasn’t a definitive guide out there on how to navigate these conversations. There was a smat­tering of information here and there in other books, but none of them of­fered scripts and stories and advice on how to actually talk about money.

It took a long time to figure out how to explain this book to people (honestly, I’m still trying to be more succinct). When you say, “It’s a book about relationships and money,” people immediately translate that to ro­mantic relationships.

So I pivoted to saying, “It’s a book about how to talk about money with all the important people in your life.” The response? Blank stares.

Then I tried: “It’s a book that helps you talk about money at work, with family, with friends, and with your romantic partner.”

“Oh, I need that book!” was the general response.

US

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