January

Our first book of year was Mrs Moneypenny’s Financial Advice For Independent Women. First released in 2015, Mrs Moneypenny does a fantastic job at discussing everything from finances for kids, to increasing income, paying off debt, investing and so much more. This book is packed full of practical tips. We love the way Mrs Moneypenny does this in a relatable and funny way.  By sharing her honest and personal story (as a mum of 3), there were so many takeaways from Mrs Moneypenny’s learnings that we can incorporate into our financial future. 

 

As young women reading this book, we certainly felt like it gave us an incredible boost of confidence and removed that sense of inferiority women often face when dealing with money. One of the most actionable tips we took away from this book was to spend time on our finances. How many times do we find ourselves saying ‘I don’t have time for that’ and switch off when it comes to doing things that help our financial future. Well, Mrs Moneypenny and her financial advice for independent women really made us WAKE UP. Even if it is spending an hour a week on our finances, investing the time has massive benefits. 

 

Two things we absolutely loved from the book are the concepts of creating a financial CV. This details your current financial situation with factors such as how much you earn per week, year, month (after tax and deductions) - which puts your financial situation into context. As well as understanding your ’financial finish line' i.e  how much money you need in your lifetime.

 

Moneypenny also defines the difference between outsourcing a task and outsourcing knowledge. We are huge fans of outsourcing at Fempire Finance - it saves time, it means the people who are best suited for the job are the ones doing it. But Moneypenny's makes a really important distinction between outsourcing tasks and outsourcing knowledge. The former being around not spending as much time on those routine admin tasks that can be massive suckers of time, but that doesn’t mean we have to outsource knowledge and awareness of those important money topics to other people. 

 

Did you do the homework after each chapter? Even though we are passed the school age, we loved the homework. Not only did it make us reflect on our own financial situation but we were given access to a set of next steps and resources that allowed us to take solid action. 

 

We love the fact this book is not afraid of busting money myths. We particularly love when money myths around home ownership were dispelled. Mrs Moneypenny talks through the delicate subject of mortgages and gives her much needed opinion to really make us stop and reflect. The harsh truth of questioning whether some people should really have a mortgage (due to affordability, societal pressures etc) really got us thinking.

 

So, thats a wrap for January. Join us for February book….'Getting a Yes' by Roger Fisher and William Ury. Described as a must read for anyone who has to negotiate in any form - in business, salary, with kids - even your partner, we are so excited to learn the ropes of negotiation from Harvard's finest.