Did not mark as much of my progress on here, and also I haven't been reading as much because of a job change and Animal Crossing taking up much of my time in the last month, unfortunately.

I've watched Gaby Dunn's videos in the past but have not listened to her similarly named podcast "Bad with Money" though it sounds like this is the physical distillation of lessons learned over several seasons. Dunn takes an autobiographical tack, on her and her family's financial history and how it influenced what "money script" (how we perceive money, spending and saving it, etc.) she has. She applies this to what steps should be considered/taken when at various ages/life situations, like high school jobs, applying for schools, medical debt, etc. This feels aimed at both younger audiences still in school and also our peer group (despite pejorative thinking, Millennials are mostly late twenties/thirties/early forties, and because we started our adult lives in the 2008 financial crisis, we simply don't have access to the same savings potential that prior generations had). Bad with Money is an approachable take on introductions to financial literacy because the system is complex and there's a lot of bad/clueless advice out there from people who try to generalize patterns from their own perspectives to everybody. Personal anecdote may be too much for some readers, but as emphasized in the beginning of the book, financial advice should be contextualized, and it's illuminating when family members are interviewed (prioritizing memories and snappishness no matter the price tag even if it created future problems, for example)

In a capitalist system, money is tied to everything (health, housing, food, transportation etc.) so it's important to be cognizant of the strings even while recognizing that the system is shitty at taking care of its citizens. ( )

Also a book that delivers what the title promises, albeit with good humor and a set of informal lessons on self-help finance informed by the author's life. She notes how her career as a television writer and podcaster yields good but infrequent money and how that changed her approach to finances, as well as how her childhood informed the habits associated with money, good and bad. A decent option for young adults to learn how earning and saving changes by life stage, too. ( )

This book was part memoir and part very basic financial advice. It is an honest story of what she has learned about money...from her childhood, from her experiences in her career and from being a millennial. I appreciated the parts where she talked about how important it is to recognize that early experiences you had with money (how it was discussed in your home as a child) can have a big impact on how you were formed as an adult today.

I liked the basic recap at the end of each chapter and found many of her ideas to be very helpful to someone who was just starting out in their financial education journey. She has a relatable voice and she is able to share what she has learned without sounding sanctimonious which I think will help other millennials connect with this book. There were some chapters that were more helpful than others but all in all, I appreciate that there is a book that shares an underrepresented voice in the financial education field.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

According to author and podcaster Gaby Dunn, everyone is Bad With Money. There is no exception to this rule. This book is a really humorous and well-written account of Ms. Dunn’s experiences with money and all of its horrors. The book is mostly targeted at Millennials, but I don’t mean that in a pejorative manner. I simply mean that since the author identifies as a Millennial it is primarily targeted at that demographic.

Each chapter discusses something important about money and how to deal with it. So whether you have a massive credit card debt and student loans or are planning to get an IRA this book could be for you. Offering sage advice from personal experience is really helpful and makes the advice more memorable. The chapter is titled in a fashion that gives you clues about what it discusses, and the end of each chapter contains a rundown of all the advice from that chapter.

It talks about many different things, from unpaid internships to planning for retirement. There is a ton of information packed into this slim volume and none of it is useless. It is easy to read and understand the advice given. I don’t really have a problem with this book. The book is written in a conversational style with plenty of asides and offers sage advice as I said. The biggest issue might be admitting that you have a problem with money.

Even if you are well-off, you might have an internal script that makes you terrible with money and susceptible to bad decisions. Initially, I didn’t see where this book was going with what it was talking about, but then I realized that the author’s history figured into how she both deals with and thinks about money.

All in all, I would recommend this book. Money problems have to stop being a stigma to society. It would help if people were more transparent with how they spend and so on. It hasn’t exactly inspired me to post all of my financial information or tell you how much money I have but it is certainly a start. ( )