The Ms. Spent Money Guide (eBook)

Get More of What You Want with What You Earn

Deborah Knuckey (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2002 | 1. Auflage
320 Seiten
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-0-471-03844-3 (ISBN)

Infos

Change your spending habits to achieve your personal andfinancial goals

The hardest part of personal finance for most people is livingwithin their means. Spreadsheets, budgets, and tables make moneymanagement seem like hard work. In The MsSpent MoneyGuide, readers are introduced to an innovative approachthat focuses spending habits to allow for everyday costs and futureexpenses while finding money for things you really enjoy.

MsSpent's bottom line is to help people have a more fulfillinglife by helping them clarify their financial goals as well asdevelop systems and habits that manage their spending. We are allunique and there is no single way to manage money. TheMsSpent Money Guide helps each individual discover a waythat will work for them. Readers of all ages will benefit fromMsSpent's message-if you are clear about your values, you will getmore of the life you want with the money you have.

Autor

DEBORAH KNUCKEY is a writer, money coach, and speaker. Her "Conscious Spending" approach has been featured in the media, including Oprah and USA Today. Knuckey has an MBA from UCLA and has worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. and as a financial reporter at News Corporation. She lives in Washington, D.C. She can be reached at www.deborahknuckey.com.

Inhalt

Introduction.

PART ONE: READY TO CHANGE: IS YOUR HIP POCKET OFF BALANCE?

Where Did It All Go?: The Unconscious Spending Trap.

Conscious Spending: Honoring Your Values.

Becoming Conscious: Getting More of What You Want.

The Excuse File: Why Unconscious Spending Tempts.

PART TWO: SET TO SPEND: THE SEVEN CONSCIOUS SPENDING
CATEGORIES.

Security: Your Financial Foundation.

Shelter: Your Home, Sweet Home.

Sustenance: Feeding Your Body.

Self and Family: Everyday Expenses.

Social: Connecting with Others.

Society: Giving Back.

Soul: Expressing Your Higher Purpose.

PART THREE: GO: BECOMING A CONSCIOUS SPENDER.

Starting Out: Creating a Conscious Spending Plan.

Keeping Conscious: Designing a New Hip-Pocket Habit.

Iceberg Ahead: When You're Weighed Down by Debt.

The Big Squeeze: When Your Means Are Not Enough.

Bibliography.

Conscious Spending: Next Steps.

Index.

Rezensionen

There's no "right" way to spend, says Knuckey, a personal financeconsultant who calls her system "coaching" not "counseling," since"you may never understand the details" of your feelings aboutmoney, but "you can still change your behavior." Happily, herbehavior modification plan involves no penny-pinching, few rulesand not much of that "b-word"(budgeting), which is about as muchfun as dieting. The bottom line to Knuckey's system is her focus on"Conscious Spending," which means only buying what really makes youhappy. While there are the obligatory passages on the trap ofescalating wants and the ball-and-chain of debt, her main messageis positive: focus on satisfying yourself, and you'll never lackmotivation. Apart from such truisms, there are occasional mentionsof more radical notions, like the idea that having enough is a veryreal concept for people who have come to the end of their "journeyof self-expression." Knuckey's program is basically sensible andunthreatening, low on "shoulds" and sprinkled with humor. Her ownpersona] lifetime spending program, for instance, assumes "that Iwill die broke" - why support lazy heirs? And, she advises, don'tplay the lottery: "if you want to buy hope, buy a drink at asingles bar!" By the end of the book, a complex budgeting plansneaks in anyway, but readers who've gotten that tar won't mind.

Forecast: While there's no dearth of personal finance self-helpbooks on the market, Knuckey's down-to-earth tone should appeal to20-somethings, especially considering her online presence, detailedin the book's final pages.

--Publisher's Weekly

In The Ms. Spent Money Guide, Deborah Knuckey wantseveryone to be a conscious spender.

You know, someone who never buys things spontaneously and neverpurchases things they never use. (The kind of sensible person, inshort, who is the opposite of the heroine in the funny best-sellingnovel, Confessions of a Shopaholic.)

No one makes you spend money, but experts spend a lot of time andmoney making it hard to resist. "Advertiser' and marketers' successdepends on their ability to link their products with your wants,and increase the volume until you can make a purchase. Think youcan pit your self-will against their sophisticated marketing? It'stough," she writes.

The way around this pressure: Be aware of what triggers you tospend so freely. That, of course, is a lot easier said than done.But she does have exercises to put you into a less lavish frame ofmind. One exercise: Take 5 minutes to write down all the influencesthat put you into a shopping mode - when did you first hear of theproduct? Did friends or colleagues egg you on? Do you know someonewho has something similar - are you keeping up with the Joneses?The problem with conscious spending is that it requires a delicatebalance of today's wants and tomorrow's needs. Knuckey says it canbe painless by following her spending model. This hierarchy placesthe soul at the top of the pyramid. The soul category encompassestravel, vacation home, cable, books, music, hobbies, sports,massages, manicures and jewelry, among other things. After thatcome expenses for things like food, shelter.

Security is the foundation of the pyramid, which includesinsurance, retirement planning, emergency expense funds and debtmanagement. A strong security base means you're less vulnerable tounexpected circumstances, such as illness, divorce, unemployment orbusiness failure. Of course there is a hitch. Under this plan, youhave to fulfill the security foundation before you can float to thetop - and then buy the fun stuff.--Juliette Fairley, Specialfor USA TODAY, April 23, 2001

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 28.2.2002
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft ► Geld / Bank / Börse
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Wirtschaftsrecht
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management
• Schlagworte: Finance & Investments • Finanz- u. Anlagewesen • personal finance • Private Finanzplanung
• ISBN-10: 0-471-03844-X / 047103844X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-471-03844-3 / 9780471038443