Book Review: "Get Financially Naked" by Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar

Product Description

You may think that marital bliss means money doesn’t matter, but in today’s troubled economic times, that’s simply false hope. And with layoffs galore and debt mounting, financial stress is through the roof. Think keeping afloat and affectionate is impossible? Think again.
 
This inspiring, action-oriented guide helps young women in committed relationships understand and manage their money matters. Complete with charts, graphs, case studies, and tip-based advice, this succinct, straightforward guide speaks to worried women in the same way that made On My Own Two Feet a mega-success.

Accessible and easy to follow, the three-part process presented in this book teaches you how to:
 
Accurately interpret your current financial condition
Become truly involved in the costs of the couple
Move forward using the “three powers steps to financial success”
 
This expert author team is here to help once more. Clearing up confusion, stating the truth, developing a plan—and now, helping create a happy home.

About the Author

Manisha Thakor, MBA, CFA (Houston, TX and Santa Fe, NM) and Sharon Kedar, MA< CFA (San Francisco, CA) are best girlfriends and the coauthors of the hit book On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance. Both Thakor and Kedar earned MBA degrees from Harvard Business School and are Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholders. As personal finance experts, their work has been featured in national media such as BusinessWeek, US News & World Report, Glamour, Woman’s Day and NBC Nightly News. Thakor and Kedar are fully committed to getting financially naked with their husbands and effectively managing their household finances.

MY REVIEW:

One topic that is the source of many arguments in my household is money, and I am sure I am not alone on that one. For some reason it just season like money is a foreign language between my husband and me. It is not that either of us are bad with money, but that we both want the control. Luckily, since I was a banker, my husband lets me have control and manage our money and he is pretty easy going about it.

I do want him to be involved though in how we spend and save our money so I do like to give him updates and there are times where we need to sit down and talk about our financial situation. I am also open to new ideas and thoughts to make life a little easier.

With all the financial books out there I was skeptical about this one, but I was pleasantly surprise. Other than the typical financial chapters throughout the book, there are also questions with a spot for you to answer them, tables, and lots of bullet points with tips and suggestions. I thought the book was an easy read and it had excellent ideas and ways for couples to start and work through their financial discussions.

The book is broken down into three major parts: Interpreting your current financial situation, Breaking down the costs you have together, and how to move forward together to achieve financial success. I really liked the chapter on “Investing” because that is what my husband and I are focusing on right now. For example, my favorite excerpt from the book deals with at 30 years old, would you rather save all your money to retire in your 50’s or live life now and happily work into your 70’s.

Overall, I think “Get Financially Naked” is a helpful book for all women. It is geared towards mainly couples and newlyweds, but even as a married woman, I got some great ideas from it. I do have a lot of friends who are not married yet and I remember what it was like when I was dating my husband and living together before we were married. It was hard to figure who paid for what and even when we got married, merging and planning for our financial future was tough as we had to merge our goals. Finally, I loved how this book was not just all writing but included visuals and a great way of organizing its ideas.

BUY IT:  You can buy “Get Financially Naked” at your local bookstore our find it at Amazon for $10.36 with Free Shipping on orders over $25!