100 Books Like Do It for Yourself (Guided Journal)

I own Aptus Financial and am a writer, financial columnist, and a Certified Financial Planner™. I also run 401(k)s (in high heels.) Financial literature and advice tends to nerd out with natural savers or shame debtors, but my passion is the folks in between—the break eveners. I believe that this group benefits from financial advice that nudges, not bludgeons. Also, many women don’t feel they belong in the world of personal finance, which is why I dedicate time to public speaking to women’s groups around the country. I am tapped into a network of financial ladysplaining authors and speakers who have collectively pulled ourselves up by our Mary Jane straps and are pulling chairs for other women at the financial table—right where they belong.

I was a finance major who worked in banking, so I knew what I needed to do with money, but I found it challenging to follow through. The books I previously read were money books written by financial gurus who always used yelling and shaming as their teaching method. It never aligned with me. I started writing books with more compassion and an understanding that there are other variables affecting your financial health. I continue to read and recommend books written by people who aspire to help others by giving them knowledge and the space and grace to grow without the guilt trip.

I am a writer and financial wellness coach, and I am on a mission to help women like you become more confident and capable with money. Previously, I was an award-winning business and financial journalist with The New York Times, Business Week, and CNBC, and I have a graduate business degree from a top university. Even with all that, though, it took me years to build healthy personal financial habits and start using my money to achieve my life goals—so I understand the pain of financial stress and self-blame. I wrote my book to help you find an easier path to financial wellness and empowerment.

I own Aptus Financial and am a writer, financial columnist, and a Certified Financial Planner™. I also run 401(k)s (in high heels.) Financial literature and advice tends to nerd out with natural savers or shame debtors, but my passion is the folks in between—the break eveners. I believe that this group benefits from financial advice that nudges, not bludgeons. Also, many women don’t feel they belong in the world of personal finance, which is why I dedicate time to public speaking to women’s groups around the country. I am tapped into a network of financial ladysplaining authors and speakers who have collectively pulled ourselves up by our Mary Jane straps and are pulling chairs for other women at the financial table—right where they belong.

I graduated law school in 2015 with over $200,000 of debt. As the daughter of immigrants, born and raised in a low-income community in the Bronx, I was overwhelmed by how little I knew about money. I turned to books to build healthy money management habits, improve my credit, and, importantly, pay down my debt. I have since read dozens of personal finance books, built a community of over 60,000 on social media, and spoken to audiences nationwide about personal finance. Given the impact that books have had on my journey, I wrote my own from the perspective of a first-generation Latina that went from six figures of debt to a six-figure net worth. 

I grew up in poverty in the deep south of Georgia in the 80s where heavy racism existed. We survived on food stamps, living in a 2 bedroom wooden house with a tin roof that my grandfather and uncle built. It was a town of three thousand people all living, acting, and believing the same beliefs. Everyone had a poor mindset and thought that life everywhere was the same as ours. By changing the way my mind thinks, I became a banker for 10 years with 15+ years in financial services. I'm now also a 3x author, bestselling author, a Certified Coach and Certified NLP Practitioner, owner of multiple businesses, and live in two countries.

I realised in my twenties that there were millions of people who desperately needed advice about their money but could not afford an accountant or an adviser. Since then my passion has been to simplify the deliberately complex financial world, explain the obscure and often unintelligible rules about tax, childcare, benefits, investment, savings, and borrowing. Recently as the tsunami of fraud has swept across the UK I have devoted more time to help people avoid losing money to scammers – both criminal and respectable. Most people can’t afford professional advice, but they can afford me – I’m freely available in print, on air, and online. 

I have done some pretty cool things in the arts. To share a few, I’ve given TEDx talks, I have produced and co-starred in a film that made it to Cannes, I have written 11+ books (one of which was a Barnes & Noble # 1 best seller), I have spoken at SAG/AFTRA and Writer’s Guild, I am an entertainment attorney, and I have an album up on iTunes/Apple Music/Spotify, etc. I really love inspiring people, and helping them to achieve life dreams. I hope this list will help inspire some of you to go after your dreams, too, and with a passion!

Black women's mental wellness is important to me because my racial identity was interrupted by racial assimilation. There was a period of time where I thought passing for white would lead me to the success I sought. I learned that adopting white norms and values as my own was psychologically harmful, and these books led to racial restoration and mental well-being. I am an associate professor of clinical mental health, and I teach my students to assess, identify, and promote healthy racial identity development. I hope readers who are on their journeys will find these books helpful. 

As a licensed social worker, it struck me as bizarre that none of my training equipped me to talk to my clients about money. In grad school, the opening line from every professor was, “You didn’t choose this field to make money.” Yet? It’s something every single one of us needs and interacts with daily. So I started checking out personal finance books by the armsful. These books are different than novels: they deserve to be updated and modernized. But the same handful of personal finance books have been published and republished for decades, and most of them sound boringly redundant once you get past the intro.