Books like Money Mammoth — picked by fans

I began a mission in 1991 to help individuals and families recover from the unfairness of the financial system. I believe that understanding personal finance and having good credit is essential to living a successful life in the United States; however, most people don’t understand (because they have never been taught) even the basics. I formed a non-profit serving three states that helped tens of thousands of families and individuals get back in control of their finances, wrote a weekly column on credit and debt for Bankrate.com for 20 years, and wrote or co-wrote ten books on credit, scoring, and debt management.

I began a mission in 1991 to help individuals and families recover from the unfairness of the financial system. I believe that understanding personal finance and having good credit is essential to living a successful life in the United States; however, most people don’t understand (because they have never been taught) even the basics. I formed a non-profit serving three states that helped tens of thousands of families and individuals get back in control of their finances, wrote a weekly column on credit and debt for Bankrate.com for 20 years, and wrote or co-wrote ten books on credit, scoring, and debt management.

I began a mission in 1991 to help individuals and families recover from the unfairness of the financial system. I believe that understanding personal finance and having good credit is essential to living a successful life in the United States; however, most people don’t understand (because they have never been taught) even the basics. I formed a non-profit serving three states that helped tens of thousands of families and individuals get back in control of their finances, wrote a weekly column on credit and debt for Bankrate.com for 20 years, and wrote or co-wrote ten books on credit, scoring, and debt management.

I am the first in my family to go into business for myself. Now, it took me years of thinking about it before I made the jump. I was scared to take that step, but I did it. My expertise came from 25 years of managing hundreds of clients in numerous industries. I loved how successful people can be with the craziest of ideas. How can you find your passion so you are happy and loving what you are doing in life? How do you overcome the fear of failure, move forward with your desires, and become abundant in doing it? 

At The Financial Diet, I’ve written and produced videos about money, productivity, and work/life balance for the better part of a decade. I’ve come to the conclusion that most of our commonly held beliefs about money and work are incorrect: your job shouldn’t be your main purpose, and money shouldn’t be the end goal in and of itself. I’ve also been a longtime nonfiction reader, and I lead a monthly book club for our Patreon members. This list is composed of my favorite selections from those meetings (a few of which I’d read previously), and I hope they invite you to question your own relationship with work and money!

When I was growing up, I saw family members and friends, who were otherwise smart people who could master other aspects of their lives, have difficulty with personal finance decisions and investing. When my dad was laid off during a recession, he had some retirement money distributed to him, and I got interested in investing as he researched and tried with difficulty to handle this money himself. In my young adult years, I was a sponge to learn as much as I could about personal finance. 

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 grew up with a single mother who did not have much financially, but she gave me something even more valuable: encouragement to dream boldly, follow my passions, and believe in my ability to work hard and create a life I loved. I did not always make the right choices on my own journey, but every mistake became a lesson that shaped the work I do now: helping young people design futures filled with purpose and freedom. I wrote The Student’s Guide to Financial Freedom to share these lessons with high school and college students, the very people I have spent my career supporting.

I’m a 5x award-winning personal finance educator and money expert who specializes in helping Latinas reach financial freedom through entrepreneurship and investing. I have been fascinated by personal finance since 2016 when I realized that I hadn’t learned anything important about money after discovering personal finance podcasts. I’m a firm believer that financial literacy is the gateway to freedom, so my work involves educating women of color on how to use money to exercise their power. 

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.