Financial Adulting

Financial Adulting

by Ashley Feinstein Gerstley
Released March 2022
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119817307

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Book description

Perfect for anyone seeking to get a firm handle on their personal finances, Financial Adulting is a must-have resource that demystifies and simplifies complex topics and makes understanding personal finance fun

From the founder of The Fiscal Femme, a popular feminist money platform, and author of The 30-Day Money Cleanse, Ashley Feinstein Gerstley's Financial Adulting: Everything You Need to be a Financially Confident and Conscious Adult delivers an easy-to-follow, informative, and fun financial guide. From budgeting and consumer activism to retirement investing and paying down debt, you'll learn everything you need to know and do to be a financially savvy adult.

In this important book, you'll:

  • Master fundamental concepts, including dealing with student loans, maximizing your 401(k), and preparing for salary negotiations
  • Use a racial and feminist justice lens to tackle rarely discussed topics in money and equity and better understand deep-seated historic and systemic obstacles
  • Recognize that your circumstances, goals, and values are unique and require a custom approach in order to succeed financially
  • Receive a simple step-by-step guide to reaching your financial goals while living a big, exciting, and meaningful life

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Preface
    1. Let's Talk About My Privilege
    2. Why Do I Share All This?
    3. I'm Hopeful
    4. I'm Learning
    5. Notes
  6. CHAPTER 1: What Is a Financial Adult?
    1. Why Aren't We Financial Adulting?
    2. But There Is Good News …
    3. So, What Exactly Is a Financial Adult?
    4. Time to Get Started
    5. Note
  7. CHAPTER 2: Equity and Personal Finance
    1. The Idea That You Can Pull Yourself Up by Your Bootstraps Is a Scam
    2. The Racial Wealth Gap
    3. A Very Quick History Lesson (That We Missed in School)
    4. The Gender Wealth Gap
    5. Another Gap That Has a History
    6. The Double X Economy
    7. We Need Women to Be Wealthy
    8. What Needs to Happen to Close These Gaps
    9. Equality versus Equity
    10. Your Education Matters
    11. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    12. Notes
  8. CHAPTER 3: Your Money Goals
    1. Why Have Financial Goals?
    2. Start by Listing Out Your Goals
    3. Time to Prioritize
    4. Make Sure Your Goals Are SMART Goals
    5. How Much Is Enough?
    6. Decide How Many Goals to Work Toward
    7. Make a Preliminary Plan
    8. Use Your Goals to Focus
    9. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    10. Notes
  9. CHAPTER 4: All About Income
    1. What Is a Financial Plan?
    2. What Does a Financial Plan Actually Look Like?
    3. First, the Inflows
    4. Side Hustles
    5. The Gender Wage Gaps
    6. Closing the Wage Gap
    7. Negotiate What You Deserve
    8. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    9. Notes
  10. CHAPTER 5: Your Money Outflows
    1. Map Out Your Expenses
    2. Add Numbers to Your List
    3. Multigenerational Living
    4. Become Aware of Your Spending
    5. The Pink Tax
    6. Set Up a Sinking Fund
    7. Plan for Pitfalls
    8. Time to Incorporate Your Goals
    9. Putting It All Together
    10. Pay Yourself First
    11. If You Need It – the Health and Safety Budget
    12. Set Up Your Net Worth Tracker
    13. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    14. Notes
  11. CHAPTER 6: Consumer Activism
    1. What Is Consumer Activism?
    2. Some Consumer Activism Inspo
    3. Your Consumer Activism Criteria
    4. Sometimes Not Buying Anything at All Is the Best Option
    5. Use Your Voice
    6. Do a Consumer Activism Spending Audit
    7. Make Note of Anything You'd Like to Shift
    8. Take It Step by Step
    9. Don't Forget About Banks
    10. Cultivate a Practice of Giving
    11. Update Changes in Your Spending Plan
    12. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    13. Notes
  12. CHAPTER 7: Work Optional (a.k.a. Retirement)
    1. The Power of Compound Interest
    2. What Does Retirement Actually Mean?
    3. Where Do We Keep This Magical Nest Egg?
    4. More 401(k) Deets
    5. More IRA Deets
    6. What the Heck Does Roth versus Traditional Mean?
    7. Show Me the Money – How Much?
    8. What About Social Security?
    9. Retirement Accounts Might Be Only Part of the Plan
    10. Retire Early, You Say? Tell Me More
    11. The Gender and Racial Retirement Gaps
    12. Investing Jargon
    13. Figure Out Your Asset Allocation
    14. Choosing Our Retirement Investments
    15. Set Your Investing Up to Be Automatic
    16. Some Frequently Asked Retirement Questions
    17. Other Investing Benefits You Might Get Through Work
    18. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    19. Notes
  13. CHAPTER 8: Become an Investor for Good
    1. The Opportunity to Invest Is a Privilege
    2. The Culture of Investing
    3. My Investing Story
    4. Before You Get Started
    5. What Is Investing?
    6. The Three Ways to Invest (from Least to Most Expensive)
    7. But Wait, What's a Financial Planner?
    8. What You Need to Get Started
    9. The Types of Investments
    10. Where Does Investing for Good Come In?
    11. What About Socially Responsible or Values-Based Investing?
    12. How to Choose a Brokerage Account
    13. What If I Don't Want to Do It Myself?
    14. What About the Apps?
    15. Choosing Your Investments
    16. Purchasing or Selling an Investment
    17. Learn from Some Investing Experts
    18. How Your Investing Can Change as You Build Wealth
    19. Protect Yourself from Yourself
    20. Some Other Things That Might Be on Your Mind
    21. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    22. Notes
  14. CHAPTER 9: Buying a Home
    1. Buying a Home – How It Works
    2. Rent versus Buy?
    3. How Much Will This Cost?
    4. Incorporate These Costs into Your Plan
    5. “Try On” Your Estimated Homeowner Expenses
    6. Wait, I'm Discouraged; This Is Much More Expensive Than I Thought
    7. Organize Your Finances Before Starting the Process
    8. Should I Pay Down My Mortgage?
    9. When Should I Refinance?
    10. Another Way to Invest in Real Estate – REITs
    11. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    12. Notes
  15. CHAPTER 10: Insurance
    1. Health Insurance: What You Need to Know
    2. Healthcare Costs and Medical Debt
    3. What a Health Insurance Policy Means for These Gaps (and our wallets)
    4. Protecting Your Assets: Homeowners and Car Insurance
    5. What's an Umbrella Policy?
    6. Life Insurance – What You Need to Know
    7. Whom Should I Work with and How Do They Get Paid?
    8. Disability Insurance
    9. Long-Term Care Insurance
    10. Revisit Your Insurance When Things Change
    11. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    12. Notes
  16. CHAPTER 11: Tax Basics and Estate Planning
    1. What Are Taxes?
    2. W-4 – Tell Me More
    3. W-2 – More of an Income and Tax Snapshot
    4. 1099 – for Freelance and Other Income
    5. Other Income Info to Have Handy
    6. April 15th Is a Big Day
    7. Why Is This So Hard?
    8. How to Actually File Your Taxes
    9. Minimize the Taxes You Owe (very legally)
    10. Some Bonus Definitions
    11. Avoiding Some Common Mistakes
    12. Set Up a System to Make Taxes Less Stressful
    13. How Our Tax System Perpetuates Wealth Inequality
    14. Estate Planning – What It Is and How to Do It
    15. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    16. Notes
  17. CHAPTER 12: Your Credit Score
    1. Why Should We Care About Our Credit Score?
    2. The Quickest Way to Increase Your Score
    3. Find Out Your Current Score
    4. The Biggest Credit Score Myth
    5. The Most Damaging Myth
    6. The Makeup of Your Credit Score
    7. How to Increase Your Credit Score
    8. Some Other Common Credit Score Questions
    9. Your Financial Adulting Action Items
    10. Note
  18. CHAPTER 13: All About Debt
    1. What Are Credit Cards?
    2. How Credit Cards Work
    3. It's Time to Let Go of the Shame
    4. We've Got Some Power
    5. Take Inventory of Your Credit Cards
    6. Make Your Credit Cards Work for You
    7. On to Student Loans
    8. Add Any Other Debt to Your Tracker
    9. Make a Plan to Pay Down Your Debt
    10. What If I Can't Make My Payments?
    11. Should I Refinance My Debt?
    12. Let's Talk About Buying a Car
    13. Financial Adulting Checklist
  19. CHAPTER 14: Become Your Own Money Coach
    1. But What Will You Actually Be Doing as a Financial Coach?
    2. Money Parties – The Gist
    3. Set Your Money Party Agenda
    4. Monthly: Run Your Numbers
    5. Weekly or Monthly – Up the Saving Ante with the Money Game
    6. Quarterly and Annual Money Party Checklist
    7. How to Keep Your Motivation Up
    8. Financial Adulting Checklist
    9. Congrats!
    10. Note
  20. Acknowledgments
  21. About the Author
  22. Index
  23. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Financial Adulting
  • Author(s): Ashley Feinstein Gerstley
  • Release date: March 2022
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119817307