A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance

Unfortunately most books on finance are geared toward the financial professional (or someone smarter than me anyway.) I had trouble grasping the concepts they expounded upon. I didn't need to know how to read a stock report; I needed help in planning a realistic budget and building up our emergency fund.

My son's girlfriend, an engineering major with her feet firmly planted on the ground, suggested I read On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance. I have to admit I was skeptical. It's geared toward the younger generation, not us old farts looking to retire in the next few years.

On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance was a pleasant surprise. It broke the concepts down into layman's terms and covered the topics that interested me, saving, credit, investing, and so much more.

I highly recommend this book for anyone, young and old alike, that want to get a handle on their personal finances.

Knowledge is Power

Part A: The Tools For Financial Empowerment


Part B: The Path From Saving to Investing

Review by D. Adler
As Posted on Amazon.com

As a financial professional, I have generally been critical of personal finance authors because they struggle to condense their vast knowledge into a book that is readable for the average person. Thakor and Kedar succeed where others have failed. In this book, they manage to cover all of the basic principles of personal finance (savings, credit, insurance, budgeting, investing, retirement, major purchases, taxes and money in relationships) in less than 200 pages. The book flows more like a conversation with a friend than a textbook, which made it an enjoyable and quick read. Also, I was very impressed with the quality of the advice given in this book. The authors stick to tried-and-true principles that are both effective and simple.

I highly recommend this book.

Review by Jennifer Estroff
As Posted on Amazon.com

I was lucky enough to meet the authors of this book, Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar at a recent retreat at the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership. I was struck by three things: 1) their passion to educate young women about personal finances, 2) their snazzy dress sense, and 3) the fact that THESE WOMEN KNOW THEIR STUFF! Both are amazingly successful in the male-dominated world world of finance, and gave me the instant feeling that I could navigate it too, all I needed was some simple basics. Manisha and Sharon are able to look at money from the perspective of MY generation, the 18-35 year-olds who don't stay in one job forever, and will enter the work force with student loans, MySpace accounts, and only a brief window to start retirement planning. "On My Own Two Feet" handles the current reality of money and finance with pizzazz and spice, and a feeling of support from the "Divas of Finance". If you want to feel more financially secure, and do it soon, pick up this book now! Then send it to your girlfriends, cousins, sisters, mothers...and maybe even a man or two. After all, everyone needs some money help, sometimes!

An education is a fine thing, but there are some lessons that are not taught in school. How to handle money is one of them. On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance should be on every young woman's reading list.

I highly recommend this book.