Book Review: On My Own Two Feet – A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance

I was contacted by a public relations firm and was asked if I would like to take a peek at an advanced copy of “On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance” (affiliate link) by Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar. They sent me out an advanced copy and the book has since come out and is available for purchase. Here’s my review.

There are many books out there that give some great information about personal finance. Most of them are pretty thick and can be overwhelming for someone new to personal finance concepts. “On My Own Two Foot” is a smaller sized book with 183 pages. It doesn’t take long to read, but there is a lot of valuable information packed in there in an easy to understand fashion.

Some of you who have been reading personal finance books and blogs for a while may find some the information in this book old news. Me, I knew a lot of what was in the book until I got to the investing section. Wow. A great overview that I could understand. Now, I only need to get to that part by paying off my debt!

The book is geared towards women, with bits about boyfriends and buying shoes here and there. In my opinion, it would do a lot of good to get this in the hands of female high school graduates and if I had any female relatives graduating soon I’d be thinking about buying this book for them as a graduation gift. It’s short enough to where they might pick it up and read it and once they read the information in there, they will know more about personal finance than most Americans.

Here are the subjects covered:

- Saving
- Credit Cards
- Credit Scores
- Insurance
- Budgeting
- Investing
- Retirement

The last part of the book then goes on to give strategies for real life situations, like purchasing a home and your income taxes. I always enjoy it when a book applies the things discussed in ways that shows how it is useful.

I wish I had a copy of this book when I graduated high school. Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have signed up for that credit card in college and my finances would have been a completely different story. At the very least, I would have known better what I was getting into.

Overall, this is a great book that isn’t intimidating and is a great introduction to some valuable personal finance topics. I’d say it’s something that will get you off on the right foot financially if you read it and take the advice in the book to heart.

Posted by Tricia on May 10, 2007 at 9:31 PM in Book Reviews | 5 Comments »
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Bryan responded:
Posted: May 11th, 2007 at 2:45 am
Hi,I just came across your blog from DebtCC Blog Hunt and found it really good.Since I am a person dealing with student debt consolidation i always like to read books on personal finance.Thank you for suggesting such a nice book.
Rich Minx responded:
Posted: May 11th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Thanks for the book tip. I’m always looking for good ‘female finance’ books. So far the best I’ve read is Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach.
Colleen responded:
Posted: May 17th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Your review prompted me to purchase three copies for soon to be high school graduates. I too wish I had some knowledge of handling money and investments at a young age.
Blogging Away Debt » Blog Archive » Here’s Your Chance to Ask Two Professionals Financial Questions responded:
Posted: May 30th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
[...] am very excited about this! A little while ago, I reviewed On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance. I have been in contact with their PR person about the possiblity of the authors, Manisha Thakor [...]
The Authors of "On My Own Two Feet" Answer Your Questions » Blogging Away Debt responded:
Posted: June 12th, 2007 at 8:59 am
[...] little while ago, I reviewed the book, On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance” by Manisha Thakor, MBA, CFA and Sharon Kedar, MBA, [...]