FOOL'S EYE VIEW
A Girl's Best Friend Is Her Money

By Maggie Thomas (maggiethomas)
October 4, 2002

Discussion board regular Maggie Thomas reviews the Fool's latest book - A Girl's Best Friend Is Her Money.

I guess the first question on everyone's lips is why has The Motley Fool written a personal finance book just for women?  Don't men need to know this stuff?  Well, yes, they do.  But generalising horribly, in finance – surely as in all things – men and women are quite different creatures.  On the whole women earn less (even now), take longer career breaks, retire earlier and live longer than men.  All of these factors affect their personal finance. 

The financial world has changed more for women over the last 40 years too.  In 1962 most women gave up working when they married, and the ones who did work were paid less than men even when they did the same job – remember the sex discrimination act didn't pop onto the scene until 1975.  Fast forward to 2002 and women who are approaching retirement age still have to live with the consequences of those old-fashioned attitudes to women from 40 years ago.

Younger women can now navigate their way through a much wider range of life choices than their mothers and grandmothers.  But they still need to manage their finances, to deal with both a full life and an extended old age.  After all, as the authors, Jasmine Birtles and Jane Mack, say in the introduction to A Girl's Best Friend is her Money, "It is essential that not one woman should assume a lovely man will come along and pay for everything for the rest of her life."  If this book can help to spread the word it can surely only be a good thing – for both men as well as women.

Of course (as you would expect) the main body of the book covers areas of personal finance that can apply just as much to men as women, though there is a female slant to the information that I found both useful and refreshing.  After the introduction the book launches itself into the deep end, with a chapter covering the Miracle of Compound Interest.  It explains the subject adequately with examples, and is mercifully brief, because it doesn't include the vital information of a mathematical explanation of the formula for compound interest.  This is the only serious criticism I have of the book.  I know most eyes would glaze over if the maths appeared in the chapter, especially with it being so early in the book, but surely it could have popped up in an appendix without causing too much of a stir...?

The chapter on debt starts with the quote from e. e. cummings, "I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart".  And it succeeds in treating this often delicate subject head-on but with the lightness of touch that you would expect from The Motley Fool.  It starts by covering the many reasons we get into debt, and explaining why getting out of debt is a good idea, then offers practical suggestions for clearing down debt.  It even covers what to do if you've reached the stage where you can't afford the debt repayments any more.

This light but practical approach continues through the rest of the book, from owning your own home through investments, tax (which is mostly about ISAs) and on to pensions.  These chapters are peppered with anecdotes as well as website addresses or pointers to the other Fool books for those readers who want to look into a particular subject in more depth. 

I enjoyed the last four chapters most, as they covered the financial aspects of life events – being part of a couple, having kids, splitting up and getting older.  After all, our financial lives aren't cut off from the rest of us in a separate little compartment.  Our finances affect our lives, our lives affect our finances and the two are firmly intertwined.  And relationships are very relevant to our finances. 

I'm not saying these chapters wouldn't exist in a general personal finance book (though I've never seen the subjects covered much), but they just feel right in this book: "This is not about the fabulousness of falling in love...it goes without saying that it's one of the best bits of life...just keep at the back of your mind that there's the possibility of the relationship failing".  Money is one of the most common things that couples argue about.  So the message here is, "Money matters in a relationship...the important thing is to communicate, communicate, communicate!"

So who or what is a girl's best friend – her mother, her dog, her diamonds, her money...?  This book makes a strong case, but I guess that's a question we'll just have to answer for ourselves...

Jane Mack's response: What a lovely review of our book. Thanks! As for the lack of a mathematical explanation for the compound interest formula we were going to add it as an appendix but, unfortunately, didn't have enough space. We compromised by referring readers to the TMF UK Investment Guide which contains a full explanation of the formula along with lots of lovely numbers for those who, unlike us, enjoy maths!

Buy the book - A Girl's Best Friend is her Money