Who is the author of Broke Millennial?

Erin Lowry is the author of Broke Millennial.

Money & Investments

Broke Millennial Book Summary - Broke Millennial Book explained in key points

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Broke Millennial summary

Name: Broke Millennial
Rating: 4 (167 reviews)
Author: Erin Lowry

Erin Lowry

Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

4 (167 ratings)

21 mins

Brief summary

'Broke Millennial' by Erin Lowry is a personal finance guide for millennials that explores topics like budgeting, saving, investing, and tackling debt. It offers relatable advice and real-life examples to help readers navigate the complex world of money management.

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Wealth

Table of Contents

Broke Millennial
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Take the fear out of finance.

Money can be a pretty scary topic when you’re a broke 20-year-old fresh out of college or a thirty-something just trying to get by in a big, expensive city. Paying your bills every month is hard enough, so how on earth are you supposed to find extra cash for an emergency fund, let alone a nest egg large enough to see you through retirement?

Well, like all kinds of big undertakings in life, the journey from financial zero to financial hero starts with just one step. This can be as small as automatically saving $10 from your paycheck every month or moving your banking online to benefit from a better interest rate.

In these blinks, we’ll follow personal finance advisor Erin Lowry as she demonstrates how even the most broke millennial can discover financial success.

You’ll also learn,

how to get Freudian about finance;
why budgeting isn’t the same for everyone; and
how much you need to save for emergencies.

Many people in their 20s and early 30s find money stressful, confusing, and scary – and it’s holding them back.

After a night on the town, Erin, the author, and her friend Lizzie sobered up over coffee. Like many millennials drawn to New York, Lizzie came to the Big Apple to pursue a creative career. But she’d found herself trapped in a boring corporate job.

Erin asked Lizzie why she didn’t just quit. After all, she was 23, debt-free, and single – wasn’t this the perfect time to work crappy waitressing or nannying jobs while she pursued her true calling?

“I don’t know,” Lizzie replied. “Money just really stresses me out!” She never looked at her bank account and always just hoped there was enough cash to make it to the end of the month. Quitting her job would mean managing her money, which she’d never learned how to do.

The key message in this blink is: Many people in their 20s and early 30s find money stressful, confusing, and scary – and it’s holding them back.

Lizzie was a smart young woman who came from a well-off family. But if a savvy professional like her couldn’t manage her money, how were other people her age coping? It’s a question Erin couldn’t help asking herself. And it wasn’t long before she realized that Lizzie’s experience is pretty common among millennials.

Getting a handle on your finances is often the difference between a life of fulfillment and a life of frustration. If you don’t manage your money properly, you could end up working to pay the rent but being unable to afford the kids – or pets – you really want. It might even mean skipping out on every exciting experience on your bucket list, or else splurging on those experiences now, only to find yourself living from paycheck to paycheck for the rest of your life.

Yes, getting a handle on your finances is a serious business. It’s no wonder the anxiety about money can be crippling. So, how do you break out of this anxiety trap, or – better yet – avoid it entirely?

As we’ll see in these blinks, it’s really not that hard when you know how. In fact, improving your relationship with money doesn’t require complex formulas. All it takes is a series of small steps that, together, add up to one big change.

Changing your relationship with money begins with finding hidden roadblocks.

Money management isn’t rocket science. Sticking to a budget and saving for a rainy day is, after all, a pretty straightforward notion. Why, then, is it so hard to do?

Well, just as “eat less” and “exercise more” are commonsense advice, this doesn’t automatically lead to good decisions when it comes to being healthy. That’s because compulsive behavior isn’t rational – there’s almost always a more deeply rooted issue involved. The only way to change is to unearth the reasons why you overindulge.

There are two basic approaches to budgeting: the cash diet and tracking every last penny.

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to taking control of your money. As we’ve seen, different people have different attitudes and hang-ups, and these can be traced back to their unique childhood experiences.

It’s no wonder, then, that one method will suit some people better than others. Take budgeting as an example. How you go about planning your monthly spend depends on what you hope to achieve.

Realistic budgeting percentages can help you meet your long-term financial goals while staying on top of your monthly bills.

Generally speaking, your money pays for one of three things: fixed costs like rent, financial goals like saving for a house, and flexible spending on day-to-day living. In an ideal world, you’d give 50 percent of your net income to the first category, 20 percent to the second, and 30 percent to the third.

If you’re a millennial living in a major city, this might sound pretty unrealistic. Your rent alone probably claims half your salary – even before you think about utilities, loan repayments, or subway tickets.

You can get a better interest rate on your savings if you switch to an online bank.

The way banks display your account balance suggests that the money is just sitting there, patiently waiting for you to spend it. This makes intuitive sense. It’s your money, after all – where else would it be but in your account?

In reality, the money you deposit in your account is used to make loans to other customers, and this allows banks to make huge profits. In return, the bank offers you interest in the form of an annual percentage yield, or APY.

Credit cards are a great financial tool as long as you clear your debts every month.

Credit cards are an easy way to blow through your cash. Not only do you lose track of what you’re spending, but you also face a pile of bills with massive interest payments at the end of every month.

That’s a pretty good reason to avoid credit cards altogether, right? Not quite.

Saving money prevents you from falling into a debt trap.

What’s the single most effective change you can make when it comes to your financial behavior? Ask a personal finance expert that question, and you’ll likely hear these words: “Pay yourself first.”

The phrase means that the first thing you should do with your paycheck is put a chunk of it into savings, rather than wait until the end of the month to see if there’s anything left.

Your current financial situation dictates the size of your emergency fund.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a student loan, consumer debt, or a mix of the two – when you’re in debt, you’re almost certain to get hit by an unexpected bill at one point or another. And if you’re poorly prepared for one financial crisis, you’ll be even more exposed to the next one.

That’s why it’s so important to have an emergency fund to see you through to the next paycheck. It means you can avoid credit card debt and go right back to saving when things pick up again.

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What is Broke Millennial about?

Broke Millennial (2017) is a smart guide to personal finance, designed to help cash-strapped twenty- and thirty-somethings set themselves up for the future. Packed with simple yet effective tips and tricks, these blinks will help you stop scraping by and start thriving – financially and personally.

Broke Millennial Review

Broke Millennial (2017) by Erin Lowry is a practical guide that helps millennials take control of their finances and achieve financial success. Here's why this book is worth reading:

Full of practical tips and advice, it offers actionable steps for managing money, saving, and investing, empowering readers to take charge of their financial future.
Through real-life examples and relatable stories, the book provides an engaging and accessible approach to personal finance, making it easy to understand and apply.
With its humorous and conversational tone, it keeps readers entertained and interested, ensuring that learning about finance is anything but boring.

Best quote from Broke Millennial

Trying to change how you spend or save money without understanding why its difficult in the first place probably means youll slip up.

—Erin Lowry

Who should read Broke Millennial?

Millennials mystified by money
Would-be savers struggling to make ends meet
Short-termists living paycheck to paycheck

About the Author

Erin Lowry is a writer based in New York and the author of two books on personal finance. Known for her no-nonsense advice, Lowry is a regular guest on CBS Sunday Morning, CNBC, and Fox & Friends. She has also written about money for Fast Company, Cosmopolitan, and Refinery29.

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