What is the main message of Get Good with Money?

Take control of your money and create a prosperous future with Get Good with Money.

Who is the author of Get Good with Money?

Tiffany Aliche is the author of Get Good with Money.

Money & Investments

Get Good with Money Book Summary - Get Good with Money Book explained in key points

Listen to the Intro

00:00

Get Good with Money summary

Name: Get Good with Money
Rating: 4.3 (391 reviews)
Author: Tiffany Aliche

Tiffany Aliche

Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole

4.3 (391 ratings)

27 mins

Brief summary

'Get Good with Money' by Tiffany Aliche is a practical and engaging guide that teaches readers how to take control of their finances. It covers everything from creating a budget to investing in stocks, and provides actionable advice for achieving financial freedom.

Topics

Wealth Personal Finances

Table of Contents

Get Good with Money
Summary of 8 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Get good with money and build yourself a bright future.

Tiffany Aliche was doing well for herself. She loved being a preschool teacher and had acquired a good-sized nest egg. But a recession and an unfortunate run-in with a financial scammer upended her life. Suddenly, she was out of a job and in a deep hole of debt.

At rock bottom, there was nowhere to go but up. Aliche began mapping the path to her own rescue and came up with a formula focused on financial wholeness – an accessible alternative to get-rich-quick promises or complicated money-making schemes.

The formula’s ten principles have since helped over a million women save and pay off millions in debt. They show that taking control of your finances isn’t scary – it’s empowering!

In these blinks, you’ll learn

the fundamentals of budgeting;
why squirrels are good financial role models; and
how to get richish.

Developing a healthy mindset around money will set you up for financial success.

Have you ever wondered how you’d cope financially if disaster struck? For too many of us, that hypothetical has become a stark reality. If the coronavirus pandemic shows anything, it’s that the unpredictable can happen at any moment – and jobs or income stability can go poof just like that.

But being financially whole means not having to worry about those things. Instead, each area of your finances works in sync, for you. It doesn’t matter whether you live in a penthouse or your parents’ house – anyone can work to achieve this state.

Before starting the ten steps to financial wholeness, check in with your mindset around money. It’s a topic that often brings with it anxiety and shame, but you can overcome your triggers with a few simple exercises.

The key message here is: Developing a healthy mindset around money will set you up for financial success.

Knowing when and why you do something is really important when it comes to making lasting changes so, first, recognize your money influences and patterns. Your approach to money didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s been shaped by your family and society. Start to break any patterns that aren’t serving you by gently probing your behavior. Write down your financial habits. Be honest about where they come from, what they make you feel, and how they might be derailing your goals.

Next, establish a financial voice and use it to take charge. Picture a version of yourself who’s great with money. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to work hard for money; instead, make your money work for you. When you see yourself as the boss, you’ll start making different decisions.

It’s also crucial to find a reason for gratitude, and to live for joy. More money might make your life easier, but it won’t make you happier after a certain point. You might feel uncomfortable as you begin to change your financial habits. But that’s just a sign of your growth – something to be grateful for. Create a gratitude list, and add to it every morning and evening.

Next, remember to surround yourself with positivity and accountability. Think about the people who influence you – do they encourage and support you? If not, proactively replace these drains with people who will lift you up.

Finally, remember the power within you. You have everything you need to pursue financial abundance! Your current circumstances aren’t the end; they’re just the beginning.

A solid budget provides the foundation for your financial future.

Learning to create and manage a budget is your first step toward financial wholeness. Your budget is your say yes plan – it allows you to indulge your dreams, be they a tropical vacation or going back to school.

Budgeting is an active task, requiring you to track how much you bring in every month and to know your fixed and variable expenses. Throughout the process, try to be as specific as possible.

Saving like a squirrel will bring you peace of mind.

Squirrels are master savers. During acorn season, they gather their bounty, even digging holes and planting the acorns for later (otherwise known as investing). When winter arrives and there’s nary an acorn in sight, the squirrels aren’t worried. They tuck into their cozy homes and live off the savings they stored during better times.

Typical human behavior, on the other hand, is the opposite. We like to splurge when times are good – “Live for the moment!” But to get good at saving, you’ve got to save like a squirrel – the second step to financial wholeness.

Becoming debt-free and boosting your credit score lets you focus on making money.

The flipside of savings is, of course, debt – a heavy topic. But you’re in luck! Digging out of debt is the third step to becoming financially whole.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re dealing with a mortgage, student loan, or credit cards; to begin tackling debt, you need to shift the way you think and talk about it. Instead of describing the state of owing money as “I’m in debt,” say, “I have a debt to pay.” Debt isn’t a place, so don’t let yourself get stuck there.

Increase your income by assessing your self-worth, building your skills, and getting a side hustle.

OK, it’s time to get some more money flowing into your bank account! It’s easy to feel stuck when you’re living on your noodle budget and struggling to build your savings. But remember your power. Ever heard of the goose that laid golden eggs? That’s you – figuratively, of course!

There are a couple of ways you can increase your income, the fifth aspect of financial wholeness. They involve upgrading your current earnings, as well as hacking the side hustle.

Make your money work for you by investing for your retirement and wealth.

Money is like a plant; if you put it into an investing account, it’ll grow. This growth happens because of something called compound interest, which is when your money makes money and this money – the interest – makes you more money.

Basically, your interest earns interest.

Getting good with insurance will help increase your net worth.

Insurance is tricky. It can feel like a waste of money – until you need it. And then, if you don’t have it, you could be in real trouble. Getting good with insurance is the seventh step to becoming financially whole. It’s thinking of insurance as a safety net if there’s ever a crisis.

First, if you don’t already have it, get health insurance. Employers usually provide a few options. If you’re self-employed and live in the US, healthcare.gov is a good resource for finding the right policy.

Engage financial professionals to help you reach financial wholeness and leave a legacy.

The most surefire way of achieving your financial goals is to seek out support, advice, and expert guidance; this is your money team. Putting together a team of financial professionals and accountability partners to keep you on track is the ninth step to financial wholeness.

Say you rent your apartment, have some savings, and have set up a 401(k) through your job. Your money team might just be a financial educator, plus your partner or peer group. Make sure they’re what Aliche calls dream catchers: empowering people who are enthusiastic about financial growth.

Want to see all full key ideas from Get Good with Money?

Key ideas in Get Good with Money

More knowledge in less time

Read or listen

Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.

Find your next read

Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.

Shortcasts ^New

We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

What is Get Good with Money about?

Get Good With Money (2021) is a ten-step guide to developing a healthy, happy relationship with your money. It focuses on building wealth through the concept of financial wholeness, which embodies constructive spending and saving habits – leading to financial security and peace of mind.

Get Good with Money Review

Get Good with Money (2021) is an indispensable guide that helps readers gain control over their financial lives and create wealth. Here's why this book is worth reading:

With its practical strategies and actionable advice, it equips readers with the tools they need to make smart money decisions.
By combining personal stories with financial expertise, the book provides relatable examples that make the content engaging and relatable.
The author's down-to-earth approach and relatable tone ensure that readers won't find this book boring, but rather accessible and enjoyable.

Who should read Get Good with Money?

Women who want to take charge of their finances
Ambitious earners looking to boost their wealth
Anyone who wants to budget better or slash debt

About the Author

Tiffany Aliche, aka “The Budgetnista,” is an award-winning financial educator. She’s a regular on The Real talk show and cohosts the financial podcast Brown Ambition. Aliche also cofounded the Live Richer Academy, an online school that teaches women how to achieve their financial goals. In 2019, she cowrote a bill that made financial education mandatory in all middle schools in New Jersey. Aliche has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Fast Company, among others.

Categories with Get Good with Money

Money & Investments

Book summaries like Get Good with Money

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

John C. Bogle

The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns

12 min

4.3

You Are a Badass at Making Money

Jen Sincero

Master the Mindset of Wealth

14 min

3.6

How to Make Money in Stocks

William J. O'Neil

A Winning System in Good Times and Bad

21 min

4.4

The Financial Diet

Chelsea Fagan and Lauren Ver Hage

A Total Beginner’s Guide to Getting Good with Money

19 min

4.3

Millennial Money

Patrick O’Shaughnessy

How Young Investors Can Build a Fortune

A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need

20 min

4.2

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

T. Harv Eker

Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth

The secret methods to getting what you want

The Science and Art of Longevity

20 min

4.3

The 5 Types of Wealth

Sahil Bloom

A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life

Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life

16 min

4.6

The Index Card

Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack

Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

15 min

3.9

Discipline Is Destiny

Ryan Holiday

The Power of Self-Control

18 min

4.7

Getting It Done When You're Depressed

Julie A. Fast

50 Strategies for Keeping Your Life on Track

A Proven System for Building Passive Income and Wealth Through Stock Investing

The Secret History of China's Most Powerful Company

Unlocking The Six Types of Motivation at Work

How to Start Conversations that Get Results

15 min

4.1

You Deserve to Be Rich

Rashad Bilal

Master the Inner Game of Wealth and Claim Your Future

18 min

3.5

The Longevity Formula

Avanti Kumar-Singh

Ayurvedic Principles to Reduce Inflammation, Increase Cellular Repair, and Live with Vitality

14 min

4.0

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do

Amy Morin

Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success

The Life of Gordon Moore, Silicon Valley’s Quiet Revolutionary

Reclaim Your Time and Emotional Energy in a World That Always Demands More

The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy

23 min

3.9

The Happiness Project

Gretchen Rubin

Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Little Things That Can Change Your Life… And Maybe The World

How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant

Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives

17 min

4.1

The Fine Art Of Small Talk

Debra Fine

How To Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills – and Leave a Positive Impression!

The Secret to Achieving More with Less

The Art of Winning in an Age of Uncertainty

21 min

4.3

You Don't Need a Budget

Dana Miranda

Spend Without Shame, and Manage Money with Ease

How Living with Less Can Lead to So Much More

Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away

The Psychology of Persuasion

Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It

18 min

4.2

Man’s Search for Meaning

Viktor Frankl

The harrowing experiences of the author in a concentration camp

Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

19 min

4.3

Everyday Millionaires

Chris Hogan

How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth – and How You Can Too

Strategies for Getting the Best Out of Virtual Work and Teams

Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip

22 min

Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics

Dan Harris

A 10% Happier How-To-Book

20 min

4.4

Read the Face

Eric Standop with Elisa Petrini

Face Reading for Success in Your Career, Relationships, and Health

26 min

3.4

5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life

Bill Eddy

Identifying and Dealing with Narcissists, Sociopaths, and Other High-Conflict Personalities

18 min

4.2

The Book of Joy

Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu

Lasting Happiness in a Changing World

21 min

4.6

The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey

Kenneth H. Blanchard

Don’t Take On the Problem if the Problem Isn’t Yours. That Monkey Doesn’t Belong to You!

What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money – That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

29 min

4.5

Good Strategy, Bad Strategy

Richard Rumelt

The Difference and Why It Matters

21 min

4.2

People ❤️ Blinkist

Sven O.

It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

Thi Viet Quynh N.

Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

Jonathan A.

Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

Renee D.

Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.