Today I’m happy to host Swapna Thomas with her review of Money A Love Story.
I first connected with Swapna Thomas when she won an award for having the best parenting blog in India, sometime last year. In all my interactions with her since then, I’ve grown to respect her for her passion for community and women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship, her great style of writing and for being the down-to-earth and affectionate person she is. Today, I’m so glad to be hosting her review of a book that fits in well with her philosophy of encouraging women to be in-charge of their own lives.
Thank you, Swapna! ♥
Swapna Thomas is a life coach under training and works with women entrepreneurs to help them design an incredible business and life. She truly believes that every woman deserves a life full of abundance, happiness and creativity.
Swapna is a parenting blogger who wants the message of happy moms = happy world, to reach one and all. She loves Sufi music and spends way more time daydreaming than one should.
She also coaches women entrepreneurs via phone and Skype. Visit her website, Mom Biz Cafe for her insights on business and life. You can also connect with her on Facebook.
Money, A Love Story: Untangle Your Financial Woes and Create the Life You Really Want
Money cannot buy love, but it can improve your bargaining position ~ Christopher Marlowe
In the very first page of her book, author Kate Northrup clarifies how she expects many readers to be appalled about the use of money and love in the same sentence. But she also asserts that unless we understand our relationship to money we can’t really understand love.
Throughout my life the mere mention of money or finance was enough to put my mind to snooze. And yes, I did a Masters in Business Administration. Finance was always my least favourite topic and even though I was a voracious reader, I would run away from any book related to the topic of money.
But, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Just as I started taking baby steps in my entrepreneurial journey, I discovered many amazing books that taught not just the nuts and bolts of money but an important thing which was missing from most finance books – Money Mindset.
About the Author
Kate Northrup is a professional freedom seeker and creative entrepreneur. She created financial freedom for herself at the age of 28 through building a team of more than 3,000 wellness entrepreneurs in the network marketing industry. Money A love story was born out of her journey of being in debt of $20,000 and healing her money story to create financial freedom.
Even though it is not stated anywhere in the book, it is targeted towards women and rightly so because women have so much emotional charge around money and tend to give away their financial power easily.
One of the first things that struck a note with me was how she connects making money to living your spiritual life. To live a spiritual life and fulfil your purpose, you need to be present and intentional at all times. It’s much easier to be present when you don’t have static noise in your life created by all your money issues. Simple but brilliant!
You are encouraged to maintain a money journal while reading the book to complete the various exercises throughout the book. The first exercise was writing your own money story. From your first childhood memory about money, the way you related to it in your teens, the way you spent in your adulthood and everything in between. I started doing this with skepticism, feeling that I won’t have more than a page to write about but ended up writing 20 pages!
The game changer is when Kate asks the reader to first understand the lessons they have learnt in their story and then rewrite your money story, this time as the heroine of the story. Powerful stuff.
Further in the book Kate analyzes how our childhood and the people in our life play a part in forming what is called “our money memory”. Our money memories dictate our current relationship with money and how we earn or spend it. Suddenly, it becomes clear how my lack of financial attention was tied to a lack of self-love and why I feared quoting prices to my clients.
I love this quote from the book.
[Tweet ““If you can’t see your value, the world doesn’t give value back” “]
There are so many more gems in the book but to suffice here are my three key takeaways from the book.
- Be Your Own Prince Charming – Even though we may not realize it, women often wait for someone to save them, financially. We all have our own prince charming in our money story, on whom we rely for everything related to money. For Kate, it was her mother and she decided to take back the power by listing and then developing all the qualities that were needed to become her own prince charming.
2. Start paying attention to your money – I love that Kate encourages you to take small but consistent steps towards your financial awareness. From simple steps like investing in a wallet that makes you feel abundant to the important, monthly creation of a spending plan, it’s all doable and empowering.
3. Plan for financial freedom – Kate’s true message has always been about creating financial freedom and throughout the book she stresses on how important it is to be financially free to live your life to the fullest. Creating residual, passive and recurring income is what will truly liberate you and the book encourages you to change your mindset to this end.
Money: A Love Story has a core message and that’s LOVE. To be precise, SELF-LOVE. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to be smarter around their money and have a loving relationship with it. More importantly it will also help you create a more loving relationship with yourself.
~ Swapna
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Looks like one inspirational book. A book originated from the author’s personal experiences always touches a chord with the read. Great review by Swapna
Thank you so much Kajal! Yeah, when something comes out of a person’s life experience it is so much more relatable and real. 🙂
Money has its own place and so does love. The author is so right about realizing self worth.
I haven’t met Swapna but I can feel the positive vibes via bits and bytes. My best wishes for her new ventures.
Thank you Alka for your wishes. I need all I can get. 🙂
hey I liked your style of writing !
Thank you Ananya! 🙂
It not only sounds intriguing but some soul-searching might be involved. That would be challenging as well. — Great choice. Thank you
Thank you Carol for your comment. Reading it was an emotional catharsis for me too. But it made me feel more liberated about money and the way I related to it. 🙂
Sounds like a useful book. I would love to be financially free…I don’t see it happening anytime soon with my mortgage but hopefully, some day…
Thank you for the comment! This book really helps to create the mindset towards financial freedom. 🙂
Corinne It is the “book” for me. Needless to mention that your review is excellently written and it has pushed me to buy the book. Need to learn a few things for writing a book review.
Thank you for the comment Sugandha! I am glad you liked it. If you do end up reading it, please let me know what you thought of it. 🙂
Awesome one Corinne, I was curious about which book you will review since the time I saw the prompt. This book really looks tempting, because of your review partly. I will try to give it a read.
Hi Swapna – Thanks for this. I had a huge problem with money – thought I didn’t deserve what I had and gave it away or lent it too easily! This is somethingI’ve slowly worked on over the years, but still have miles to go. Kate’s book seems fascinating and your review is fantastic!
I am really happy to be in this space Corinne. Loving it. Yes, we don’t often know about how we have programmed our minds to repel money and the beliefs behind our actions around money. Thanks again for letting me share my thoughts here. 🙂
The book looks so attractive, Such a fine review has aroused a desire to read it. Thanks for such a beautiful review.
Thank you Usha for your compliment. Do read the book. 🙂
Swapna it is a wonderful read already for me. The synoposis given by you is making me itch to pick this one up on urgent basis. More so because like you I am a huge, “money, no that is evil” kind of a person. But having said that of course it affects me more the lack than plenty.
And like you mentioned I think the teacher has appeared when the student is ready, it is the right time for me to pick up as well..
Thank you Richa for your wonderful comment. 🙂 And if you want another recommendation to completely alter your thinking about money then read Get Rich Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield Thomas. Don’t go by the title, it’s a highly empowering book and an amazing game changer.
This books is so inspiring. “If you can’t see your value, the world doesn’t give value back”, this is so true. We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first accepted ourselves! We must certainly strive towards financial freedom. Thanks for sharing about this fab book, Swapna. And good to see you here 🙂
It’s good to be here Shilpa and thanks for the beautiful comment. 🙂
“If you can’t see your value, the world doesn’t give value back”
Is there anything that remains to be told? This is a lesson you learn over time, at least it was for me.
The book seems to be a very inspiring one. Well reviewed Swapna.
Thank you Corinne for introducing such a book as well as such a person here 🙂
Thank you Bhavya, It indeed is a powerful statement about valuing your self. I am really happy to be here and interacting with so many new and kind people.
Great review, Swapna!! You’re right, women are badly in need of guidance regarding handling their own financial matters, whether they’re working from home or outside it. I’m planning to get this book soon!
Thank you Fab! And you will love reading it for sure. 🙂
I should gift this book to my husband 😀 Cant see me reading it 🙂
Oh yeah Meena! Loads of men have read and loved the book. Do gift it. 🙂
Thank you for introducing me to another brilliant book Swapna. I have forgotten the count of books you recommended that changed my life. I need this book to understand money better in my life! In the wishlist on kindle 🙂
Always a pleasure dear. You know if I love something, I like to talk about it with everyone I know. 🙂 I know you will love this.
Sigh… Im notorious for letting money slip through my hands. Guess I need a copy of this for sure 😀
Let me know how you liked it Roshan!
It’s rightly said when it comes to the matters of money think like a man. Women are emotional with money. Love has its own place but financial security is an important aspect.
Be your own Prince Charming . loved it.
Being your own prince charming was what resonated with me the most too Kalpana!
A wonderful read, though I think it’s hard to block out the static noise. It’s a must to do so though. Then and only then can we focus.
Thank you Michelle! Glad you liked it. 🙂
OMG this is one book I need to read. Swapna glad to see you here. That was one wonderful review. I have always believed I’m beyond redemption when it comes to financial matters but this book gives a hope.. just a bit.. but hope still. Thank you.
I am glad to be here Tulika! No one is beyond help and I am sure you aren’t too. Do give it a try. 🙂
such an inspiring book! Thank you for the review Swapna 🙂
I should see if my library has a copy.
Thank you Pixie! 🙂
Nice review of an interesting book!
Many of us tend to take ‘Simple living, high thinking’ so seriously that they almost consider it a sin to have material desires. While there are many things that money can’t buy, money is necessary!
So true Proactive Indian!
Swapna this is a fantastic review and I’m surely going to pick this book and recommend to all strong women out there who are so brilliant but lack confidence when it comes to dealing with money. Most women rely on husbands or fathers etc for their investments, insurance little realizing how they are curbing their own growth like this. Why do women not love but fear money, is a question I think this book tries to answer!
You summarised my review in a few brilliant words Aditi! Thank you so much for the kind words!
This sounds like a great book! I have always managed all the money in my marriage from the beginning so I had to develop confidence over time…which now thankfully I have on the most part.
That’s wonderful Kathy! Looks like we could take a few tips from you. 🙂
Sounds like a great book. And so inspirational! From $20000 in debt to being financially independent. wow. thanks for the recommendation Swapna, this is going on my must read list.
Let me know how you liked it Shefali! 🙂
Sounds like a very helpful book. I am so bad at savings though my parents are good at it. Right now, I am in debt and guess the book will make sense to me. Thanks for sharing, Corinne:)
A little late with the comment here !
A wonderful review, this is. This has added another book to the ‘to-read ‘list of mine 🙂
Thanks for the review, Swapna and Thanks, Corinne for introducing her to us ! 🙂
Hi Sreeja! Thanks for the warm welcome. Do let me know how you liked the book. 🙂