*** disclaimer I am not paid to shill for this, don’t know the author, am not affiliated… just wrote a mini review on a comment here, and I find myself writing it all the time, thought it deserved its own post***

Please also don’t mind this totally unsolicited advice if it’s not helpful for you!!!

Shannon Lee Simmons is a Toronto financial planner who wrote a book to provide easy and simple financial advice to people who really, really need it. The book is like $15, available most places, and offers a bunch of tools around finances for people: - a whole chapter around how and why people overspend and how to re-wire brains, super compassionate/tackles emotions - teaching people how to prioritize big wants or needs over ‘fuck it’ purchases that don’t even bring any joy - slow and steady and realistic: how to reach goals without feeling trapped by rules and eventually giving up altogether - case studies from people at every income level, Canadian context specific advice (nothing about 401ks) - a template/tool for budgeting using her method that doesn’t include having to track every purchase ever always

It’s not a get rich quick thing, doesn’t recommend you buy anything, not a Ponzi scheme, I swear, lol — just a budgeting book on how to manage what you’ve got going on.

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I grew up in a low income single parent family, and stayed dirt broke and worked min wage only into my late 20’s… I didn’t ever have a model on how to do this stuff til this book.

I just did some math, and since I read it in 2019, I have paid off 35k in debt and built my credit score to ‘good’ from the dump, even though I don’t make a ton.

I first got it from a pal, and I’ve since given it to 2-3 friends who have found it helpful, too.

I donnoooo, I hope this doesn’t get downvoted cause it is such a weirdly glowing review for essentially a financial product. It just helped me SO MUCH and could maybe help you too.