Get a Financial Life

I’ll admit that I originally planned not to review today’s book, Beth Kobliner’s Get a Financial Life, since its subject is outside of my wheelhouse. However, it was recommended to me by a friend and it seems useful enough to pass along that recommendation along with a few comments. Besides, the last time I reviewed a New York Times bestseller, it turned out to be the most Reactionary book ever written (in some sense, anyway).

Kobliner’s book is primarily intended for people in their twenties and thirties, and though anyone can probably learn something from it, it’s certainly going to be most informative for those who’ve just recently begun living on their own. She covers topics like explaining different kinds of debt, how to choose a bank, what kinds of insurance you do and don’t need, planning for retirement, and basic investing advice. If you’re in your late thirties like I am, you’ve likely (one hopes!) already figured out much of this, but for, say, a recent college graduate, much of this seems complex and intimidating - especially since some of these financial decisions can have years-long consequences.

Not that this is all for beginners only. The second chapter, “Taking Stock of Your Financial Life,” offers a simple way for anyone to get an overview of his finances and set realistic goals. The chapter on buying a home is especially valuable, as it lays out each step of the home-buying process, explains what to consider when looking for a home, and perhaps most importantly given today’s absurdly expensive real estate market in much of the United States, gives advice on how you can know whether you can realistically afford a new house.

The most recent edition is from 2017, but I believe all of the material here is still applicable. Kobliner does write from an American perspective, so though some of her advice is applicable to anyone, many of the specifics about things like banking, credit, and so on may not be relevant in countries with significantly different laws and customs around these things.

One last point I’d like to touch on is tangential to the book itself. Occasionally, there are proposals to teach financial literacy courses in schools, especially high schools. I know that general “life skills” courses do exist, though I’m far enough removed from high school that I don’t know how common they are or what tends to be covered. I’m not opposed to such a course in principle, but the question is a sticky one because our schools are hybrid institutions that attempt both pragmatic forms of education that more properly belong to a trade school, as well as liberal education (in theory, anyway; in practice, most American schools don’t really teach anything at all, at least not anything beneficial). Ideally, basic financial literacy should be taught by a child’s parents. More advanced subjects or specific questions like “Is it prudent to buy extended warranties?” need to be confronted on an as-needed basis. Perhaps the best approach is simply to recommend a book like this to recent graduates.