Does This Make My Assets Look Fat?: A Woman's Guide to Finding Financial Empowerment and Success

by Susan L. Hirshman

As Susan Hirshman sees it, the rules of successful dieting are the same rules that apply to successful money management. In this upbeat and informative guide she offers women a 3-phase personalized plan that follows common dieting programs to help them understand their finances. The structure of the book is consistent with that of a typical diet book - it includes an evaluation phase, an induction phase, and a maintenance regimen.  Susan offers specific advice on topics that matter most to women including how to develop realistic and attainable goals, how to make smart financial decisions, how to determine the best way to invest based on a reader’s 'investment personality’, and how and when to get professional help from a financial advisor all while relating it back to a theme that practically every woman has experienced at least once in her life – dieting!.  Susan's program completely removes the intimidation factor that often accompanies the words ‘personal finance' and 'investing’ and provides women with all the information they need to take control of their financial situations once and for all.  

Genres: Nonfiction, Finance

320 pages, Hardcover

First published September 14, 2010

Reviews

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think myself a fairly savvy person with my money. But in the last few years life has taken me down a different road. I found this book to be easy to read and understand. Much of it were things that I knew, but it is always a good idea to revisit them again. If you think that you need to be smarter about your money this is a good book to check out.

[Bree · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because information was presented well and without bias toward one investment option over another. The full range of financial planning from accumulation to distribution was covered. This is a keeper.

[Edina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Susan L. Hirshman was a managing director at a top global financial institution for most of her career. I felt a little overwhelmed once we got talking about hedge funds and mutual funds but I enjoyed the "five Ds" that could devastate your life and how to ameliorate that process.

[Hilliary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like the implication that all women have paid outsized attention to their weight all of their lives....but, unfortunately it's true and it's a good metaphor explaining these financial concepts. I didn't need the metaphor, and it turned out I didn't need this book, though (it didn't introduce any concepts I didn't already know), so I guess I'm not the audience

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this would be be a silly read - I picked up 5 wealth management books at once - but it was one of the most helpful books of the group! Super helpful and great long-term financial planning tips.

[Julie Akeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book, it's about ten years old or so, using diet as an analogy was great for the time written but today's viewpoint on diet is different. But the information is solid. A good informative read for financial education.

[Eryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of good advice. Ended up getting more detailed than I expected.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written with a voice geared toward women, this book covers a wide range of topics with the main metaphor comparing investing to the concept of dieting. It does a really good job, and it's actually not as cheesy as it sounds. I also think that men would find this information more than useful as well, sans the feminine pronouns. I probably learned more about stocks and the stock market reading this book than any other book that I've read thus far. Previously, I knew the basic concept of what the stock market is and what a stock, bond, mutual fund, etc. is. I would say this book gives a bit more detail and better explanations about those things. I would describe it as a little bit more than a primer, but stops just sort of going too in depth about any one topic, but gives enough for one to know the proper questions to ask and info to seek when dealing with professionals on the subjects. Main topics consists of setting up a proper portfolio for your needs and long term goals; Knowing how to shop for the proper investments for your needs and goals (or rather communicating that to your financial advisor); Protecting yourself from financial Sabotage; and finally towards the end it touches on Estate Planning. There is definitely great info for everyone here. If you enjoy the topic of money and finances and learning about ways to grow and protect what you have, this is the book for you. I'll point out some highlights:

Easily digestible for women
The book is geared toward women under the premise of making what could be very dry content more easily digestible by relating it to something many women can relate to–dieting. It is my own conclusion that one of the main reasons women don’t invest is that they have to be mostly sure of something before they do it; whereas men attempt things they aspire to do regardless of whether they’re sure they will be successful or not. Hirshman’s book supports this premise as she notes that women are advancing at all levels from associate degrees to PH.Ds but their financial literacy doesn’t seem to be increasing.

Emphasis on Saving for retirement
It’s never too early to start saving for retirement. This book gives tips to those at every age level whether you’re in your twenties, middle-age, or retired. Young people may not put much thought into saving for retirement, but should be the ones doing it the most as they have the greatest asset on their side, which is TIME. Young people have the most to gain by Investing money in a 401k or IRA, as they have the most time for compound interest to greatly increase their investment. Also, as a special note for women, it is noted that women often underestimate how much they would need to have saved for retirement. Special factors come into play for women as they miss blocks of earning time due to rearing children, also women are often caregivers to others, plus they generally earn less than men for the same job.

The value of cash
Just having cash isn’t enough to create wealth, (assuming you don’t have an absurdly high amount), but even still just having cash sitting in the bank or in your possession without growing actually results in a loss of value because of inflation. Unless your money is growing, it is losing value over time. Liquid Investments such as money market accounts, certificates of deposit, stocks, etc help to counteract this.

This book covers all this info and More. It's a keeper.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure why this book needs to be for women specifically. Maybe because they can relate to the diet analogy that permeates the book?

It starts off with some good analysis of an interesting example of how to not set your financial priorities: If you're being smart, paying off that relatively high interest student loan eventually probably isn't the best choice. And you do need to look at the cost of your decisions, rather than prioritizing according to what stuff you like most, and procrastinating on planning the rest.

And there are some very good descriptions of financial concepts. The book is a good read for the Finance 101 aspect.

But down deep, the author is an old-school financial planner who wants you to find an old-school financial planner who can steer you to the right mutual funds. I know that's a huge over-simplification, but there is better financial advice out there.

[Juliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great comparison- money and diet - I hope to use the idea to loose weight because I have different financial ideas that works better for me than what the books says, very interesting and insightful book nonetheless.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept is comparing finances to a diet because it's something women can understand. Trite and condescending, although I get the feeling it is aimed at a very old lady audience. Really talks down to the reader.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I could have done without the dieting analogies, Hirshman's book is a keeper. Good reference point for financial terminology.

[Alima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Учебник по инвестированию, написанный женщиной для женщин. Нужно читать с карандашом и делать заметки. Обязательно перечитаю.