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Table of Contents
Cover
About the Author
Acknowledgments
You Are in the Right Place
How to Use This Book
Introduction
NOTES
My Story
PART I: The Start
Your What and Your Why
CHAPTER 1: Your Mindset
LET GO OF YOUR MONEY MISTAKES
DREAM BIG – AFFIRM YOURSELF TO BEING
WEALTHY
SHIFT YOUR CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE
MEET LATOYA SCOTT
NOTES
CHAPTER 2: Get Organized
GET YOUR RECORDS IN ORDER
TRACK YOUR SPENDING
IDENTIFY YOUR BAD MONEY HABITS
KNOW YOUR NET WORTH
DEFINE YOUR VALUES
SET YOUR GOALS
MEET MOLLY STILLMAN
NOTE
PART II: The Plan
CHAPTER 3: Budgeting
BUDGETING 101 – THE BASICS
SETTING UP YOUR BUDGET USING CATEGORIES
BUDGETING STYLES
REWARDING YOURSELF
BUDGETING ON AN INCONSISTENT INCOME
BUDGETING AS A COUPLE
THE SAVE YOURSELF FUND – YOUR EMERGENCY
SAVINGS
MY STORY: HOW I SAVED OVER $100,000 IN
THREE YEARS
CHAPTER 4: Debt and Loans
LET'S TALK ABOUT DEBT…BECAUSE IT SUCKS
PAYING OFF YOUR DEBT
STUDENT LOANS…FACTS AND BASICS
MEET MELISA BOUTIN
WHERE TO START WITH YOUR STUDENT LOANS
IDEAS TO PAY OFF YOUR DEBT FAST
MEET NASEEMA MCELROY
CASHBACK AND REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
MEET MONICA LOUIE
NOTES
CHAPTER 5: Investing
INVESTING 101
MEET ADEOLA OMOLE
INVESTING FOR RETIREMENT
HOW TO START INVESTING
MEET BRITTNEY KNIES
PART III: The Necessary
CHAPTER 6: Credit
CREDIT 101
CREDIT SCORES
BUSTING CREDIT MYTHS
NOTE
CHAPTER 7: Protecting Yourself
CREATING A BACKUP PLAN WITH THE RIGHT
INSURANCE
RECESSION‐PROOFING YOUR FINANCES
COMPROMISED INFORMATION
CHAPTER 8: Making More Money
NEGOTIATING TO WIN
SIDE HUSTLES
NOTE
CHAPTER 9: Key Financial Actions
STEPS TO KEEP YOUR FINANCIAL PLANS INTACT
IN CLOSING
Index
End User License Agreement
Clever Girl Finance
Bola Sokunbi
Copyright © 2019 by Bola Sokunbi. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of
the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission
of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee
to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923,
(978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 646‐8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com.
Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions
Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201)
748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have
used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or
warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this
book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales
representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained
herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a
professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for
any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to
special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical
support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Sokunbi, Bola, 1981- author.
Title: Clever girl finance : ditch debt, save money, and build real wealth / Bola
Sokunbi.
Description: First Edition. | Hoboken : Wiley, 2019. | Includes index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2019009063 (print) | LCCN 2019010747 (ebook) | ISBN
9781119580843 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119580829 (ePub) | ISBN
9781119580836 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Finance, Personal. | Women—Finance, Personal. | BISAC:
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Personal Finance / General. | BUSINESS &
ECONOMICS / Personal Finance / Budgeting. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS /
Personal Finance / Money Management.
Classification: LCC HG179 (ebook) | LCC HG179 .S55235 2019 (print) | DDC
332.0240082—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019009063
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © Clever Girl Finance Inc.
This book is dedicated to the original clever girl, my mother Emily,
and to all the clever girls who have chosen to take ownership of
their financial futures.
About the Author
Bola Sokunbi is a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI),
finance expert, speaker, podcaster, influencer, and the founder and
CEO of the personal finance platform for women, Clever Girl
Finance.
Based on her experience saving over $100,000 in three and a half
years after graduating from college and navigating through various
financial mistakes and successes of her own in the years that
followed, Bola started Clever Girl Finance in 2015 to provide women
with the tools and resources she wished she had when she began her
financial journey.
She lives with her husband and twins in New Jersey.
Acknowledgments
This book would not be possible without the support and
encouragement of some amazing people in my life.
To my parents, Tunji and Emily, for instilling the important money
and life lessons that have helped me grow into the woman and
mother I am today.
To my husband Gbolabo, for being my number one fan, motivator,
and super dad from the very beginning of the idea for Clever Girl
Finance.
To my twin babies, Ore and Jola, my most precious gifts. I have
grown so much being your mother, and I'm so proud of who you are
each becoming. I am forever grateful for all the joy you bring to my
life.
To all my incredible friends, family, mentors, and advisors, who have
encouraged me through the ups and downs of growing Clever Girl
Finance while balancing life at the same time – I am so grateful to
have you in my life.
To advisors Dan and Amy Stoller, Monique Nelson, Roshi Givechi,
Jonathan Cornelissen and Maureen Jules-Perez for all your support
and counsel, and for believing in me and my big vision.
To Alex Iskold and the Techstars family, for the incredible
opportunity to join the ranks of Techstars companies and for
providing me with the platform, resources, and mentorship to build a
highly successful company.
To team CGF – Melisa Boutin, Esther Bangura, and Christin Perry –
for your endless support and dedication to making this book and
Clever Girl Finance a success.
To the incredible women whose stories and advice are featured
throughout this book, thank you so much for being a part of this
journey.
To my book publisher, Wiley, and my supporting book editors, thank
you for the opportunity to get this book out into the world.
To the Clever Girl Finance Tribe and to everyone who has supported
and shared my message and mission, I would not be here today
without you. I appreciate you more than words can express. I am
honored and humbled to be able to positively impact your financial
journey.
Thank you so much for everything!
Bola
You Are in the Right Place
So, you've picked up this book because its cover and title have piqued
your interest. Or perhaps someone recommended it to you.
Either way, you're probably reading this because you could be doing
better with your money and you want some inspiration (and
education) to help you get to that place where you are truly happy
about your financial picture now and into the future.
Ultimately, you want to be able to live your life on your own terms
without having to worry about money all the time. You shouldn't
have to settle for things and situations you don't want because you
lack the finances and options to make changes.
Right?
Well, I've written this book for women just like you – women who
are working hard to make a living. Regardless of what your income is
currently or what your financial situation looks like, in this book I'll
show you, step by step, what you need to do to get to that happy
place where you have peace of mind about your finances.
I'll be challenging you to ditch the status quo of debt and living
paycheck‐to‐paycheck, and I'll be sharing a ton of inspiration to help
you jumpstart your journey toward financial success.
In addition to learning what it takes to build real wealth, you'll read
some incredible stories from women just like you who have
accomplished major feats by paying off debt and saving money.
They'll show you that you too can be successful with your finances, as
long as you are ready and willing to put the work in.
Wherever you are on your journey to building wealth, I am more
than certain you can get to the stage you desire – and I'm going to
show you how.
How to Use This Book
This book is your guide to financial success. I want you to gain the
most benefit from it, so I've put together a few tips to help you along
the way. While there are many ways to read this book and act on the
information on these pages, here is what I recommend:
Plan to read it all the way through so you don't miss any
valuable information. You'll get a good sense of the whole
picture of improving your finances.
Pace yourself as you read it and take it one chapter at a time,
doing the suggested action items as you go along. Highlight, take
notes, and bookmark anything you want to revisit. Completing
these action items as you go will allow you to start working on
your finances right away and stay motivated to keep going.
Once you are done reading the book and completing the action
items, come back and review your notes, action items and
bookmarks.
Keep this book as a reference to answer questions or get unstuck
when needed.
The goal is to get as much as you possibly can from this book to help
you win big with your finances!
For additional resources, visit clevergirlfinance.com to check out our
personal finance courses and participate in our amazing community.
Introduction
You have what it takes.
#CLEVERGIRLSKNOW
I started Clever Girl Finance as a platform to empower women to
take charge of their personal finances. I wanted to create a
comfortable space for women to learn and have conversations about
money without being judged, shamed, or pressed to show off. And
most importantly, I wanted to provide a space that would allow us to
be ourselves regardless of our backgrounds or our current financial
or life situations.
Creating a comfortable and nonjudgmental space has been of utmost
priority to me because as women, in a world filled with standards
and expectations, we keep so much bottled up. Sometimes being
honest with ourselves and letting it all out is necessary.
We are more likely to talk about things like dating, relationships, sex,
shopping, parenting, and reality TV than we are to talk about paying
off debt, saving money, or investing – the latter of which is super
important to our long‐term financial well‐being and overall quality of
life.
Why do we shy away from the money conversation so much? Well, as
a woman I know how hard it can be to talk about money because:
These reasons plus several others are what get in the way of
achieving our financial success.
Men, on the other hand, are the complete opposite. I mean, put five
guys in a room and they'll talk about everything from sports to
business to beer to women to money and they won't even give it a
second thought. Why shouldn't we, as women, be that comfortable
about having those same conversations about money? We are just as
smart, we are just as successful, and we most certainly work just as
darn hard for our dollars.
As the Clever Girl Finance Tribe has grown, I've received a lot of flak
about how good money management, saving, investing, and building
wealth is not just a “woman's thing.” But in all honesty, I'm really not
fazed by that criticism. I do believe it needs to be a “woman's thing.”
Yes, building wealth applies to everyone – there's no dispute there –
but I'm tired of our specific needs being ignored by the finance
industry. I'm even more tired of seeing financial products and
services designed by men from the male‐dominated finance industry
coated in pink and automatically termed “for women” because, well,
that's not how it works for us.
I mean, I love pink, but it takes more than a pink coating for money
topics to be relatable to us as women and for our financial needs to
be met. And in so many instances, the products and services that
exist today just don't cut it – especially in regard to the unique
factors that affect us as women when it comes to our finances.
Those one‐size‐fits‐all groupings that come with set standards? We
don't quite fit into them – sorry.
Given all the unique (and sometimes negative) factors affecting us as
women when it comes to our success with money, we need to make
money “our thing” and deal with it “our way” in order for us to be
able to build wealth. And more importantly, be able to live life on our
terms.
But what factors am I talking about?
Well, for one thing, we are earning more money on average than we
have ever earned before. Many of us are heads of our households or,
if we are in relationships, many of us earn significantly more than
our better halves.1
However, despite us earning more than ever before, we are paid
significantly less for doing the same work as our male counterparts
in nearly every single occupation and industry. On average, women
earn about 20% less than men. If we break it down by demographics,
the numbers are even worse: black women earn 35% less and
Hispanic women earn almost 50% less.2
On top of that, we are living longer than men by an average of 5–10
years, which means we actually need more money for our financial
well‐being in retirement than men will.
And I haven't even gotten into the emotional side of things. As
women, we tend to be more emotional beings – at least more so than
men. That makes us big givers – not only are we more likely to give
to charity and buy more extravagant gifts, but we're less likely to
fight for a promotion or ask for more in a salary negotiation.
But wait a minute, what about things like retail therapy? More
women than men admit to shopping to make themselves feel better3
– and many admit to doing it because they want to make others feel
happy.
I could go on and on with these factors, stating studies and statistics,
but let's not get carried away. It's not a bad thing to be emotional,
giving, or happy to spend. In fact, women are generally good with
money. Like, really good with money. With the right tools,
knowledge and support, we are incredible savers and investors.4 We
take more calculated risks and are more patient when it comes to
reaping returns. Being emotionally aware isn't our downfall – it's our
secret weapon.
The majority of us want to learn more about or do better with
managing our money. We want to do better with saving and
investing – so what is holding us back from our financial success?
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