New Personal Finance Books for Your Bitch-free Summer Vacation

It’s that time of year again, Bitch Nation! SUMMER VACATION!

Long time devotees of the Bitches know that we take precisely two hiatuses (hiati? I’m a highly paid professional editor) every year: one in winter and one in summer. And our summer hiatus starts riiiiiight about… meow. So say good-bye to your Bitches for two whole weeks!

During the break we’ll be doing some richly deserved grape-eating and cabana-boy-gazing. Hah! Just kidding. As usual, we’ll use this time to work on the site and begin production on the next season of the podcast. Call it a “working vacation”—that most repugnant of contradictory terms.

Even though you won’t hear from us for two weeks, we won’t leave you empty-handed. Can’t have you getting bored or restless with no riveting personal finance content to keep you edutained! So of course this hiatus comes with homework.

Behold, the 2022 Bitches Get Riches Summer Reading List:

Cashing Out by Julien & Kiersten Saunders

First on our summer reading list is the literary brainchild of our beloved Julien and Kiersten Saunders, the bad-ass couple behind the blog rich & REGULAR and TV show, Money on the Table. And I fucking loved it.

Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away is, on its surface, an early retirement primer for all us regular folks, but especially for regular Black folks. Dig deeper and you get to the meat of Julien and Kiersten’s message: we should all be reclaiming our power. Power over our money, our lives, our families, our futures.

I found myself overwatering the plants in my garden while reading Cashing Out because it kept giving me serious “Ah-hah!” moments. And I live and breathe personal finance writing! This is why I keep coming back to the Saunders…es (again: professional editor here): I know I still have so much to learn from them.

If you need to refresh your mindset and assumptions around money, this is the book for you. If you’re tired of white twenty-something tech bros telling you to just “work harder,” this book is for you. If you want to see an example of a healthy (not perfect!) marriage, partnered together in all aspects of work and personal life… this is the book for you.

I think it easily replaces a lot of the tired, old, unrealistic (or just plain dishonest) books on making it good. Burn that copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad your clueless manager foisted on you and read this instead.

Taking Stock by Jordan Grumet

Not only is Jordan Grumet (aka Doc G.) the absolute best interviewer in financial media, he’s also one of the best humans. Anyone familiar with his Earn and Invest podcast will recognize his compassion, thoughtfulness, patience, and humor in his new book, Taking Stock: A Hospice Doctor’s Advice on Financial Independence, Building Wealth, and Living a Regret-Free Life.

I’m far from what you would describe as a “spiritual person.” But reading my advance copy of Taking Stock got me uncomfortably close to thinking about my purpose in life and what it means to use my time purposely, intentionally. And in the most beautiful way!

This is a book for anyone who has ever wondered why they should bother saving money, why bother planning for the future. It’s also for anyone who has ever thought “I couldn’t possibly indulge in such an expense—what if I need that money later?” It’s inspirational in that it will cause you to stop what you’re doing and go outside and sniff a dandelion… or quit your job to pursue something more fulfilling.

Plus, the foreword is by Vicki Robin (hallowed be Her name), so you know it’s legit.

Stacked by Joe Saul-Sehy & Emily Guy Birken

Few things in this ridiculous money mediasphere spark as much joy, hilarity, and unabashed absurdity as the Stacking Benjamins podcast, hosted by Joe Saul-Sehy and the mysterious OG. So when I heard that Joe was partnering with the ever brilliant Emily Guy Birken to write a money management guide, I threw myself into the preorder line like a bug at a windshield on i-70.

Stacked: Your Super-Serious Guide to Modern Money Management is anything but “super-serious.” And that’s exactly how I like it! They cover everything from investing 101 to retirement planning to budgeting with the kind of no-fucks-given attitude we thoroughly endorse around here. It’s not your mom’s neighbor’s dry money guide. It’s way heckin’ better.

I recommend it for both beginners and those who think they have a handle on their personal finances. I certainly learned some new shit while reading it, and again: I’m a card-carrying money nerd. It’ll hold your attention with its humor and make you learn without noticing it’s happening. If only my high school math teacher had done the same…

Kitty’s pick

Also, Kitty would like me to recommend, um… this thing:

Don’t look at me! I don’t know what’s wrong with her!

If four books isn’t enough for you, feel free to peruse the stacks of Bitchtastic Book Reviews and recommendations from summer vacations past:

• Bitchtastic Book Review: Tanja Hester on Early Retirement, Privilege, and Her Book, Work Optional
• Bitchtastic Book Review: The Feminist Financial Handbook by Brynne Conroy
• The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander: A Bitchtastic Book Review
• Bitchtastic Book Review: Hand to Mouth by Linda Tirado
• Bitchtastic Book Review: Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Your Big Brain
• I Read a Book About Warren Buffett. Here’s What I Learned.
• Bitchtastic Book Review: The Financial Diet by Chelsea Fagan

You have your assignments, bitchlings. Go forth and enjoy those beach reads! We’re counting on you!