Book #12: All the Money in the World by Laura Vanderkam

I really liked 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam, about managing your time, but I wasn't planning on ready her second book about money until I heard some good reviews about it. She doesn't get into the nitpicky details about how to manage your money, whether a 401(k) is better than an IRA or what sorts of stocks to invest in. She instead looks at research and people's experiences about how we can use our money in the optimal way to make us happier instead of always just stressing about money and focusing on how we don't have enough of it (which is probably an almost-universal worry). I liked this idea as her focus, and thought it would be worth checking out.

I enjoyed the book, but unfortunately, it still stressed me out about  money. One of the things she talks about a lot in the early chapters on making money is how we always focus on how to be frugal and scrimp and save the money that we have, but maybe it would be more efficient to focus on making more money instead of clipping coupons. We should figure out how to maximize our income instead. This makes a ton of sense, but this stresses me out because I'm on the verge of deciding whether or not to teach next semester and getting rid of the small amount of income I do bring in right now, and it was making me feel more and more guilty about even considering it. Vanderkam also advocates not getting rid of all of the "little pleasures" like lattes (for some people) that cost some pocket change but make you significantly happier. You should consider what spending gives you the most pleasure and allow yourself to continue that instead of torturing yourself and feeling deprived all the time. I liked that idea. Mostly, money is kind of stressing me out, with having goals of trying to save our money and use it appropriately, but I think some of the tips in this book are probably helpful in not just making the most money, but being happier about the money you have.