A Man Is Not A Financial Plan
Allen and Unwin (Published 2007)
Written By Joan Baker
New Zealand
Review 3 stars— Good Read

How the blurb describes the book:
How do you see your future? Will you be working hard until you're seventy? Or, worse, never have enough to support yourself after retirement? Or will you be able to retire early – wealthy, independent and financially free? The difference between these scenarios is simple: investing.

In this life-changing book, Joan Baker demystifies the jargon and lets you in on a big secret: it's not hard! No matter what your age, if you're a couple or single, and whether or not you already have some savings, you can take control of your finances.

Gone are the days of relying on a man for your financial future – after all, it's far too important to leave to anyone else. A Man Is Not a Financial Plan gives every woman what they need to achieve the future they dream of. So decide today to learn about investing and get the life you want.

Joan Baker is a financial advisor who gives one on one advice to individuals as well as speaking at seminars and conferences on personal finance and investing. She has written five books for Allen and Unwin.

Mr Home Budget's Review:
The introduction to this book describes it best: "There's no guarantee that life comes with a man. Even if it does, there's no guarantee that money comes with that man. And even if you get a man who comes with money, there's no guarantee that either will stay. At some level we all know this but too many women still rely on men to bring home income, to manage their finances and to invest for the future. We all know that this is not right. We all know that a man is not a financial plan".

This book honestly drives home real truths to all women. And it can be boiled down to this sentence, "Gets hands on with money, or regret it later." In the writer's opinion, women as a generality tend to leave their money planning to other people. This includes their partners, bosses, and society to tell them how to spend it. Plus as they look around at their peers, the message comes back that is OK for them to do this.

In fact, the book goes into some detail on how there is an extreme difference in women around money compared to men. One problem is not asking for or getting a much deserved pay rise. And the book cites studies which say in the work environment women don't take as much credit for completing hard tasks as men do. Thus they get passed over for not just promotions but also increases in their base wage. A problem which after 50 years of work can add up to big dollars lost.

Where the book excels is not only does it point out these problems, but it offers ways to fix them and turns a supposed disadvantage to an advantage going forward. Also the book will tackle the biggest problem women tend to have on the whole. "Fear" of the unknown tends to stop most women in their tracks prior to getting started. And you must overcome this before making the first move.

However this is not to say that the book is brilliant. In fact several chapters on shares and investing seem to paint a picture that all you have to do is invest in shares and you can become extremely rich. It gives the example of a real company from New Zealand that had you put your money into it several years ago you would have earned 20% a year. And for all intents and purposes this is true. But it's quite easy to say this after the fact. Who knew 10 odd years ago this share was going to have such a brilliant run? There were thousands of shares they could have invested their money in and got a much smaller return or even have lost it all. The book assumes that this share will continue to rise at the history average of 20%. This is completely unreasonable.

The bottom line is this is a good read which regardless of if you are a man or woman you can get some great advice. Will this book change your life, probably not? But it will give you some ideas on how to tweak your money situation to help yourself long term.

Pros:

Gives the reader ideas on how to tackle "fear" of the unknown, which can be one of the biggest drawbacks to getting started.

Talks about the two sexes and why our thinking is just so different. What advantages women tend to have over men with money and vice versa.

Cons:

Makes some unrealistic expectations about investing in shares.