It's Not Common Cent$: A 30-Day Personal Finance Crash Course for College Students and Young Adults. How to Manage Money, Save Money Fast, Pay off Debt and Invest in the Stock Market. Paperback – 19 Feb. 2021

What a great book - I'm not finished it yet, but am loving it so much I wanted to review it immediately.A funny finance book? I was not expecting Common Cents to be hilarious - here's a few noteworthy examples:"Let’s go back to that basic knowledge we were talking about, like how the plastic in your wallet or purse gives you money that isn’t yours so you can buy things you don’t need with money you don’t have. Then it charges you an arm and a leg for that dubious pleasure. That’s credit cards.""I’m a shoe girl. Love them. Don’t call me Imelda, though. I’ve only bankrupted my husband—not a whole country—for my shoe collection. LOL. Don’t worry, he’s not bankrupt. Yet. Winking emoji.""The important point is that your outgoings need to be prioritized. Think of a sinking ship and the captain calling out, “Women and children first! Men last. Camels after the men.” In money terms, that’s you, the Captain of Your Money Ship, shouting, “Food and shelter first! Jimmy Choos last!” And you probably won’t be buying a camel, so you can ignore that.""Looking at your past finances can be uncomfortable the first few times you tackle it. The point is to give you a sense of what you’ve spent money on already, and this will give you the framework to plan how you might be spending money in the near future. To help you get to that point, it’s time to take some action. Grab a flat piece of wood with no splinters that’s big enough to sit on. Take some long nails and hammer them through the wood until you have a bunch of nails sticking out the other side. Then put the piece of wood on a chair with the nails sticking up and sit on it. That’s what I call uncomfortable. Budgeting will be a breeze after that. I’m kidding, you know. Don’t hammer long nails through wood and then sit on it. Short nails work fine."

A really fantastic personal finance book aimed at College students and young adults.First off, this is one of the best demographics to target with an educational personal finance book - it’s something of an open secret that so many young adults feel woefully ill-equipped to deal with the pressures of financial management as an adult. What’s more, this is the very demographic where good habits will lead to a healthy financial life, whilst bad habits can lead to issues that follow throughout adulthood.The book itself is great in its delivery. The writing style is accessible and informative; steering firmly away from being condescending. I also really like the structure of the book - it’s starts with the fundamentals (financial jargon, and ‘golden rules’) before progressing logically through a typical financial journey (spending analysis, budget, insurance etc.) before finishing up with more ‘advanced’ topics, namely taxes and investing.Overall a fantastic, accessible book with sensible and actionable suggestions. I will definitely be recommending this book to others!

This is a must read for any Young Person who wants/needs to improve their financial literacy, and understand the very basics of managing their money. The writer uses a light-hearted approach (though peppered with cheesy jokes) and aims well at a young adult audience. As a “how to” book for people who have not been taught the basics I thought it was very easy to understand and follow the guidance given. Terminology is broken down and explained clearly and the reason why it is important to budget not only day-to-day but to plan ahead and start right now when saving for retirement is all laid out in barebones.I was impressed with the background research that had been done into college aged students and how much education they had received formerly on the topic. I’ve known too many young twentysomethings who have found themselves in debt and struggled to get out of their overdraft. This book has a way of helping manage debt and work towards climbing out of it.The author frequently mentions her own downloadable budgeting tools (that are free) and Facebook community that could provide support, encouragement and advice if unavailable elsewhere. The budgeting tool itself is easy to understand, and the author takes you point by point through setting up and using it effectively. Overall a really great read!

I have been reading a lot about finance and investment recently which is why I already had a fair bit of knowledge before reading the book. However, this is really good for starters to create a plan and get control over their finances. It gives good amount of info for literally anyone to be interested in personal finance.I would have wished for some more practical examples/ more specific regarding investments, but that might be because I am a bit further ahead than the audience targeted.Loved reading through it, very easy to read. Looking forward to book number 2😉

Aaminah is a stand up comedian! Or at least, that's how it seems when reading her book. She is full of witty one liners and keeps the reader engaged throughout. If finance is something that you've always kept out of arms reach because you just don't know where to begin, it's boring, or it's scary, then this book is for you! It's fast paced, it's easy to follow, it's, dare I say, enjoyable! It makes you really want to apply the knowledge you learn - and you learn a lot - in a fun way. I was actually motivated to do something about what I was reading.The book is well written and formatted in an easy to digest structure that provides a lot of information but in a simple way. The only flaw I have with this book is that it's marketed to college students and young adults and I think the audience is much wider than that! If anything, it's for older adults that missed this in their younger years and now need help with their finances - fantastic read!

If you really know nothing about money this book is for you. If you know the basics of money then it is not. Like I'm talking how to write a budget basic. How to use a credit card basic. How to use debit and credit cards basic.

Amin does not put forward a new, untested approach to personal finance. Instead, she synthesizes tried and true strategies, packaging the information for an especially hard to reach audience: young people. This is a group whose eyes glaze over at the mention of retirement, or even just long-term planning. Amin’s strategy is to get this readership thinking in concrete terms about what it would mean to be financially secure and free from the worries of debt—and possibly also from the shackles of wage labor.Of particular interest to young readers will be the detailed content on “spending & saving hacks,” side hustles, and multiple income streams.Amin is a patient educator, opening the book with foundational terms that in other contexts (such as personal-finance blogs and listservs) often get thrown around without explanation.Also helpful is that Amin’s writing style is accessible and jokey, like one friend talking to another. Amin is honest about her own early missteps, and she presents herself as Exhibit A when making the case for getting out from under debt and gaining understanding—and thus control—of one’s finances.The book is loaded with practical tips (directed primarily to US and UK readers) and with recommendations for further learning—including Amin’s own Facebook Group.I read this book primarily for purposes of review and reinforcement, thinking I already had a pretty good handle on most of the content. But the book still ended up clarifying quite a few things for me (for example, Amin’s explanation of credit scores is probably the clearest I’ve ever encountered).The book reminded me of how I used to think about credit card debt, back when I was in college: my focus was usually on the minimum monthly payment rather than on how interest was changing the real cost of my purchases. If that kind of credit-card ignorance persists, Amin’s comments will quickly set folks straight.Do young people buy personal-finance books? I’m not so sure. I suspect they are more likely to seek information on subreddits dominated by crypto bros (for example). Maybe the way to get this book into the hands of its intended audience is for the older crowd to gift it to younger friends and family members. I’m quite certain that the young people in my own clan will be more willing to listen to Amin than to me!

Providing a comprehensive 30-day action plan, It's Not Common Cent$ guides readers through general information on money management and the various approaches to it.There are two sections of the book, each with two and eleven chapters, respectively. The financial guide starts with a brief summary of some basic financial jargon, before moving on to nine golden rules. These also serve as a guide to what the financial guide is going to cover. Continuing with its action-oriented study, it asks the reader to conduct his own analysis, giving the reader a better idea of where he stands in his financial journey. Including Budget, savings, debt, insurance, and tax in its subsequent topics, with their importance, types, and pros/cons, the author provides an extensive set of spreadsheet and Excel instructions, accompanied by many illustrations.There is an overview of the actions to be taken at the end of each chapter. Apart from the quotes at the beginning of each chapter, I appreciated the friendly, conversational tone of the author while giving lessons on a subject that could easily become tedious. The lessons, as such, sounds as if are being given by a friend, with humorous analogies and examples.Some parts of the chapters were geared toward the USA or UK readers, such as apps for use or tax information, which I had to skim since they did not pertain to me.In general, the book proves to be very informative for those just starting out on the road to financial independence and looking for guidance on how to cope with it. I recommend it especially to ignorant college students, who, with its logical lessons and the author's friendly tone, will not find it boring and will leave with valuable knowledge for their futures.

Even tho most of the advice is for people who live in UK or USA I really enjoyed all the tips and tricks Aaminah gives. You should really read this book if you have trouble with budgeting and not at all knowledge about investments.It is written very well and it is funny. The resources inside, such as the pdf she provides, are very useful. Definitely worth the money!!!

I wish they would teach us how to manage finances during school or university. However, the author has made up for that lack of teaching with her book. She's explained how to manage your finances in great depth and in a light hearted, easy to understand manner. I've already started using the Excel template that is created by the author and available for free to download. Overall a great, in depth but easy to read book for a non finance person like myself!