Book Reviews
“Rich Girl Nation” by Katie Gatti Tassin Book Review
A funny trend has been afoot as of late. It seems that many of the personal finance writers I’ve seen featured on the monthly Fioney Top 10 lists have recently been publishing books. I’ve already reviewed a couple of these — and there are even more on the way — but I had a chance to check out yet another: Rich Girl Nation: Taking Charge of Our Financial Futures by Katie Gatti Tassin.
I’ve been a follower of Gatti Tassin’s Money with Katie for some time (even though I only just learned it’s now owned by the newsletter Morning Brew), so I was excited to see that she’d released a book earlier this summer. And, with a drive to Indianapolis on my itinerary, I was provided the perfect opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of Rich Girl Nation.
As you may have inferred from the title, Rich Girl Nation is a personal finance book that’s mostly intended for women. In fact, the first line of the book’s Amazon description notes “Women experience money differently than men do.” Indeed, plenty of the lessons and advice throughout the book are tailored to women — yet, that didn’t stop me from devouring the whole thing with reckless abandon.
Something I realized right away (well, right after learning that I wasn’t the intended demo for the book) was that this wasn’t to be a typical “how to money” book. Rather than try to cover all aspects of personal finance and rehash the basics, Gatti Tassin uses each chapter to dive deep on specific topics — many of which I’ve never heard discussed in such detail.
To start things off, Gatti Tassin discusses what she calls a “Hot Girl Detox.” That might sound like some sort of sketchy tea a Kardashian might peddle on Instagram. In actuality, this chapter explores how the beauty and self-care industries contribute to creating a standard for women that not only can cause them unnecessary stress and self-loathing but can also lead them to spend a significant amount of their paycheck each month. Being a guy (and one who hasn’t paid for a haircut in over a decade), I couldn’t exactly relate, but I found it eye-opening nonetheless.
Another chapter that stands out is Gatti Tassin’s detailed explanation of pre-nuptial and even post-nuptial agreements. This section was incredibly informative and went well beyond the broad strokes most people probably know about these binding contracts — including what may just be the most interesting and insightful take on why pre-nups should actually be viewed as romantic. What’s more, this section is fleshed out with other couples’ money insights that I tend to agree with.
Elsewhere, Gatti Tassin offers detailed tips on negotiating a raise, investing, retiring early, and more. I also loved how she circles back to each chapter for a “grand finale” that puts all of the concepts she’s discussed together to provide even greater context. To me, it was the perfect capper to a unique and intriguing personal finance book.
In terms of criticisms, I only have one small one — and I’ll admit upfront that it’s super petty. Throughout the book, at least half a dozen times, Gatti Tassin uses hashtags in her prose. It seems extremely likely that this wouldn’t have jumped out at me if I were reading the text, but hearing it several times during the single sitting in which I consumed the book got on my nerves. (Hey, I told you it was silly.) Other than that, though, I found Gatti Tassin’s writing to be funny, sharp, and well-informed.
Even if Rich Girl Nation: Taking Charge of Our Financial Futures is indeed aimed at women, I thoroughly enjoyed the book — and learned a ton from it! In my eyes, Gatti Tassin really carves out her own lane here, traversing new topical grounds and providing fresh perspective. Of course, as a fan of her site, I really shouldn’t have expected anything less.
- Explores important and eye-opening topics in detail
- Nevertheless, the writing remains funny, sharp, and entertaining
- Those looking for a 101 on “how to money” won’t exactly find that here.
