Davinia Tomlinson - Cash is Queen: A Girls Guide to Securing, Spending and Stashing Cash

Davinia Tomlinson Andrea Oerter

Hi there,

If youre reading this, then chances are youve got more than a passing interest in how to manage your money effectively. If not, then maybe somebody gave you this book, which means that the people in your life love you enough to want to make sure youre ready to enter adulthood, with everything you need to succeed. The good news is whichever of these camps you fall into, youre in the right place. The even better news is that the lessons in this book, if applied consistently, will set you up to adopt good money habits for the rest of your life. No, seriously.

Im Davinia and I spend most of my days thinking about how to get more money in the hands of more women. Not because Im money-obsessed (when has that ever worked out well for anyone?) but because the reality is, we could do with a little help in this area. You may be surprised to discover that, despite the female population excelling in lots of ways overall, from academic life to our chosen careers, women all over the world face significant challenges when it comes to cash.

We earn less, we invest less, and we struggle more financially when we reach old age. This is not OK.

But were going to do something about it. Starting with this book.

You, dear reader, have the potential to do great things (Im sure youve probably already started) and one of the best ways to unleash that potential is through knowledge. By the end of this book, I want you to feel ready to take on the world, and to contribute to it in a way that is more equitable and financially fair for all. My job is to help guide you along the way.

Just think of me as your financial fairy godmother, with all the wisdom and the sparkle but without the magic spells. Couldnt stretch to that unfortunately.

Love,

Dav x

I mean really think about it. Beyond your day-to day-spending and the occasional daydream, which may or may not include things like:

1) How much money you have;

2) How much money you wish you had; and

3) What you intend to do with your money once youve closed the gap between points 1 and 2!

No, when did you think more deeply about your cash? The above are all important, dont get me wrong. And spoiler alert: these will probably still be your top three considerations as you get older too.

But Id be willing to bet (money of course), that the idea of looking a bit closer at your cash and considering not just what you have today, but also how to build upon it to do amazing things in the future, is probably not something youve spent a whole lot of time thinking about.

And if not, I hear you. Anything finance- or money-related has got a bit of an image problem to be honest. A makeover is long overdue. But guess what? Now is quite possibly the absolute best time to be thinking about your finances.

Why? Well, you might be surprised to hear this, but there are millions of adults all over the world whose first introduction to managing their money was when they got their first jobs.

Yes, there are the exceptions who start earning their own money sooner. Maybe you babysit your neighbors kids a few hours a week, build websites, walk dogs, or sell stuff to your other friends. In which case youre already off to a flying start.

But for lots of us, the first time we ever earn a proper paycheck is in our twenties. By which point, there are probably so many habits weve picked up from watching others manage their money, some good some not so good, as well as all the potential pitfalls we may encounter along the way, that our chances of making savvy money moves from day one are already likely to be reduced.

If you think about it of course this makes perfect sense. How could you possibly be good at doing something if youve never been taught how? Or at the very least had someone nurture your natural born talents to be even greater?

Imagine some of your favorite hobbies. Gaming, dancing, athletics, coding, music classeswhatever it is you enjoy. This hobby probably started to feel really good the more experienced you became at it. Nobody likes being annihilated in their favorite computer game time after time. So you practice and study, you refine and review until you get so good that you can beat your opponents without even breaking a sweat.

The same principle applies to money.

Waiting until you have money to learn what to do with money makes no sense.

Just as you wouldnt expect Naomi Osaka or Serena Williams to have achieved their sporting success without years of coaching and study beforehand, you cant expect to get good with money without learning the basics first.

But lets get the elephant out the room first shall we? You know, the giant pink one that were all too afraid to mention for fear of causing offense? Yeah, that elephant.

You may be wondering why this book is all about girls. After all, money isnt gendered so why should books about it be? And if you were already thinking that, then I love your inquisitive mind. Dont lose that, it will take you far.

But lets not beat around the bush here: while money, just like love, is a universal language, it seems that the world is yet to catch up to this obvious truth. Dont believe me? Lets look at some of the evidence. One of the best ways to illustrate this point is to look at the difference between how men and women are spoken to about money.

In a brilliant piece of research called Make Money Equal, commissioned by Starling Bank in the UK, there were some striking differences.

While advertising, press, and other media such as magazines aimed at women tended to focus on discounts, budgeting, and shaving money off our grocery bills, the same media aimed at men tended to focus on some of the more exciting elements of money management instead, such as stock-market investing or buying and selling houses for profit.

The difference in the language used was slightly suspect toofor women greater emphasis was placed on saving a few pounds here and there, while for men it was more about building wealth. But surely men want to bag a grocery bargain too (everybody eats after all!) and what woman doesnt want to know how to grow her hard-earned cash?

The quite obvious shade? That women either arent or shouldnt be interested in anything more than the most basic money management and should really just stay in their lane.