According to Dr. Lois P. Frankel, "Women have been so brainwashed by the destructive female culture that taught them to associate money with sin, evil, and everything crude that it would take an entire book to disentangle the subconscious fears and incredible fantasies that the simple noun 'money' evokes in most women."
Frankel divides her book into sections focusing on 75 common mistakes based upon a destructive subliminal belief system. These subconscious behavior patterns, she argues, sabotage women and often prevent them from achieving any degree of financial success or independence.
Every woman needs—and deserves—a healthy and successful relationship with her money, and Frankel offers commonsense assistance with recognizing self-defeating behaviors and retraining one's brain.
Why do so many women, in spite of being taught the dos and don'ts of smart money management as children, grow up to do so many things wrong with their money? According to Frankel, it's because while we are growing up, we are also picking up a barrage of mixed messages.
On the one hand, the value of money is drummed into our heads, and we learn all about the need to spend wisely and save for the future. But on the other hand, the message that we must display kindness, nurture, and cooperate also comes through loudly and clearly. These are the traits that women are expected to possess. Nice girls should be less concerned with saving money than they are with saving their relationships.
Following each chapter, or mistake, Frankel offers her financial know-how in the form of expert coaching tips to help women practice what she preaches. One problem I see with Frankel's advice is that it is too simplistic for women who are experiencing serious financial issues.
For example, mistake 18 is "Not Taking Care of Your Most Important Asset: You." We should always keep track of when we are due for our annual physical exams, and an excellent way to remember them is to schedule them around our birthdays. We should all eat right and get plenty of exercise so that we can be at our best. However, joining a gym or taking a vacation at a health spa is out of the financial reach of a lot of women. Even starting a hobby can be costly; I don't know of any hobby that does not require some financial investment.
All in all, Nice Girls Don't Get Rich is an enjoyable book and does offer insight into ingrained thought patterns, as well as many valuable lessons on how to overcome them. I would recommend it to any woman who is interested in remodeling her financial house with the caveat that she should seek other counsel for any serious financial planning.
