FUTURE-FOCUSED WEALTH

Cox provides a comprehensive overview of improving one’s financial situation and money management.

In her nonfiction debut, the author, a certified financial planner with decades of experience, starts things off by mentioning something she’s heard from countless clients over the years: They really wish they’d started thinking about their retirement savings long, long before they actually got around to it. “Your future self is out there,” Cox writes starkly, “waving at you frantically from 20 or 30 years down the road, hoping you don’t forget about them.” Insisting that financial planning is very much not reserved for the wealthy, the author assures her readers that it’s for everybody, and that it’s never too late to start planning. In this brief, tightly organized book, she breaks down the complexities of the many retirement savings options open to people in the present moment, from ordinary savings accounts to stocks, pensions, 401(k) plans, CDs, and even cryptocurrency. In each case, she analyzes the variables involved, from inherent market instability to the different investing attitudes of different generations to other factors, like increased lifespans (“maybe it’s modern medicine,” Cox muses, “or maybe people are just hanging around a little longer hoping to see the Chicago Cubs win another World Series”). The author addresses all aspects of personal money-handling, from (refreshingly) the emotions involved to such draining elements as addressing crushing debt, which she describes as a marathon rather than a sprint (“And guess what?” she adds. “You absolutely can cross that finish line”). Whether she’s explaining taxes and deductions or charitable donations, Cox maintains this same governing tone of informed optimism; no matter how complicated or forbidding the financial subject seems, Cox manages to be both realistic and cheerful—no mean feat. Readers who start this book feeling gloomy about their long-term finances will finish it feeling much more informed, and maybe a little more optimistic themselves.

A bracing can-do guide to boosting long-term financial health.