How’s your money these days? It’s a loaded question ask, but given the impact of the ongoing global pandemic upon our physical, mental, and financial health, it’s a necessary one. Too many of us are stuck, running at a deficit, or at a loss on how to achieve financial stability—especially when the world feels anything but stable. That’s why we couldn’t wait to get our hands on Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche’s newest book (her first with a major publisher), Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole.
“This is my love letter to you because I want it to be the lantern that you hold as you walk through your journey,” Aliche tells us on this week’s episode of The Root Presents: It’s Lit! “Because what’s missing in this space is empathy is kindness and honesty; integrity. And so I wanted to provide a step-by-step guiding tool that acknowledges where you are without judgment and helps to take you to where you want to be without judgment. I think we are deserving of that.”
It’s the type of compassion and generosity that has been sorely lacking in our world, as of late—and Aliche shares not only her own hard-won expertise at how to rehabilitate your financial life, but shares the wealth, inviting numerous Black financial experts to contribute their knowledge as well. While the book is for anyone who could use an assist on getting good with money, as Aliche’s faithful community of predominantly Black female followers can attest, the extensive know-how and personal, down-to-earth approach The Budgetnista uses is priceless.
“I have been just inundated with feminine energy, Black Girl energy my whole life,” Aliche explains. “And so I see my audience—Dream Catchers, that’s what I call my audience—I see them as an extension of my sisters...And so, it feels so good because I don’t have to code-switch. I can show up exactly as myself. The best compliment I get when someone meets me in person, like at Whole Foods or wherever, and they’re like, “Girl,” and I’m like ”Girl!” And they’re like “Girl!”
“I also bring along other experts along the way because if I know anything about us as people—as folk—[it’s] that we learn from other people...to me it’s important that we don’t look for one person to be the guru. I don’t believe in them,” Aliche, a former schoolteacher, continues. “I’m your financial girlfriend and I will bring other friends along because I don’t know all things...So I want to introduce you to the amazing people that helped make me amazing. So that’s intentional, too. So, yes, this book is a love letter. It is a roadmap. It is the prerequisite to the rest of your financial life. It will help to create the financial foundation you need. That’s what financial wholeness is, the ten steps of financial wholeness, that’s what it is. It is the foundation for the rest of your financial life.”
Hear more teachable moments from Tiffany Aliche in Episode 30 of The Root Presents: It’s Lit!: Getting Good With Money, With Tiffany Aliche, available on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, Amazon, NPR One, TuneIn, and Radio Public. A transcript is also available for this week’s episode.