Brie Sodano’s main purpose in writing “Cash Confident” (Morgan James Publishing, 2024), is to help you make a life-transforming, 180-degree about-turn on how you think about and handle money.
Instead of being fearful about cash (or the lack thereof) and allowing it to paralyze your hopes and dreams, Sodano gives readers actionable strategies to better understand how their spending habits are intertwined with their life goals — and how to vastly improve both.
The book even comes with a link to an online version of the book that readers can share with others for free, and four other sources, including the Cash Confident website full of advice and exercises, and a You Tube channel with short instructional videos.
Sodano writes so knowledgeably about people’s emotions and money it’s as if she’s a psychologist.
A financial planner who began her career at Edward Jones, Sodano has run her own personal finance practice for the past seven years, where she evidently developed insight into the human psyche by empathically listening to and astutely learning from her clients.
It all comes down to understanding the emotions underlying your spending, and tracking where your money goes, so that you can better, more holistically budget your money and set financial goals, even ones seemingly out of reach.
As Sodano puts it, her aim is to help you “look at the truth of your desires, habits, mindset and feelings about money.” The key is understanding how you spend your money so that you are not beholden to bills — and an inferior lifestyle.
“When you want to use your money to create a difference in your life, the first thing to do is figure out where your money is going,” Sodano advises.
Think big, Sodano encourages. If an annual summer vacation to a cabin on a lake is economical but not the trip to Italy you’ve always dreamed out, change the end goal and start saving, Sodano urges.
If opening your own business is an ambition that’s eluded you because you’re in a job where you’re just scraping by, figure out what steps you need to take to land a better-paying, more challenging job, or perhaps a position in the industry you dream about that’s a logical next step to opening your own business.
‘Busy, Broke, Exhausted’
Bad or unfulfilling financial decisions often lead to more bad decisions, Sodano cautions. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck, like far too many people, in a “busy, broke and exhausted cycle.”
“If you adopt the mindset of your end goal, you’ll have it before you know it,” Sodano encourages readers.
“Cash Confident” is also full of humor and positive reinforcement, such as Sodano’s recommendation to be more self-aware and grateful for what you already have acquired and attained. Take time periodically to think about what is abundant in your life, Sodano recommends. Congratulate yourself for making positive change, even if it’s just the first step.
When Sodano told one client with a $40,000 credit card balance to freeze her card — she came up with the idea to tell the client to freeze the card — literally — in a plastic container filled with water. “Cash Confident” is filled with many other such surprises.
With all of her recommendations having an upbeat spin, Sodano says another one of her major goals in writing the book is to help people build self-trust and to free up cash to live a dream life.
Noting that food is one of our biggest expenses, Sodano explains how one of her clients — a working, married mother — had become a slave to expensive take-out meals and claimed she never had the time or the energy to shop. Sodano helped the woman figure out how to shop for groceries each week, plan out meals, and cook for her family — resulting not only in halving the food bill but freeing up tens of hours of the career woman’s time and improving her marriage.
In example after example of her work with clients, Sodano connected a person’s spending with what drives them, and helped them figure out ways to develop better habits to improve their lives.
As she advocates, replace “I can’t afford this” with “How can I afford this?”
To encourage people to stick to this new mindset, she maintains that when you successfully work for and save for a goal, it’s more satisfying that just accepting the status quo in your life. After all, Sodano rationalizes, throughout life, it’s important to challenge yourself, budget included.
Using money to pursue pleasures in life — such as a vacation, redecorating, or lavishing presents on family and friends — is something Sodano takes so seriously that she categorizes it under “Important Things.” Her four other categories for main types of personal finance are: Investments (10% of income), bills and regular expenses, working capital (for needs and emergency savings), and pocket money (so that none of the above categories is tapped into and becomes strained).
‘Money a Magical Tool’
One of Sodano’s best-written and most inspiring pieces of advice: “Money is a magical tool for life creation. You can turn money into literally anything. Spending your money, time and energy with intention and direction is the key to power in your relationship with money.”
While the subtitle for the book is “Practical Money Management for the Modern Woman,” Sodano’s advice applies equally to men and women alike. However, it’s written to give special encouragement to women, who traditionally earn 70 cents on every dollar men earn, and are tasked with the additional responsibilities of mother and family caretaker, which often impede their careers, earning power, investments and savings.
An encouraging book with practical advice and written in a positive tone, “Cash Confident” is a great gift for a close relative or friend — and especially to oneself.