Book Review: Girls That Invest by Simran Kaur

This month I chose to review Girls That Invest: Your Guide to Financial Independence Through Shares and Stocks by Simran Kaur.

This was a super easy choice for me when I saw it pop up on my suggested reads on Amazon.

First of all, the cover is cute. 😻 It adds a nice flair to my library. Have you ever noticed how bland and boring investment book covers are?

Second, as this website is geared towards us women and how we make/spend money, it fits perfectly.

Third, I get the magic of compound interest and what it means to start investing earlier. But what other information could this author give me or remind me of that I may have forgotten?

Could this book motivate me to want to invest even more?

I do feel that continually reading books about investing, budgeting, money, etc…keeps me motivated. It helps me stay on track with my long term money goals.

So was the Girls that Invest worth the read? Let’s see!

Who is Girls that Invest for?

Obviously, women who are looking into invest. More specifically, Girls that Invest is for women that are wanting to invest but aren’t quite sure where to start.

Perhaps you’ve already started investing but you aren’t sure if you’re “doing it right”. Maybe you don’t understand all of the investment terminology.

I don’t think there’s a right age for this book. I’m in my forties and I found the information useful.

I would definitely recommend it to my eighteen year old daughter.

The question is…when is it too late to learn about investing? The answer is: it is never too late or too early. The earlier the better.

“…you start to believe that investing is complicated and only for men, while women are just inherently bad with money, or, worse, we’re just not interested in our financial futures.” – page XXIII

For the woman that may feel like investing is too complicated, Kaur does a fantastic job explaining why that is not the case.

She breaks everything down for you.

If you’re dipping your toe in investing, considering investing, or if you’re wondering if you should be, this is the book for you.

If you want to teach your daughter about investing (and we should), this is a great book to start with.

“I truly believe keeping silent about money benefits no-one but those who are already powerful….. By keeping silent about money we only make it harder for women and minorities to get paid more, to negotiate better, to learn how to invest… Who’s benefiting from our silence? Not us.” – page XXIV

Kaur started the book off strong and made me want to say “hell yeah!” to women investing.

If you need a pep talk or motivation, you’ll get that here.

What I Didn’t Like

Let’s start with the negatives because there’s only one.

Side note: I’m a huge fan of any and all investment/money chatting type books because they keep me focused. I could be surfing social media instead and shopping online. Bring on all the money books.

My unlike from this book is very petty and I recognize it is petty so don’t judge me. Here we go:

Why the heck is percent spelled “per cent“? It’s like this throughout the book. It drove me insane.

So I googled it.

And this Canadian website told me:

The spellings percent and per cent “percent one word” and “per cent two words” are both correct. Traditionally, the two-word spelling has been more common in Canada and Britain, while the one-word spelling has been preferred in the United States. However, the one-word spelling appears to be gaining ground. Whichever spelling you choose, make sure to be consistent.

Ok – I need to let this go. She was consistent with “per cent” throughout the entire book.

Grammatical errors drive me insane but this obviously was not an error. I saw nothing else throughout the entire book that irked me. The writing flows very well and it’s an easy read.

What I Really Liked

I found myself looking forward to the end of each chapter.

There’s a section called “Actionable steps” and “Investor Profile“.

Actionable Steps is nice because it recaps the main takeaways and gives you exactly what you need to go do now.

Investor Profile was my favorite and it’s a nice little break from the book.

It’s a short interview with a current investor. They share briefly:

• What their investment portfolio looks like
• When they began investing
• What stopped them from investing
• Any tips for new investors

Super fun section to read and I wished there had been more of these.

My Biggest Takeaway

Everyone is going to find their own personal takeaway that is the most valuable to them.

Mine was caring more about the companies that I’m investing in.

“Ethical investing means investing in companies and funds based on your own values and morals. What may be ethical to you may not be ethical to someone else, and that’s ok.” – page 127

I don’t spend enough time researching individual companies and putting my money into the ones that I want to see grow.

On the flip side, I could be investing in some companies that I don’t want to see grow (or exist 😀) at all.

I appreciated how much time the author spent on this subject. It’s something new I hadn’t read about before in any of my prior investment books.

Or perhaps…if it was in a prior book…they didn’t explain it in detail enough for me to catch on or care.

Should You Read Girls that Invest?

Yes! I’m glad I read it.

I’m actually more excited to share it with someone that may not be investing just yet.

I can think of a couple of people in my workplace that would benefit from this book.

Not only does it give you the why of investing, but tells you exactly how. It breaks down some investment world terminology that makes investing feel too overwhelming.

At the end of the book, the author takes the time to explain Five Beginner Investor Mistakes that a new investor can avoid.

Looking For More?

I love reading and reviewing finance books!

If you’re looking for additional reading, check out the following reviews:

• Rich AF by Vivian Tu
• 7 Keys to 7 Figures by Leslie Kuster
• Dear Fellow Spender by Emily Burnett

I also just finished reading Stikky Stock Charts. If you’re interested in learning about stock patterns and being a bit more analytical of the data, check out the Stikky Stock Charts book here. It’s educational and a bit fun. 😀