Money and Love
An Intelligent Roadmap for Life's Biggest Decisions
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
MONEY & LOVE: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life’s Biggest Decisions is a guide for navigating life’s most consequential and daunting decisions using research-based insights road-tested in a popular Stanford University course.
Should I move in with this person? Should I quit my job? When is the “right time” to have another child? All these life-altering questions at the juncture of money and love can be overwhelming. Often, we answer them either by staying overly rational or by only listening to our – at times fickle – hearts. Hardly ever, when faced with daunting questions, do we have the keys to combine both head and heart in a balanced and fulfilling way.
Labor economist and Stanford Professor Emerita Myra Strober and social innovation leader Abby Davisson know that in our daily lives money and love are interdependent. Whereas most decision-making guides focus only on one or the other, Money and Love shows us and our loved ones how to consider them jointly using the original, step-by-step 5Cs method:
CLARIFY: Consider what you want vs. don’t through self-reflection.COMMUNICATE: Include input from those who will be impacted by your decisions in your decision-making process.CHOICES: Broaden your perspectives to open up your options. CHECK IN: Ask around for advice, guidance, and resources.CONSEQUENCES: Consider the effects of your decisions and how that may impact all aspects of your life.
At a time when we are experiencing the most significant shift in work-life balance in decades – marked by remote work, the Great Reshuffle, and a mass reconfiguring of family dynamics and social/professional networks – Strober and Davisson’s framework offers simple and effective steps to empower readers to make the best strategic decisions without having to sacrifice their careers or personal lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Strober, a retired Stanford Graduate School of Education professor, and her former student Davisson present a no-fuss framework for considering the "fraught decisions around money and love." The authors write that personal relationships and careers need not be in opposition, and suggest instead that the two are "intimately" linked. Their plan for decision-making consists of "5Cs": clarify; communicate; consider a range of choices; check in with friends, family, and other resources; and explore likely consequences. This process, the authors write, can help readers find a partner ("Try to anticipate the consequences of your relationship decision by pressure-testing it"), decide whether or not to have children ("Why do you want a child? Why don't you?"), divide household chores ("Checking in with friends and colleagues about housework and family responsibilities is useful. How do they make decisions about who does which tasks?"), and reenter the workforce after having a child ("Whom can you contact about your desire to return to work?"). The authors' emphasis on planning ahead and their helpful exercises go a long way toward highlighting their simple but powerful point that love and one's finances are interdependent, and key life conversations should account for both. Readers struggling with big decisions will find this a handy resource.
