Get Your Money Together

Lillian Karabaic ’13 wants readers to regain control of their expenses and enjoy life.

When you’re living paycheck to paycheck, words like “budget” and “savings” often conjure sensations of doom, frustration, or defeat. Get Your Money Together seeks to clear that emotional hurdle and help you regain control of your expenses. Through eight chapters, Lillian Karabaic ’13 and a host of adorable cats guide you through the world of financial planning with concise but clear explanations, tables to keep track of your own budgeting and saving, and discussion questions that make it easier to discuss money with friends, family, and partners.

The kitten-filled pages of Get Your Money Together not only inform but invite reader participation, including space for note-taking and reflection. Rather than prescribing a specific financial regimen, Karabaic provides a framework for the reader to construct their own strategy based on personal goals. The process that emerges is one of incremental, weekly steps, from tracking daily purchases to choosing a budgeting method to prevent overspending. Karabaic’s goal is not to crack down on the reader but to help them reach a sense of calm about their money, contending that “the most punk rock life of all is one where you are in control of your money and can make the choices to enjoy life—based on your own values.” If you find yourself peeking at your bank balance through closed fingers, dreading your rent payment, or even if you just want to understand what a mortgage is, Karabaic’s book has resources for you.

Tags: Alumni, Books, Film, Music, Business, Entrepreneurship, Innovation