
I never possessed the confidence of a young Victoria Vivente.
I tried to scale the Everest of the Australian dollar but was never good with money. I was also never a banker, financial counsellor or a soon-to-be lawyer. When it comes to financial choices, I have indeed been the class dunce for my entire life.
In such a position, one might initially feel that the author here, a world-conquering fiscally-astute woman in her thirties, might be, well, just too plain triggering for your average reader to glean much from. And while I suck at money, so do most of my friends and most of my friends’ kids, and to be honest, I don’t know anyone who made their money rather than inheriting it.
The good news is we need not head for the nearest doughnut, mobile phone or bottle of alcohol on the back of Vivente’s many successes. Indeed, throughout the book’s brisk 280-page duration, the author proves herself to be a frank, funny, and insightful guide to the world of money. Here, Vivente’s strengths aren’t just knowing her way around the back-end of an ATM. Having worked as a financial counsellor, she also knows her way around people. She sees where people compare themselves to others and feel they’ve come up short; she realises that many people’s attitudes around money come from childhood, trauma, or a heady combination of both; and, most importantly, she realises how often the slick, sensual, and frequently overpowering world of consumerism, sales and marketing can hijack a person’s values or goals.
Know Your Worth comprises three parts: part one explores internal factors that influence our money, and part two outlines the external factors. In part three, we get to the good stuff, with practical tools and ways to work with budgets. Finally, for those who are particularly time-poor, the author helpfully summarises key points (or takeaways) at the end of each chapter with suitably fun summary names such as ‘nuggets and sauce,’ ‘vegetarian nachos’ and ‘hotcakes with syrup’.
Most of Vivente’s advice and insights are timely, yet they’re also strangely familiar. They’re the common sense advice we received from parents or bosses that we promptly filed under ‘who cares’. They’re the softly, softly patient approach of an elder who knows the value of money and the security it can bring. They’re also particularly powerful in execution when the author opens up to her vulnerability or acknowledges circumstance more than a fault in the lives of those struggling with financial responsibility. In such moments, our collective problem with money isn’t so much a problem as a necessary conversation around honesty, awareness and education concerning our money and ourselves.
Know Your Worth is a worthy addition to financial literature in its accessibility, candour and vulnerability. It’s also infinitely more accessible than most tomes on this particular subject and generous in its willingness to welcome financial newbies. These people likely already know it’s not about the bank; with Vivente, they can find out why and how to change the rules in their favour.