Christine Romans: Smart is the New Rich

Wednesday, 26 January 2011 | by Pat's Picks

My fantastic co-anchor from my CNNfn days spoke about her new book last night at an event I attended. “Smart is the New Rich” is a common-sense, plain-language guide to money and investing. And the key message from the CNN business reporter is to live within your means.

At her book signing last night at Borders at Columbus Circle in New York, she was introduced by my other on-air partner from CNN days, Ali Velshi. Christine repeated a theme from the book: that there’s a lot in the world of your money that you don’t have control over, so you’ve got to focus on the things that are within your control, like spending.

Some of her key advice:

1. If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. If you can’t afford it, put it down.

2. Think of money like nutrition. (Christine compares spending money willy-nilly to binging on junk food: you might experience some immediate gratification but your splurge will create more work and more problems down the line.)

3. Negotiate everything.

4. Always save first.

It’s common-sense advice, but Christine’s book delivers it in a nice package that relates Wall Street to Main Street.

More about Smart is the New Rich from Amazon.com

Follow Christine on Twitter

Ali’s just-revamped website AliVelshi.com