“Smart is the New Rich”

Wednesday, 27 October 2010 | by Pat's Picks

More people are on food stamps than in college. And the average American has more than $7000 in credit card debt. My friend Christine Romans uses facts like those in her new book, “Smart is the New Rich: If You Can’t Afford It — Put It Down,” to drive home her point about curbing discretionary spending.

I had the book in my hands months ago when she asked me if I’d contribute a quote for the book’s publicity. When we worked together doing business news at CNNfn, Christine was (and still is) the person with a head full of stock exchange and business trivia. But she’s also got an ability to connect the dots between big business and Main Street, which is the strength of her book.

USA Today published a nice review of the book this week. The paper summed up Christine’s main theme this way: “You can’t control your job, investments or home value, she says, but you can control how you spend.” To that end, 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.

Christine’s book is available on Amazon:

Smart is the New Rich: If You Can’t Afford It, Put it Down