Finance for the People

Getting a Grip on Your Finances

by Paco de Leon

An illustrated, practical guide to navigating your financial life, no matter your financial situation

“a potent mix of deeply practical and wonderfully empathetic” —Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial

“one of the most approachable financial books I’ve ever read.” —Refinery 29

We are all weird about money. Whether you have a lot or a little, your feelings and beliefs about money have been shaped by a combination of silence (or even shame) around talking about money, personal experiences, family and societal expectations, and a whole big complex system rigged against many of us from the start. Begin with that baseline premise and it’s no surprise so many of us find it so difficult to save enough money (but way too easy to get trapped in ballooning credit card debt), emotionally draining to deal with student loans, and nearly impossible to understand the esoteric world of investing.

Unlike most personal finance books that focus on skills and behaviors, Finance For the People asks you to examine your beliefs and experiences around money—blending extremely practical exercises with mindfulness, and including more than 50 illustrations and diagrams to make the concepts accessible (and even fun). With deep insider expertise from years spent in many different corners of the financial industry, Paco de Leon is a friendly, approachable, and wise guide who invites readers to change their relationship with money. With her holistic approach you’ll learn how to:

• root out your unconscious beliefs about money
• untangle the mental and emotional burden of student loans to pay them off
• use a gratitude practice to help you think differently about spending
• break out of the debt cycle and begin building wealth

This book is for anyone who feels unseen, ignored, or bored to death by the way personal finances are approached and taught, and is ready to go on a journey of self-discovery and step into their financial power.

Paperback | 384 pages | Penguin Life | 2022

Paco de Leon is an author, illustrator, musician and the founder of The Hell Yeah Group, a financial firm dedicated to inspiring creatives to engage with their personal and business finances. Her career experiences in banking, business consulting, financial planning, and wealth management have informed her financial philosophies. She is a TED speaker and her work has been published or featured in The New York Times, NPR, Bloomberg, Vice, and others. She lives in Los Angeles with her wife.