"I survived capitalism, and all I got was..."
Our second personal finance book review + giveaway šāØ
Hi friend,
As you know, Iām challenging myself to read more personal finance books again this year. This started because I want to learn more about how money works in the UK, and see how itās talked about here. But I also want to see whatās being written by authors in other countries right now (and catch up on a few good books Iāve missed). So, Iām reading 1 book/month and sharing a review here. And Iām SO excited to tell you about the second book, I SURVIVED CAPITALISM AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT: Everything I wish I never had to learn about money by Madeline Pendleton.
I first heard about Madelineās book through my friend
. She read it in just two days and felt Iād enjoy it. I ended up getting a couple copies from Madelineās publisher, Doubleday (thank you again, Anne!) and was excited to read it. I wasnāt familiar with Madelineās other work (her TikTok accountābecause Iām one of the people who doesnāt use itāor her business, Tunnel Vision) so I had no expectations of the book. All I knew is that it was a memoir by an American author. But it is so much more than thatā¦This is a story about a woman who grew up in poverty (but didnāt know it) and has worked her *ss off to get to where she is today. The story of a woman who had to use debt to get ahead, and felt the weight of it for years. A woman who has seen firsthand how capitalism + debt can destroy peopleās lives (and cause them to take their own). A woman who has taken everything sheās learned about money and capitalism and tried to create a more equitable world in her communitiesāboth in-person (via her own business) and online (through all she shares).
You do not have to share Madelineās experiences, to take something from this book. And you do not even have to agree with all of her beliefs and opinions on capitalism. But reading it will help you understand it better, and remind you why this system is not working for some people. And, itās told with radical transparency, and through the lens of someone who does not act like a victim, but rather shows JUST HOW MUCH WORK it takes to survive and even attempt to change your circumstances. (And it should not take this much workā¦)
I basically only have good things to say about this book, so Iāll just get into it. And if you get to the end of this and find you want to read it yourself, Iām giving away 1 copy! And will happily ship it to one of our paying subscribers anywhere in the world. Yay! šāØ
What I liked about I SURVIVED CAPITALISMā¦
When I started thinking about how I would review this book, I wondered if it would be appropriate to just say: Itās great, please read it! Whichā¦ might be a good enough review! But Iāll tell you at least a few things I liked about it:
The way itās structured. Each chapter outlines a period of time in Madelineās (financial) life and is followed by something she calls a āCapitalism Survival Skill.ā Things like: how to build credit, how to get a job, how to rent an apartment, etc. This is where she takes what sheās learned and gives practical tips to readersā¦ and they were INCREDIBLE. (Although the tips for āmaking it out of a recession aliveā on pages 131-133 felt almost like a way of lifeāat least for elder millennials. It feels like this is how many of us have been living since graduatingā¦)
The honesty and transparency. You can see this in her storytelling, and all the numbers and situations she shares. But it also shows up in those Capitalism Survival Skills. She doesnāt give the same personal finance advice you will find in almost every other book. Madeline shares REAL things that REAL people have to do, in order to get someone to take a chance on them, so they can try to change their circumstances. Like: ask a friend to be a fake reference for you (THATāS REAL).
The empathy and humanity. Itās clear that Madeline has done some deep thinking on everything she shares in the book. She shows so much empathy and compassion for other people, and anyone whoās story she shares. Itās also obvious how much she cares about her community. But her humanity shows up again in the survival skills. The tips for āhow to manage financial stressā (page 197) and āhow to feel happy when everything around you feels sadā (pages 210-211) felt like some of the most supportive advice Iāve read. More personal finance books like this in the future, please.
Some of the quotes I underlined while reading:
āCapitalism is a matter of life and death. The stakes are high, and if you lose, it might come for you in ways youād never expect.ā (p. xv)
āMoney is both a practical and deeply emotional thing. On the one hand, itās a math problem. You add up your expenses and subtract them from your monthly income. Itās cold and calculated and precise. On the other hand, if the numbers donāt add up quite the way youād like, it feels less like a math problem and more like a you problem.ā (p. 2)
āThere are rules to follow if you want to make it to the end, but we all start in different positions on the board with different tools by our side.ā (p. 21)
āThe more I learned about my familyās relationship with money, the more it felt like my destiny was predetermined from birth. It didnāt matter that I got straight Aās or graduated from high school early as valedictorian and got nearly a perfect score on my SAT. Kids from more comfortable economic backgrounds would always have more resources, from better-quality schools to more support and better networking connections.ā (p. 241)
āThe American Dream tells us that we can change our economic reality if only we work hard enough, but time and time again, we see that class mobility is a myth.ā (p. 242)
āThe first day I met Kelsey, she told me she just wanted to have a nice life. At the time, I wasnāt sure what she meant. The older I got, though, the more I came to understand. She didnāt want anything fancy or special. She just wanted to be happy. She just wanted to have enough.ā (p. 276)
āThis is what most business owners are doing: minimizing their payroll expenses as much as possible to maximize their own earnings. By choosing instead to pay all workers the sameāfocusing on what is āenoughāārevenue is freed up to bring more workers on board, creating more āgood jobsā for our community.ā (p. 284)āon running an equitable business, and paying all employees the same wage, which is something sheās known for
āIāve always kind of thought that money just makes people more of whatever they already are.ā (p. 294)āYES. I believe this too.
āThe thing about capitalism is that it is fiercely individualistic. There are winners and there are losers, and from what I can tell there are a hell of a lot more losers than winners.ā (p. 307)
And one longer quote from the beginning that feels worth sharing:
āOur childhoods set up our relationships with money, for better or worse. We absorb lessons about class from our surroundings. Our cities and towns shape our perceptions of normal, forming the basics for the scale we use to judge everyone around us moving forward. If you grow up in a town with more poverty, your scale slides just a little to the leftāwhere normal is a little more broke. If you grow up in a town without poverty, your scale slides just a little to the rightāwhere normal is a little better off.
Similarly, our parentsā incomes set the foundation for what we think an average income isāanyone with less than us is poor, anyone with more is rich. These are arbitrary standards that only make sense to us and people who are like us, with similar backgrounds and upbringings. We speak to each other and throw out these phrasesārich, poor, a good job, a bad jobāas though they are terms with real meaning. In reality, when we use these words, weāre describing our own lives rather than concrete things about the world around us.ā (p. 20)
What I didnāt like (spoiler: nothing)
Honestly, friendā¦ I have nothing bad to say about this book. But as an editor, I kept thinking: surely, thereās always something!? You canāt just write a review that says āTHIS IS GREATā and not have at least some kind of balanced look at what worked and what didnāt work. Can you!? In this caseā¦ I can. Because Madeline is an amazing writer, and my assumption is she worked with an amazing editor. I would have to do a lot of work to try to find something I didnāt like about this book. Thatās still a very personal review. The fact that I think itās excellent doesnāt mean everyone who reads it will agree! But thatās how I feel, friend. It is excellent and I think everyone should consider reading it.
I did make one editorās note:
When talking about how to build credit, the book says banks give you a āmonthly limitā on your credit card (p. 23). Thatās not true. Itās not monthly. Itās justā¦ a limit. Sure, you could spend the total limit, pay off the full balance, get it back down to $0āand do that every month. If you had the cash flow, thatās totally possible. But if you spent the full limit in one month and couldnāt pay it off, you would not get more credit added to your limit the next month. Youād be maxed out. Many of us know this. But as an editor of a personal finance book, I wouldāve wanted to make sure this was crystal clear to readers. Many financial products (especially debt products) were designed to be confusing. The more we can help each other understand how they work, the more informed decisions we can all make! Anyway, as an editor, I wouldāve just said: remove the word āmonthly,ā so itās not misleading.
Ok, I feel as though I could go on and onā¦ but Iāll stop there. I hope that sums up my thoughts and feelings well enough. I have intentionally chosen not to include any of the stories in the book, because I think itās worth reading them instead. But itās safe to say: I loved this book. Iāve never read a personal finance book like it before, and can only hope more people write books like this in the future.
Oh, and if you were wondering: yes, there is a lot of information on how things work in the US (because thatās the country she lives in and is trying to navigate her way through). But I SURVIVED CAPITALISMā¦ is a memoir, and itās one that anyone can learn from. I know I did.
And, Iām grateful to Doubleday for the extra copy, so I can give 1 away!