It seems like self-help books are a dime-a-dozen these days, especially ones in the personal finance genre. But Kelley Keehn, an award-winning Toronto-based financial educator and best-selling author, is offering something a little different.
Save Yourself: A New Approach to Thinking About Money and Taking Control of Your Financial Future is her 12th and latest book. One of its major themes is how many of the old rules of personal finance simply don’t apply anymore. She points to seismic economic shifts in recent years, from housing prices making homeownership even more out of reach and jobs that don’t come with pensions anymore to layoffs and side hustles becoming the new normal, especially for younger Canadians.
“My older friends will lament with me how you had pensions, how you could afford a home, and how you didn’t need an incredible income just to get into a modest neighbourhood,” she said.
“So, we must think in new ways, and we want to not resign ourselves to just say, ‘Well, there’s no way to get ahead. There’s no way to live in this reality.’”
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Keehn devotes an entire chapter to artificial intelligence, specifically ChatGPT. She feels it can be an invaluable tool in guiding your financial planning, especially if you can’t afford professional coaching. She says it’s not necessarily about finding all the answers but asking better questions.
“It’s not perfect, but gosh, you take all of the books out there, all of the apps, all of the information from the entire world that we know, and AI can probably help give you some basic fundamentals that can actually move the needle with your life.”
So, is she worried about artificial intelligence putting people like her out of business?
“For the professionals out there that don’t understand how to use AI to augment and complement what they’re doing, they will soon be out of business. But most professionals and educators, this is a very helpful support for them.”
She does hasten to add that if you do find yourself swimming in debt, there is still no AI substitute for an actual non-profit credit counselor or insolvency trustee.
Keehn dedicated Save Yourself to her grandmother and her mother, the latter for her “ability to create abundance where there was so little” and “who turned scarcity into possibility and modeled courage every day.”
“I was raised by a wonderfully loving single mother who did a lot of stuff right with money, but she was a waitress supporting three kids. So, as you can imagine, there was no money there,” she said.
“But I had some very wealthy uncles, and they would talk about stocks and bonds and had all of this financial confidence. And every time I asked them or my mom, ‘How do you get ahead in life?’ I’d get a little tap on the head and they would say, ‘You’re smart, you can do anything you want, but make sure you marry rich.’ So, I did not take that advice at all. And I think that nobody should depend on someone else when it comes to their finances.”
Save Yourself isn’t just the title of the book, but Keehn’s personal philosophy.
“I just wanted the message of this to be, no one’s going to knock on your door to save you. You get to do it on your own. When did I learn that lesson? Many, many times in my career and every single time I try to get to the next level. So, I don’t write personal finance books and my 12th one because I have no money problems. I certainly have gone through many of my own and still do.”
She says Save Yourself is a judgement-free zone.
“Just think back to the holidays. Think back to Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Were you your best financial self? I could put my hand up and say I wasn’t.”
“So, that’s what this book is all about,” she said. “It’s the newest evidence and what I’ve been living and teaching for 20 years and hopefully bringing it to my readers in a format that, dare I say, is a little bit fun, entertaining, and definitely no finger-wagging or shame.”
“It’s all about a can-do attitude. And, yes, little things do make all the difference.”
Save Yourself: A New Approach to Thinking About Money and Taking Control of Your Financial Future is published by Douglas and McIntyre.