Book Review: ‘Wild Money’ by Luna Jaffe

If we’re going to be totally honest, many personal finance books we’ve come across are… well… rather serious, full of text, and sometimes a little dull.

A few years ago, we toyed with the idea of creating a fun, interactive and colourful money journal that would appeal to people with a creative flair. After running the concept past a few people, and preparing a bit of a visual overview, we (quite literally) put the idea on the shelf - not because we didn’t think it was good, but simply because we had other priorities (like launching #Sprout_Ed).

As it turns out, it’s good we didn’t end up creating our own journal, because we’ve since discovered Luna Jaffe’s ‘Wild Money’ companion pair.

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The two books, ‘Wild Money: A Creative Journey to Financial Wisdom’ and ‘Wild Money: A Financial Field Guide and Journal’, are beautifully presented and while they complement each other, are very much stand-alone texts.

Both books are based on the ‘Wild Money Manifesta’:

  • Receive money with grace

  • Spend money with intention

  • Nurture your nest eff with love

  • Grow your gold wisely

  • Protect your potential

  • Give with guts and gratitude.

Both are also full of colour, are easy to read and understand, and have a practical real-life focus. The field journal takes the activities a step further and has dedicated pages for colouring, drawing, writing and checking off actions steps.

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Luna is based in the US, and had a career as a visual artist before becoming a financial adviser. In an interview with Portland Interview Magazine, Luna explained regarding her book, “What I figured out as I was writing it was that to me, Wild Money was about getting back in touch with creating a financial ecosystem that makes sustainable sense. It’s wild as in natural, not in the reckless or without a caution sense of the word. If you think about it, a wild environment, a natural environment—even the cycle of predators and prey, they are all in balance. Nature tends to get screwed up when we come in and say, “Let’s take the wolves out.” When you take the wolves out, the deer become too predominant and they eat all the food and then everything else becomes messed up. And the same is true with money. If we don’t make it a natural part of our lives, things tend to fall out of balance.”

We can’t agree more!

Suggested for: people who like to be creative and want to have fun with finance.

You can read more about the book here.

Note: We have no association with Luna Jaffe, nor any personal interest in the sale of this book.

Jenny Rolfe