I have a sort of extended-family member, who has asked me to have lunch with her and her wife in a few weeks to help them get better at managing their money. From what I know about them, they are pretty bad at thinking through how small purchases add up, they are often on the bleeding edge of having no money (for example, today she postponed a lunch date we had because she has to run a cashier's check over to her insurance guy so that their car insurance doesn't laps), etc. I am going to introduce them to YNAB, eventually, but what I'm really looking for at the start is a book that will engage them both and that will talk about many of the core concepts that MMM preaches, but without the facepunches.
The concepts I'd like the book to address, in language that would appeal to them: hedonic adaptation, how mindless spending doesn't really bring you satisfaction (and is hard on the planet), and how it actually makes you less happy, because it's just a bandaid, and it's a never ending cycle that depletes your resources so that you are less able to invest in things that really make you happy.
They are both pretty heavy yoga-practicing, social-justice types, and so I think that kind of language might hit home with them. I think their relationship is such that they would probably be interested in reading the book together and talking about it, if it was engaging enough. And if I can actually buy them two copies of the books before I see them next, bonus. Because I can see myself saying, "Buy this $10 book!", and them replying, "Oh, wow, that sounds great! We'll try to pick it up when we have the money, but you know, we're kind of strapped right now..." *goes to Starbucks for a mochacchino 5 days in a row...*
Any great suggestions from y'all? Thanks in advance!