Take Charge Now: A Woman's Guide to Personal and Family Finance

Monika Rohlmann is an environmental consultant in Yellowknife, Northwest
Territories.

Patricia Lovett-Reid, the primary author of this book, heads an
investment program for women under the banner of a major mutual fund
company, which also happens to be the book’s major sponsor.

The guide’s five chapters cover the financial basics: budgeting,
saving, insurance, wills, RRSPs, and pensions. Each chapter ends with a
personal financial snapshot, a case study that illustrates some of the
factors previously covered. There are also a series of quizzes that
assess financial knowledge and personal savings goals.

Take Charge Now focuses on how to save money, not necessarily how to
invest it. Mutual funds are the only investment tool discussed. While
the book is geared to women, it offers no special information or
explanation why this is necessary; the information is basic and
applicable to all. The quizzes and step-by-step referencing on budgeting
would have benefited from the inclusion of worksheets. The quizzes
deliver a major “wake-up call” to women complacent about letting
their partner do the finances. For that, the book is most useful.