The Joy of Money: The Womans Guide to Financial Freedom

I can count on one hand the number of books I've come across that have changed my life. This is one such book. I read this book shortly after graduating from college with a liberal arts degree. Needless to say, I knew nothing about money and was starting out with poor money habits and little respect for budgets, savings or my parents money. This book drove home the importance of saving, compounding and what a waste it is to roll over monthly balances on credit cards. From that point on I started paying myself first, paid off the credit cards and never again ran a balance on a credit card. I paid my dad back every cent I had borrowed from him even though I'm sure he never expected to see it again. And now I have a very high credit score. I really believe I owe it all to this book. I think it's the perfect first book to give a young novice just starting out in money management.