“If you’re looking for advice that will help you start investing right away, Invest Like a Girl delivers this and more. Jessica’s engaging guide will help women close the wealth gap, start important conversations, and finance their biggest dreams.”—Tiffany “the Budgetnista” Aliche, New York Times bestselling author of Get Good with Money   In a world where many women need to contend with the gender pay gap, take career breaks to raise families, and account for their longer lifespans when saving for retirement, investing is a surefire way to put yourself on firm financial footing. And when women do start investing, they often land higher returns than men. However, as Dr. Jessica Spangler discovered when she shared her financial know-how online, understanding that investing is crucial is just the beginning. Many of her followers, as well as her real-life friends, coworkers, and even patients, wanted to know exactly how and where they could start. With Invest Like a Girl, Jessica shares the essential information and offers the game plans that women need to begin investing right away and according to their unique financial profiles. Filled with easy-to-implement tools, practical strategies, and real-life examples, this go-to guide to investing will provide the blueprint for you to take the next step with your money, teaching you how to   ● Prep your finances: Get a clear picture of your net worth and know exactly how much you can allocate for investing—no matter your income. ● Pick up the lingo of investing: Understand the differences between ETFs, index funds, mutual funds, bonds, and options—and weigh the pros and cons of each. ● Manage risk without breaking a sweat: Determine your risk tolerance with a short quiz, learn to use the ups and downs of the market to your benefit, and discover how investing helps you beat inflation. ● Craft a customized strategy: Outline your most important financial goals, figure out your personal investing style, and decide how to allocate your assets with the help of worksheets, checklists, and sample portfolios along the way.   Whether you’re looking to achieve financial independence, make strides toward important life goals, or set aside enough for retirement, Invest Like a Girl will get you up to speed and empower you to start investing and make sound decisions about your money. “If you're looking for advice that will help you start investing right away, Invest Like a Girl delivers this and more. Jessica's engaging guide will help women close the wealth gap, start important conversations, and finance their biggest dreams.” —Tiffany Aliche, New York Times bestselling author of Get Good with Money “Jess's core message—how learning to invest can help you build a life you love and take pride in your resourcefulness—is an incredibly valuable directive for women. What's even more valuable: She tells you exactly how to get there. If you've ever said the words, ‘I want to get better with money, but I just don't know where to start,’ this book is for you.” —Katie Gatti Tassin, founder of Money with Katie “A pragmatic guide aimed at helping women make money on the stock market . . . Stock market neophytes would do well to start here.” —Publishers Weekly Dr. Jessica Spangler is an award-winning money educator, emergency medicine clinical pharmacist and online business owner. With more than a million followers across social media platforms, Jessica aims to make personal finance easy to understand and accessible to all. Her work has been featured on CNBC and Yahoo! and in Finance and Insider, among other publications and websites. Introduction I’ll admit, it took me a little while to understand that women aren’t treated like men when it comes to money. I attribute this to the fact that I grew up surrounded by powerhouse women. For the better part of my adult life, and certainly by the time my brain’s critical thinking center was fully formed, the primary breadwinners in my family were all women. But it didn’t start out that way. I was seven years old when I first began to learn the immeasurable value of financial independence and the powers of choice, opportunity, and flexibility that come with it. At the time, I thought the most exciting part of my day would be my childhood friend’s birthday party at Santini’s, the pizza place down the road. And it was, until my nextdoor neighbor instead of my mom arrived to pick me up. Everyone was hush-hush, as if this were perfectly normal, but I knew it wasn’t. Kids aren’t stupid. Where were my parents? The gnawing feeling that something was gravely wrong sat in the pit of my stomach as if it lived there—heavy as the weight of all the basketballs I had just spent the last several hours shooting and missing (mind you, I’ve never been a star athlete). I made small talk on the car ride home, for reasons I didn’t understand. Confusion turned into tension, and the tension grew for what seemed like days. No one wa