Book Highlight: Cashing Out by Julien and Kiersten Saunders

Julien and Kiersten are authors of Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game By Walking Away under Portfolio Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. They are also the creative voices behind the blog rich & REGULAR, hosts/producers of the award-winning video series, Money on the Table, and hosts of the rich & REGULAR podcast. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, their mission is to inspire better conversations about money.

The couple has used frugal living, real estate, stock market investing and their online business to build wealth and ultimately achieve financial independence. They paid off $200,000 in five years and their story has been featured on Good Morning America, The NY Times, Forbes, CBS This Morning, Marketwatch, the Oprah Winfrey Network, and more. When they’re not sharing stories about their experiences with money, they are parents to their son Beau, traveling the world or searching for their next great meal.

What inspired you to write this book?

We understand the importance of representation and know that if we were able to tap into the unique cultural elements and viewpoints that shape the Black experience, we had a good chance of reaching people with our message. While many of the personal finance books that existed before Cashing Out are good, most don’t incorporate the realities of Black people in the workplace or personal lives into their message. Our book does and that makes it unique.

What is your book about?

Cashing Out is a financial and career blueprint for Black professionals. It taps into the somber realities of our day-to-day lives and uses them as a motivator to think and act differently with respect to money and work. Readers walk away with a broader understanding of wealth building for Black people, our experiences in the workplace and in our social lives. Ultimately, we present the idea of “cashing out” as an attainable goal that frees us from required work into a more fulfilling life of entrepreneurship, wellness, focus on family and community service.

What one key takeaway do you hope someone gets from reading your book?

We offer a framework that guides readers through how they can walk away from a life of work in 15 years or less.

Who should read this book?

Black professionals, couples, families or anyone wanting to better understand the experience of people of color when it comes to money

What is your writing Kryptonite?

Competing responsibilities are our biggest obstacles. Between our wellness goals, business goals, and family responsibilities, there’s always something else to do instead of writing.

How do you deal with writer’s block?

For us, writer’s block usually comes when we’ve allowed too many voices into our heads. Whether it’s other books we’ve read, documentaries we’ve watched, or music we’ve listened to, we find ourselves unable to write when our heads are already filled with other people’s words. So in those days, we make a point to drown it out with jazz, ambient music, working out, or taking long walks in silence. Usually, it helps us to find our own voices again.

Were there any struggles you faced in writing the book together?

For sure! First, we struggled to find a shared voice. In our book, we needed to know when “we” were saying something versus when Julien or Kiersten was saying something. And in the moments where we opted to use a shared voice, it required us to really agree on what we wanted to say. It took us some time but we finally found a rhythm.

What does your writing space look like?

We have two different spaces. Kiersten writes on a desk in her upstairs nook and Julien writes in the basement at a desk. We’re not particularly mobile writers or people who write on the fly so there are not a lot of laptops in bed or on a flight. We enjoy being able to write in the comfort of our homes.

What are your top three favorite books of all time?

How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong
Pleasure Activism by Adrienne Maree Brown
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

What are you working on now?

We’re in the process of creating a new content series where we have conversations inspired by subjects covered in our book. It’ll be all about covering the adjacent topics that influence our readers’ financial lives like divorce, family therapy, religion, tech illiteracy, and more.