On Monday 6th October 2025  PropelHer’s Book Club  discussed Open Up: The Power of Talking About Money by Alex Holder.

 

In this summary of Open Up: The Power of Talking About Money by Alex Holder. I’ll be briefly summarising the book to help you to make a decision about whether you should buy a copy of the book for yourself.

 

Open Up is split into five sections and finishes with an epilogue.

 

In Section 1, We Need To Talk, Alex makes her case for why she believes it is so important to talk about money. She looks at what the impact of not talking about money has. She then goes on to share what her advance for writing the book was, the shame we feel around money (whether it be what we earn, what we have saved or the debt we have), and then closes the section by looking at spending habits and giving the reader a whole list of prompts to get you properly looking at your money situation and relationship with money.

 

Section 2: Let’s Talk Money and Friends introduces the idea of having a money salon and essentially having more open conversations with friends about money. This section then covers things why in the UK the norm is to split the bill, the money conversations you need to have when living with friends, and the financial reality of being a friend and having to attend stag, hens, wedding and other social events.

 

In Section 3: Let’s Talk Money and Relationship the focus is on money through all stages of dating and being in, and out of, a relationship. Alex discusses the cost of dating and who should be covering those costs, when to start having conversations about money, how to deal with money when in a long-term relationship, and the financial reality of breaking up with someone.

 

Section 4: Let’s Talk Money and Work discusses finding out about what your colleagues earn, being able to negotiate and get the pay you deserve, working for free and quitting your job. Whilst most of this section is focused on money from an employee perspective at the end is a section around freelancing and how talking about money can be helpful as a freelancer too.

 

Then in the final section, Be Good With Money, Alex covers some of the money basics in an attempt to help you to be financially fit, which she argues will become one of the next wellness trends. This section covered budgeting, saving, getting out of debt and investing for later life. 

The book then closes on an epliogue where Alex shares some final wisdom on being able to have more conversations about money (in the right way) and reminding the reader why even though it may feel awkward, it is worth having conversations about money.

 

That’s it! You now have an idea about what you can expect to find inside of Open Up by Alex Holder. 

Like the sound of Open Up by Alex Holder. Why not buy a copy of the book and have a read?

Buy Open Up on Amazon

 

 

 

Open Up by Alex Holder was read as part of PropelHer’s Book Club. PropelHer’s Book Club is an online non-fiction book club for ambitious women that meet monthly. Every month PropelHer’s Book Club reads a different book to help ambitious women concentrate on their personal development and professional success. You can see what else we have read so far here. If you would like to join PropelHer’s Book Club you can find full details here.

 

Enjoying reading the book? Don’t forget to share your book pictures! Tag @charellegriffith