They were five dynamic young women: smart, successful-and secretly drowning in debt. Inspired by an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show on personal finance, Andrea, Angela, Katie, Robyn, and Sandra formed a money club, together developing strategies for turning their finances around. Just one year later, they had dramatically improved their financial situations-and had made major developments in their careers, relationships, and life goals to boot. Their proven recipe for success has since been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and MSNBC, and in the New York Daily News.

How did they do it? These five women-with varied careers in marketing, public relations, social work, and TV production-joined forces to create a fun, simple, effective strategy for achieving financial success, forming a money club, and supporting each other every step of the way. Now, in this extraordinary hands-on guide, the women, who dubbed themselves the Smart Cookies, share the secrets of their success.

Weaving anecdotes from their own lives with practical how-to advice, the Smart Cookies offer strategies that cut across the financial spectrum, whether you're deeply in debt or just want to manage your money better. Tackling the unique financial challenges facing women today, they offer easy-to-follow advice on everything from creating a spending plan to boosting your income to starting your own money club.