Nickel and Dimed

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published 9 July 2018

Author: Barbara Ehrenreich
Publisher: Picador, 256 pages

This is the account of a journalist who goes undercover to live among the working poor. She moves from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, chronicling poignant, eye-opening stints as a waitress, maid, nursing home aide and Walmart sales clerk.

Although the book first appeared in 2001, its themes are just as relevant today. The book has elicited a ton of debate and lots of controversy, with detractors accusing it of anti-capitalist themes. But it’s undeniable that the book sheds light on a too-often invisible cadre of service workers in our society. Raising kids in an affluent pocket of the country, I deemed it required reading in our family.

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Anne Kates Smith brings Wall Street to Main Street, with decades of experience covering investments and personal finance for real people trying to navigate fast-changing markets, preserve financial security or plan for the future. She oversees the magazine's investing coverage, authors Kiplinger’s biannual stock-market outlooks and writes the "Your Mind and Your Money" column, a take on behavioral finance and how investors can get out of their own way. Smith began her journalism career as a writer and columnist for USA Today. Prior to joining Kiplinger, she was a senior editor at U.S. News & World Report and a contributing columnist for TheStreet. Smith is a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., the third-oldest college in America.