Decisions, decisions... Whether you're considering the latest tech or a new car, a destination wedding or buying a house, this runaway #1 Quebec bestseller says it all comes down to just one question: do you really need it? This common-sense guide by a CPA and journalist combines a fresh approach with sound advice and a good dose of humour--proving that having the right attitude to money is one of the keys to happiness.

Do you need it? Do you really need it? Pierre-Yves McSween applies this simple question to all the decisions that have a direct effect on our bank accounts. Do You Really Need It? holds up a mirror to our life choices and their consequences. McSween questions our spending habits and assumptions, stressing the need for a fresh outlook on building financial flexibility.
Mixing sound advice with humour and a touch of philosophy, McSween looks at some forty different topics, questioning what you Really Need: credit cards, brand-name products, a new car (or a used one), marriage, kids, life insurance, RRSPs and TFSAs, vacations, a will. In each chapter McSween makes his case and ends with his summary of whether you do, in fact, REALLY need it.
Do You Really Need It? covers money matters with zero BS and no holds barred, offering clever strategies for you to question consumerist impulses and fill in your financial knowledge gaps. McSween seeks first to define the behaviour of a responsible citizen; and then to show readers how to achieve a little more freedom in their lives--something they really, truly need.

Pierre-Yves Mcsween's profile page

Rhonda Mullins is a Montreal-based translator who has translated many books from French into English, including Jocelyne Saucier’s And Miles To Go Before I Sleep, Grégoire Courtois’ The Laws of the Skies, Dominique Fortier’s Paper Houses, and Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette’s Suzanne. She is a seven-time finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation, winning the award in 2015 for her translation of Jocelyne Saucier’s Twenty-One Cardinals. Novels she has translated were contenders for CBC Canada Reads in 2015 and 2019 and one was a finalist for the 2018 Best Translated Book Award. Mullins was the inaugural literary translator in residence at Concordia University in 2018. She is a mentor to emerging translators in the Banff International Literary Translation Program.

Rhonda Mullins' profile page

“The book covers all the personal finance basics—from budgeting, RRSPs and RESPs to credit cards and credit scores. But the author’s fundamental question serves as a springboard to deconstruct a wide range of financial and other consumer products. . . . McSween doesn’t mince words as he tackles what he considers to be irrational expenses . . . he opens up a hard-hitting discussion on overconsumption, the void it fills within us and our actual purchasing power.” —CPA Canada

“The author is motivated by a real desire to help us think before we buy, to be smart consumers and to stop defining ourselves by our possessions.” —Nathalie Collard, La Presse

“The Ministry of Education should add this to its mandatory reading list for its financial curriculum. With an accessible, often amusing tone, it covers all of the essentials.” —Daniel German, Les Affaires

“The author offers helpful tools to better manage our money without tedious speechifying, often the case with financial types.” —Martin Vachon, Journal de Montréal

“I like that the author questions our assumptions on everyday matters: marriage, travel, the car, the tie, bankruptcy, kids’ birthday parties—do you need it? He responds to all of these questions in a way that’s non-conformist, but informed.” —Josée Blanchette, Le Devoir