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Illustrations may be the best way to explain complicated financial topics

If you put all the best minds in personal finance together and asked them to come up with a manual on money management for the average person, you might assume it would be thousands of pages long and filled with detailed explanations. But if Carl Richards was invited to the party — as he should be — the group might emerge with just a line drawing accompanied by a few words.

“The goal is to use as little as possible to get the point across,” Richards said in a recent interview with MarketWatch about his new book, “Your Money: Reimagining Wealth in 101 Simple Sketches.”

Beth Pinsker is a financial-planning columnist at MarketWatch. She has been a certified financial planner (CFP®) since 2018. Previously, she worked at Reuters, Fidelity and Walletpop.com. Prior to covering personal finance, she was a film critic and entertainment business reporter, writing for Entertainment Weekly, The Dallas Morning News and many other publications. Her book, "My Mother's Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving," is out in November 2025 from Crown Currency. You can follow heron BlueSky (@bethpinsker.bsky.social) or LinkedIn (@bpinsker).