A Fighting Chance Finance

The starting point for A Fighting Chance was the idea of “the textbook everyone should have had in high school on personal finance”. We got textbooks in math, science and social studies, so why not one that people might actually keep throughout their life that remains a toolbox of information that can be referred to time and time again?

I asked myself “knowing what I know now, what would I have wanted to learn about as a 16 or 17 year old before my first paycheque?” The list of topics is long. Perhaps I have a bias towards a complete playbook of knowledge in finance as a professional accountant, but I wanted to create content that spanned from fundamental concepts like compounding and inflation, to different investment and debt concepts, to practical everyday advice on topics like budgeting, spending habits and credit cards.

So I set out to create a table of contents to frame up the book. All told, the book has ten chapters, each with sub chapters. It was important to me that the book has bite sized sections which can be easily started and stopped at a whim, and remain digestible for readers to get through in five to ten minutes at a time. At the end of each chapter, I have also set up my “Key Takeaways” written in plain English so that if a reader has any challenges with the content in the chapter, at a bare minimum they can flip forward to the end of the chapter and get the “Coles Notes”.

At a high level, the book is designed to start with a purpose, which is to give people the education they need to create a successful financial outcome for themselves, which I call an “End Game”. The book starts off discussing the importance of having an End Game. The chapters of the book then overview all of the pieces that go into deciding on an End Game, quantifying it and planning on how to accomplish it over one’s financial journey. The book concludes with a real example of an End Game sample, how it is quantified and how it is achieved.

Of course, the book is one opinion. If you take any amount of time looking up financial advice, you’ll find that there are a multitude of philosophies when it comes to investing, debt, budgeting and savings. These range from uber-conservative views like those of Dave Ramsey, who advocate for no debt of any kind ever, to questionably aggressive views of penny stock and crypto promoters who advocate for capital allocation to speculative and high risk asset classes. I would saw “A Fighting Chance” finds its balance within the spectrum and advocates for smart risk taking to combat the destructive forces of inflation and using low cost borrowing to an investors’ advantage.

I look forward to writing additional books in the future under the “A Fighting Chance” umbrella brand, and I look forward to hearing your suggestions on financial topics that you’d like to learn more about!