I wrote the personal finance book I needed at 22
My parents never bought a stock. School taught me the Pythagorean theorem and nothing about money. So I read hundreds of finance books - and ended up writing the one I wish someone had handed me at 22.
My parents never bought a stock. Money in our house was something you earned, spent on the bills, and prayed a little of survived until the next paycheck. Investing wasn't a topic. It wasn't even a word.
School wasn't going to help. Thirteen years of education, zero hours on compound interest, asset allocation, or what an ETF actually is. I left knowing the Pythagorean theorem and nothing about the thing I'd spend the rest of my life
trading my hours for.
When my first paycheck landed and I managed to set a small slice aside, I went looking for answers the only way I knew: books. I read dozens. Then I lost count. Most fell into one of three buckets: too basic to be useful past chapter two, too academic to finish, or written by someone in a rented Lamborghini trying to sell me a $497 course on "passive income."
The honest middle was missing. So I wrote it.
Rich-ish: Build Wealth Without Losing Your Mind is the book I wish someone had handed me at 22. Fourteen chapters, four parts - Foundations, Building the Machine, Investing, Mastery - readable across a single weekend. It follows two composite characters, Priya and James, through the actual decisions that compound into a life: the first emergency fund, the first index fund, the first market crash where everyone around them is panic-selling.
It is opinionated where it should be and quiet where it should be. It uses real numbers, because vague advice is how people lose money politely. The fact that missing only the 10 best market days between 1993 and 2023 turns $169,000
into $77,000 - and that those best days almost always land in the middle of the worst weeks - is the kind of thing that should be tattooed on every new investor's forearm. It's in there.
What isn't in there: country-specific tax advice (the audience is global), guru worship, or a funnel selling you a $2,000 mastermind at the end. The book is the product. That's the whole pitch.
If you've been meaning to get your money in order and the existing options have made you feel either stupid or scammed, this one is for you.
Rich-ish is out now on Amazon.
