I have often found it frustrating that so many of my students make significant uninformed and poor financial decisions early in life that tend to lock them into a life path far below their true potential. There are no personal financial planning textbooks targeted at low-income community college students that lay out simple financial principals to move from poor to financially stable. Likewise, Personal Financial Planning is rarely a required course in High School or College. So, when the country went on lockdown to combat COVID-19, I began writing this book to address those issues.
Along the way, I chose to turn down invitations to have this book published. I did so because I feel that if there is going to be a personal financial planning textbook directed at low-income college students, it should also be accessible to those students. And you don’t get any more accessible than FREE.
You can download your free copy here.
Purchase a Hard Copy
You can order a print copy of the textbook through Amazon.com. The book prints in color, it’s 250 pages, and Amazon wants its royalty. So, unfortunately, it costs 39.99 to have the book printed through Amazon.
If you are on the College of San Mateo campus, you can also purchase a hard copy in my office, at my cost of $25. Please contact me at heaths@smccd.edu if you would like to pick up a signed copy in my office.
In leu of extra credit, I’ve taken the liberty of my free time to thoroughly read this free textbook. One surefire benefit of this textbook is that it is just like any other textbook with the exception that it is not an overpriced textbook thats worn down and filled with pages. Instead, it is free with a generous amount of detail.
In addition to its free textbook, the contents really do enable one, such as myself, to fully comrpehend or at least walk into the field of acounting with a stable foot. The book is practical and useful in more ways than one, and contains more expansive information on the various implications of accounting than any other basic decade old textbook. In short, read it, its free, and it’ll make you smarter than the bloke standing in line ahead of you at starbucks.
I have downloaded this free textbook. I have given it a good once over. I was happily surprised by the presentation of the information. Easy to read with helpful charts and diagrams as references. This textbook gives first year students easy to follow steps on how to budget, how to invest, what financial aid is available, and how choose a University. It’s basically a roadmap on how to succeed financially at life. Worth the investment to download and read.
Professor Heath one of the best professors I’ve encountered during my time in college. His vision and passion for accounting and his students is beautiful. Heath has motivated me so much with his advices and his life story. I’m really excited for him in this chapter of his life with the launching of this new book. I’ve started reading already and I totally recommend it if you are looking for a change in your financial choices and to look for better ways to achieve your financial goals. The book goes into detail in various aspects of our financial and daily life with a easy language for all. Can’t wait to keep learning and to build a better future for me and my family.
Stephen Heath, college Professor and CPA extraordinaire, has created a book that all teens and their parents should read. In fact, this is more than just a one time read, but rather should be used as a useful resource to consult whenever the need arises. This book speaks to many areas, questions, and gives advice for a successful academic stay at a community college, as well as advice for a thoughtful, intelligent transfer to the right four-year school.
Additionally, insight is given, along with advice for the young adult to help he or she traverse and overcome everyday processes and challenges such as maintaining good credit, purchasing insurance, investments, and so much more. Professor Heath’s book is full of intelligent, grounded, sound advice. I wish I had this book when I was starting out as a young adult. I whole-heartedly recommend it.
~Tim Shade
Since I began reading this book I’ve learned so many lessons and tips to apply to my life as a college student. This book teaches lessons about having a successful college career that transitions to real life skills needed to land a job. There are tips on budgeting while working in school and the financial literacy to navigate the money surrounding that first job out of college. I’ve found Professor Heath’s personal story to be inspiring. I definitely resonated with certain parts of his personal struggles in life. This book will prepare me to succeed in understanding how to be responsible and intelligent with money. I recommend this book to college students who need a little financial guidance and wouldn’t mind a little life advice as well. Thank You Professor Heath!
– Daniel Mangubat
I am glad that I have enrolled the personal finance class taught by Professor Heath. Unlike the other class that we need to purchase our own textbook, Professor Heath is willing to share the e-text on this site so that more students and people would be benefited. The textbook content is well organized, practical and easy to follow. I am able to follow the textbook and create my budget plan, understand the different types of investment strategies, auto loan, retirement plans, etc. Therefore, I highly recommend this book to everyone.
– Weng Ng
Who likes free? Did I hear someone say me? Professor Heath’s book on financial planning for college students to F You Money is easy to understand, concise and it’s FREE! This book is filled with sound advise from saving, budgeting for present and future, investing, and saving for major purchases to saving for children college funds. I recommend this book not only to college students but any person at any age who wants to get unbiased, easy to understand instruction on how to start their path to financial freedom and generational wealth. He does not sugar coat the process or make it sound like a get-rich-quick scheme. This is the type of useful instruction I can pass on to my children as they transition in to adolescence and young adult age. I consider it a gift from Professor Heath to have it available for his students at no cost. My advice to whoever is reading this is to take advantage of this FREE book while it’s available and click on the download link above.
Thanks Professor Heath!
Diana V.
I recently stumbled upon this free textbook and I am blown away by the wealth of knowledge contained within its pages. Professor Heath has a clear and concise writing style, making even complex financial concepts easy to understand. The book covers a wide range of topics, from budgeting and investing, to understanding loans and insurance, and everything in between. I am grateful for this resource, especially as a college student trying to navigate my finances. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to improve their financial literacy. Thank you, Professor Heath!
I am so happy to have discovered this book. Professor Heath makes accounting more exciting and I’m grateful to be in his class. This book is great for anyone looking to improve their finances, especially students. The best part is it’s free!
This is a great book. It’s extremely helpful for improving personal finance and I highly recommend it, especially to students. Professor Heath is great and makes accounting more interesting. The best part is that it’s free.
I’m currently taking Cost Accounting with Professor Heath and he encouraged us to read his free book. I wish I would have read this sooner in my life!!!
When I was in my mid 20’s, I unfortunately found myself in credit card debt, not to mention my outstanding student loan. The stress was so overwhelming I couldn’t sleep at night. I finally reached a breaking point and contacted my brother for help/advise. He helped me navigate the racket of credit cards and gave great advice to help me pay it down. Just like the quote in the book from Einstein, “he who understand it (interest), earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.” and wow I was paying it! In about six months I got myself out of credit card debt and it feels amazing! That all to say, the power of compounds interest can make or break you.
I also want to say a few things to those that might be intimidated by investing. Let me tell you, it’s actually easy! The books gives a few resources to start a budget and I highly recommend starting there. Start paying more with cash so you actually ‘see’ the money leaving your wallet. It takes about 5 minutes to set up a Vanguard account to start your own brokerage and/or Roth. Reach out to your payroll department to see how you can update your 401k contributions if that’s offered at your work. I’m all about ‘set it, and forget it’. If you have automatic payments, you never have to worry about doing anything. I used to have federal student loans and they are basically robbing you! I refinanced a couple years ago when interest rates were friendly and I went from paying 8% interest to 2.3%, fixed rate. There are a million other things you could do, but these don’t take a lot of time or even knowledge of finances; however, they will impact your future greatly! Even if ‘you’re doing it wrong’, you’re still moving forward which is the goal. Good luck with everything and I hope this helps!
This book is an extremely useful tool to attaining financial independence. The book itself is primary directed towards college students, with chapters dedicated towards choosing a college, finances while attending college, and purchasing the first car.
However, much of the other sections of the book make it applicable to people of all ages because it focuses on various types of investments such as funds, bonds, stocks, and choosing the right 401k.
It would be a wise choice to read through this book because it will likely provide a strong introduction to personal finance, in addition to being free. It should be noted this book does not guarantee becoming rich in a short amount of time. It promotes making sound financial decisions that will lead to the ability to maintaining a comfortable lifestyle.
I have actually purchased this book on amazon and have read a good portion of it. I find this book to be an amazing tool for not just college students but anyone who is seeking to attain financial independency. This book is very well written and very easy to follow along! If you are looking to get some knowledge on finances this book is it for you!
Currently taking Accounting with Prof.Heath. I have always thought the term accounting was complex and not an easily achievable subject to comprehend; however, after getting introduced to financial accounting, I feel confident that anyone can understand the fundamentals of ACC. Thank you for providing access to learning about financial decisions that we will actually need in life.
Currently taking Accounting with Prof.Heath. I have always thought the term accounting was complex and not an easily achievable subject to comprehend; however, after getting introduced to financial accounting, I feel confident that anyone can understand the fundamentals of ACC. Thank you for providing access to learning about financial decisions that we will actually need in life.
Professor Heath’s book provides several comprehensive scenarios for readers in his book. From buying a house to investing, it provides key details and considerations one should make before acting. His investing sections were particularly relevant for me. His discussion of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. way very clear. His advice on financial advisors is particularly critical for those making a decision about whether to work with one or not. He also gives good advice if you decide against using a financial advisor. He suggests many good ways to diversify your investments and look into index or mutual funds. Overall, this is a great resource for anyone. As you approach many financial questions you can turn back to the book for guidance.
no matter if you’re a college student just getting started with your academic career, a young working professional, or planning on buying your first house or retirement, you’ll find pertinent information in this book you only wish you had come across sooner. this is a book for keeps that you could reference again and again in different stages of your life to seek sound financial advice. highly recommended!