From first payslip to first home — the road, mapped out.
The Money Roadmap is a plain-English guide to the thirteen money decisions every young Australian eventually faces — bank accounts, credit cards, first cars, HELP debt, super, and buying a first home — written for teenagers, and just as useful for the parents helping them get there.
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Thirteen stages. One continuous road.
Personal finance is usually taught as a pile of disconnected topics. This book is structured differently — as thirteen stages on one road, roughly in the order most people actually encounter them, so each chapter builds on the one before it.
Built like a textbook. Reads like a conversation.
Every chapter uses the same set of tools, so the reader always knows what they're looking at — and always has something to actually do with it, not just read past.
Clear learning goals
Every chapter opens with exactly what you'll be able to do by the end of it — no vague chapter titles to guess at.
Worked examples
Real numbers, real scenarios — from minimum credit card repayments to what a rate rise actually costs, calculated out in full.
Australian case studies
Every chapter follows fictional young Australians through the concept in practice — including what goes wrong, not just what goes right.
A workbook you fill in
Blank budget sheets, goal-setting templates and side-by-side comparison worksheets — with a completed example to work from first.
Full glossary & quick reference
Every term explained in plain English, plus a one-page cheat sheet of the numbers that matter, gathered in one place.
State-by-state appendix
First home buyer grants and stamp duty concessions structured by state — because the rules genuinely aren't the same everywhere.
The decisions nobody sits you down for.
Most Australians make their biggest early financial decisions with almost no structured education behind them — learning the rules the expensive way, after the mistake, not before it.
Starts where the money actually starts
The first time you get paid, it has to land somewhere. Chapter one covers transaction accounts vs savings accounts, the tax rule almost nobody explains for under-18s' interest, and the two-account habit that makes every later chapter easier.
The decisions that actually cost money if you get them wrong
Cash or loan. Dealer or private. Chapter five walks through the PPSR check that catches a car with money owing on it, why a three-year-old car can be better value than new, and what actually happens with negative equity on a trade-in.
Chris Pearson
Managing Director of At The Finance People Pty Ltd, a Melbourne-based mortgage and finance brokerage. Chris brings more than three decades in banking, lending and financial services to the page — a career that began with 23 years at National Australia Bank, followed by senior lending and broking leadership roles with GE Capital, Simonds Homes, Eclipse Super and Freedom Property Finance.
He wrote The Money Roadmap after seeing, time and again, how much of personal finance is genuinely learnable — if someone takes the time to explain it in plain English before the stakes get high.
Before you buy
Who is The Money Roadmap written for?
Australian teenagers who are starting to earn their own money — a first casual or part-time job, a first payslip — and the parents helping them navigate it. Several chapters include "Ask a Parent" prompts designed to be read together, not just handed off.
What topics does the book cover?
Thirteen stages: bank accounts, budgeting and goal-setting, credit cards, term deposits, buying a first car, how interest rates are set, saving for a first home, superannuation, HELP debt, home loans, qualifying for a loan, rentvesting, and insurance — plus a workbook, glossary and a state-by-state first home buyer appendix.
Is this financial advice?
No. The Money Roadmap contains general information and education only — not personal financial, credit, tax or legal advice. It's written so that when you do have that conversation with a bank, broker or adviser, you're walking in already understanding the vocabulary and the questions worth asking.
What formats is the book available in?
Kindle ebook through Amazon, and paperback through IngramSpark — which also supplies most bookstores and online retailers if you'd rather buy elsewhere.
Do I need to read it cover to cover?
No. It's structured as thirteen stages in roughly the order most people encounter them in real life, but every chapter also works as a standalone reference — pull out the car chapter the week you start car shopping, or the home loan chapter the year you start saving a deposit.
Is the book specific to Australia?
Yes, deliberately. Every chapter is built around Australian systems — superannuation, HELP debt, the First Home Guarantee, and state-based stamp duty and grant schemes — rather than generic, country-agnostic advice that doesn't actually apply here.