Intro to Personal Finance Book for Canadians

 
Book cover of The Snowman’s Guide to Personal Finance.
 

The Snowman’s Guide to Personal Finance is available digitally or in print through the following links:

Print Version (through Amazon)

Print Version (through Chapters Indigo)

Kindle eBook (also accessible through the Kindle app on most devices)

Kobo eBook (also available through the Kobo Reading app on most devices)

Reviews

“The Snowman's Guide To Personal Finance provides practical, easy-to-understand lessons that you'll wish you learned in school.” - Andrew Hallam, International Bestselling author of Millionaire Teacher

“With uncommon clarity and much practical know-how, The Snowman's Guide to Personal Finance lays out how and why Canadians can take control of their investments and their futures.” - The BookLife Prize

“Arnott has done a clever job of using the snowman to explain different personal finance concepts in this book. This makes the presentation interesting and keeps readers glued, which is important since personal finance can end up being boring for some readers.” - Hardbacon’s Top 30 Canadian Personal Finance Books For 2022

“A refreshing look at many of the established personal finance concepts out there.” - Bruce Sellery, bestselling author of Moolala

“It is comprehensive yet simple and easy to understand.” - genymoney.ca

“If you are a Canadian, trying to make sense of your money situation, The Snowman’s Guide to Personal Finance is the book you’re looking for.” - moneyinyourtea.com

“A guide to personal finance from a beginner's level.” - Alain Guillot, author and podcast host

“Very conversational in nature, which made the concepts easier to understand. I’ve found the subject of personal finance to be overwhelming in the past and this was a huge help in bridging knowledge gaps and explaining key concepts.” - Michael A.

Back Cover

My goal for the book is to help you spend your money stress-free and enjoy your life today. All while ensuring you can continue your lifestyle in the future.

To do this, we'll cover actionable steps to:

 Save money for the future

  • Automate your savings plan

  • Rethink your expenses

  • Repay debt

 Put your savings to work

  • Manage your risk

  • Understand how to invest your savings

  • Lower your taxes

Protect yourself from the unexpected

  • Set aside money for emergencies

  • Understand your insurance needs

  • Know when to write a will

Along the way we'll use over 20 analogies to show that getting the most from your money can be as simple as building a snowman.

Excerpt

Budgeting: What It Is and Isn’t

One very important step in managing your spending is creating a budget. Before we discuss how to create a budget and what it should do, let’s briefly talk about what it shouldn’t do. A good budget shouldn’t lower your quality of life through constant guilt and pressure. It shouldn’t make you feel like you can’t afford to enjoy yourself when the opportunity arises. Instead, a good budget will allow you to spend guilt-free on what’s most important to you.

To understand the value of a budget, we need to agree on two facts. First, regardless what your income is, there’s a limit to the amount of money you can spend. Second, you have unique preferences and priorities that determine how you live your life. With these two facts in mind, a good budget will maximize the value you get from spending your money.

Let’s continue with the idea of making the most of your money and discuss the design of a successful budget. There are things in your life you can’t go without. For most, this includes a roof over your head and meals throughout the day. Regardless of what’s critical to your life, it’s important there’s always money available for them. A budget is meant to take your money and assign it dollar by dollar from top to bottom on your list of priorities. Recognizing a budget this way makes it a lot more attractive because you’re not saying no to this and no to that, but rather you’re saying yes to the things that are most important to you.

Not budgeting doesn’t mean you can spend your money on whatever you want because budget or no budget, at the end of the day when the money is gone, there’s no more to spend. With a well-planned budget, however, you’ll know you got the most from what you had available.

Additional Background

The idea for The Snowman’s Guide to Personal Finance started during a dinner conversation with my younger brother. The topic of savings came up and I was impressed to learn how much he’d set aside. That excitement for my brother turned to concern as I learned that his money was in a chequing account. It wasn’t obvious to him that there were ways to grow his money to make saving for the future easier.

To help my brother better understand his options I used an analogy to explain what was happening to his money. From this explanation, I saw an immediate understanding on my brother’s face.

At that moment I realized analogies can bridge the gap between what everyone knows and what they want to learn. The more I thought about it, the more I realized just how similar managing money is to building a snowman. As a result, to create a simple and memorable experience, I’ve covered the key topics of personal finance through a series of analogies.

The analogy of building a snowman is used throughout the book to provide a consistent framework, tying everything together. If you or someone you know are looking to confidently manage your money, I'd love if you checked out the book and let me know your thoughts. If you're comfortable with your finances but curious how I managed to draw over twenty analogies between personal finance and building a snowman, it's all inside The Snowman’s Guide to Personal Finance.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Building a Snowman

1. A Fresh Snowfall: Your Income

2. The Snowball Effect: Growing Your Savings

3. Packing Snow: Quality of Investments

4. Rolling Choices: Risk and Reward

5. Evaporation and Rainfall: Inflation and Unexpected Expenses

Summary I

Part II: The Accessories

6. Expenses and Budgeting

7. Credit Score and Borrowing

8. Insurance and a Will

9. The Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP)

10. The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA)

11. Employer Retirement Plan

12. The Stock Market

13. Fixed Income

14. Investment Funds

15. Real Estate

16. The Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP)

17. Taxes

Summary II

Part III: A Helping Hand

18. Your Subconscious Mind

19. Further Research

20. Organization and Practice

21. Helping Others

Closing Remarks

Acknowledgments

Appendix: Next Steps

   Appendix: How to Start Investing

   Appendix: How Much to Save for Retirement