The Grind – US Edition (Book 2) — Coming Soon

🇺🇸 Not yet available. The Canadian Edition is on sale now — get in touch to be told when the US Edition ships.

Your first paycheck just landed. Now what?

Most schools graduate students who can't read a pay stub, file a 1040, or tell a credit card from a debt trap. The Grind is the intermediate volume of The Money Skill Tree — a US personal finance workbook covering the working-world mechanics nobody actually teaches.

Every chapter has a fill-in-the-pages exercise and a real-world mission. By the last page you'll be able to read a pay stub line by line, file a return and claim your refund, tell a Roth IRA from a 401(k) and know which to fund first, and explain FICA and credit scores to anyone who asks.

What's inside — 14 chapters

• The First Paycheck — reading a pay stub: gross versus net, and the forms you'll meet
• The Big Three Deductions — federal income tax, FICA, and state tax
• The Roth Vault — the Roth IRA, and why it's a teenager's most powerful account
• The Employer Match — 401(k)s, the HSA, and capturing free employer money
• Filing Your First 1040 — how to file a return and claim your refund
• Credit Scores and The Plastic Card — building credit and using a card with discipline
• The Emergency Buffer — liquidity, and building your first safety net
• The Automation Engine — paying yourself first, on autopilot
• The Stock Market Map — how stocks grow: gains, dividends, and diversification
• The Basket Strategy — ETFs, index funds, and the major US market indexes
• The Risk Scale — matching investment risk to your time horizon
• The Education Path — 529 plans, FAFSA, grants, and student loans
• Financial Self-Defense — spotting scams, fraud, and identity theft
• The Long-Game Mindset — time in the market and delayed gratification

Every chapter follows the same six-part structure

• The Level Up — a story that frames the concept
• The Money Skill Tree — the core lesson, with real US numbers
• The Skill Quest — a hands-on, fill-in-the-pages exercise
• Balancing Your Skills — the trade-off, made visible
• Guild Chat — questions to take to a parent, mentor, or older sibling
• Elite Quest — a real-world mission off the page

Who it's for

• Teens starting a first job, summer gig, or part-time work
• Young adults catching up on the money basics nobody taught them
• Students weighing 529s, FAFSA, and student loans
• A graduation present, adulting handbook, or eighteenth birthday gift
• High school finance classes, homeschool curriculum, or classroom resource

US Edition

Deductions, contribution limits, account types, and IRS rules are US, based on 2026 projections. Includes a full chapter on paying for college that has no equivalent in the other editions.

Where it sits in the series

Book 1 (The Money Starter Pack) covers the fundamentals. The Grind picks up the day you start earning. Book 3 (Endgame) covers real estate, business, and financial independence. All three are collected in Fully Charged.

Format

Printed workbook · 129 pages · 14 chapters · Intermediate level

Cash the check. Run the system.