It Didn’t Have To Be This Hard · Book 3 · Kindle

Money Didn’t Have to Be This Hard

The simple sums behind prices, pay, bills, loans and savings that nobody showed you. A reading book, not a workbook: one idea at a time, in plain English, with 100 real-life worked examples and 48 diagrams.

Cover of Money Didn't Have to Be This Hard

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What this book is

The arithmetic behind ordinary money, shown slowly. Why the bigger pack can be the dearer one. Where a payslip goes. Why a pay rise can never cost you money through a tax band. How compound interest works for you in savings and against you in debt. Why the longer loan is the bigger bill, what a “flat” rate hides, and why a card’s minimum payment barely moves the balance.

It is arithmetic, not advice. It never tells you what to buy, where to save or whom to borrow from. Every example uses invented round numbers, so the method is easy to see and works wherever you live.

Every chapter, and its free calculator

The calculators are free, need no sign-up, and keep what you type in your own browser. They save arithmetic. The book is complete without them.

Part One · The Price of Things

Chapter 1 · The Price of One
Calculators: Unit Price
Chapter 2 · Per Hundred
Calculators: Discount · Percentages
Chapter 3 · The Deal Decoder
Calculators: Multi-Buy · Cost Per Use · Break-Even

Part Two · The Money Coming In

Chapter 4 · Where a Payslip Goes
Calculators: Gross to Net · Were You Paid Right?
Chapter 5 · The Tax Bracket Myth
Calculators: Tax Bands
Chapter 6 · What an Hour Is Worth
Calculators: Hourly and Salary · Real Hourly Wage

Part Three · The Money Going Out

Chapter 7 · How a Bill Is Built
Calculators: Bill Rebuilder · Tariff Comparison · Estimated vs Actual
Chapter 8 · The Monthly That Isn’t
Calculators: True Annual Cost · Subscription Audit · Irregular Costs

Part Four · Money Through Time

Chapter 9 · Interest on Interest
Calculators: Compound Interest
Chapter 10 · The Rule of 72
Calculators: Rule of 72
Chapter 11 · The Cost of Waiting
Calculators: Cost of Waiting · Savings Goal
Chapter 12 · The Quiet Subtractors
Calculators: Real Return · Fee Drag · APY

Part Five · Money You Owe

Chapter 13 · How a Loan Payment Is Built
Calculators: Loan Calculator
Chapter 14 · The Term Trap
Calculators: Car Finance
Chapter 15 · What a Rate Is Hiding
Calculators: Flat Rate to APR
Chapter 16 · The Minimum-Payment Trap
Calculators: Debt Payoff

Part Six · The Whole Picture

Chapter 17 · A Budget Is One Subtraction
Calculators: Budget Builder · Savings Rate · Debt Share · Variable Income
Chapter 18 · Five Questions for Any Number