Before You Spend a Dollar [eBook only]

STANDALONE eBOOK: Before You Spend a Dollar

A Triple Scoop title for ages 14–18 · Save · Give · Spend

The first paycheck is the most important paycheck of your life. Not because of how big it is — it isn't — but because the habits you set in the first 18 months of earning compound for the next 50 years.

Before You Spend a Dollar walks a teen through a complete personal-finance decision before their first full paycheck arrives. Seven project milestones. One signed allocation rule at the end. No fluff, no character cartoons, no condescension — just the math, the mechanics, and the actual decisions that matter.

What's inside

• A worked breakdown of a real paycheck (gross, FICA, withholding, net) so they'll never confuse a salary number with take-home pay again
• The Save · Give · Spend framework, with explicit reasoning for picking percentages on purpose
• A side-by-side comparison of Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, and Traditional 401(k) — including when each one wins and why
• The compounding math, illustrated five ways: a Spender, a Late Saver, a Roth Saver, a 401(k) Saver, and a Stacker who does it all
• Step-by-step guidance for opening a real Roth IRA at 17 (yes, with a parent — it's called a custodial account)
• A balanced look at giving, including faith-based, effectiveness-based, and communal frameworks — without privileging any one
• A capstone allocation rule the reader writes themselves, signs, dates, and keeps

Honest about what this book is — and isn't

This book is a Triple Scoop title from Little Scoop Co., which means it's written for high-schoolers and treats them as near-adults. The tone is direct, the math is real, and contested questions (Roth or Traditional? Tithe or effective altruism? Save 10% or 25%?) are presented with two sides and zero editorial.

If you're looking for a book that tells your teen the answers, this isn't it. If you're looking for a book that teaches them how to think about the answers, it is.

Format

Interactive HTML ebook. Reads beautifully on phone, tablet, or laptop. Built-in glossary popovers for every financial term. Searchable glossary appendix. Print-friendly.

Looking for the workbook and parent/teacher guide too? The Complete Bundle adds the seven-milestone workbook (with an interactive calculator that runs the five-savers math on the reader's own salary) and a 1,000+ word Parent & Teacher Guide with answer keys, discussion prompts, a 7-day or 5-day classroom schedule, and the Staying Balanced section that helps adults discuss the book's giving content fairly.