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Money Reality College Edition cover
MONEY REALITY · COLLEGE EDITION

Money Reality — College Edition

Practical personal finance for the real world.

Volume II of the Money Reality series. Written for the college student living the financial reality the HS edition warned about — first apartment, first real paycheck, first 1099, the Hidden Balance Sheet of campus activities and alumni networks, the no-parental-health-insurance pathway, the Roth as the tax-free lottery the freshman should max out, and the rejection cascade as the actual skill of every career. Direct voice, real math, college-life examples.

Vol IIof IV
15activity-derived intangibles
+companion workbook

Who this book is for

Written for the high-school student themselves; bought most often by a parent or a teacher. The voice is direct, the math is real, the examples are familiar (first job, first car, first apartment), and the lessons compound. International edition available for readers outside the US.

You are…How to use this book
College student (freshman through senior)Start with Ch 1 and the Hidden Balance Sheet chapter. The chapters on first apartment, first 1099, and the no-parental-health-insurance pathway are the ones you’ll actually use this semester.
Parent of a college studentHand it over. Then have the conversation about the Roth-as-lottery chapter the next time they’re home.
Career-services or financial-aid counselorThe Hidden Balance Sheet chapter reframes the conversation about what extracurriculars, internships, and alumni networks are actually worth.
Recent grad in first jobVolume III (First Job & Apartment Edition, coming) picks up where this one ends. This volume covers the transition.

Table of contents

14 chapters plus a companion workbook. Page counts approximate.

1The Most Powerful Force in Finance (compound interest)p1
2Your Hidden Balance Sheetp9
3Nominal vs. Real Returns (housing creep, car creep)p21
4The Roth as a Tax-Free Lotteryp33
5Activity-Derived Intangibles: 15 Activities That Payp45
6Sports as a Confidence-Building Enginep55
7Learning an Instrumentp63
8Social Media Skills + AI Skills (undertaught worldwide)p71
9Friend Groups & Alumni Networksp81
10Optimism & Confidence as Compounding Assetsp89
11Sales as an Undertaught Skill (Ken Griffin sidebar)p99
12The Rejection Cascadep109
13The No-Parental-Health-Insurance Pathwayp119
14The Bookend: Einstein, Compounding, and the Next 50 Yearsp129
Plus
+Companion workbook (math drills, scenario worksheets) 
+Glossaryp143

What’s actually in the bundle

1. The ~210-page book (PDF)

Volume II of IV in the Money Reality series. Formatted for adult reader-friendly reading. No condescension. Real math, plain language. The "Hidden Balance Sheet" framework runs through every chapter.

2. The companion Excel workbook

Compound-interest drills, the 40-row housing-creep cascade table, real-return worksheets, the Roth contribution-vs-tax-savings math, an intangibles self-assessment.

3. International edition available

Same architecture, currency-agnostic and country-agnostic, for readers outside the US. The Roth-specific content is replaced with the universal mechanism (tax-advantaged savings as it exists in the reader’s country). View the HS edition (prior volume) → · View the HS International edition →

About the author

PB

Philip A. Baratelli, CPA, MBA — Founder, Baratelli Institute. Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

This book is what he wishes someone had handed him at sixteen.

12 Free Interactive Tools · The Money Reality Suite

Run your own numbers. No signup.

Each tool runs in the browser and produces a personalized result the reader can print or PDF. They’re the same models taught in the guide — available free so the suite works whether the reader buys the book or not.

Student Loan Amortization
Federal vs private, IBR/SAVE/PAYE.
Hidden Balance Sheet
Inventory the intangibles you have built.
Compound Interest, Visualized
The most powerful force in finance.
Roth as Tax-Free Lottery
Earned income now → tax-free at 65.
Credit Card Trap
24.99% APR + minimums, visualized.
First Apartment Budget
Salary → net → rent verdict.
College vs Trade NPV
Both paths to retirement age.
Job Offer Comparator
Up to 3 offers on total comp + COL.
First Paycheck Walkdown
Gross → FICA → state → net.
401(k) Match Maximizer
The 50% guaranteed return nobody beats.
Side Hustle / 1099 Estimator
SE tax + quarterly estimates.
Emergency Fund Builder
Target by income stability, time-to-target.

Money Reality: The High School Edition

$59 Single-user license · PDF + Excel workbook + AI prompt library
Buy on Gumroad → Email me at launch →

Want every guide always current + the Brief paid layer + Clarus + monthly office hours? See the Practitioner subscription ($649/yr Founding) →

Companion tools for Money Reality · College

Free interactive tools at tools.baratelliinstitute.com for college-bound students and families.

LAUNCH WAITLIST

Get the Money Reality HS at $39.

Drop your email and you'll be first in line when the guide ships. launch pricing locks once you're on the list — even if all 50 sell out before you check the launch email. We send the launch announcement, the sample chapter PDF (the Hidden Balance Sheet walk-through), and nothing else.