The Money Choice Method

"It's just $200 a month."

Before you sign a lease, take a loan, accept a job offer, or say yes to a payment plan, ask five questions: Purpose, Cost, Risk, Exit, Fit.

The monthly figure answers only one of them. This book teaches the other four, including the one that is easy to overlook: how easily you can get out. Plan the way out before you go in.

In the United States, the right answer depends on your state, your employer, and the fine print. So instead of numbers that go stale, you get a method and a habit: find the current rule on the official page, then write down the date you checked.

Inside, you will learn how to:

• Compare a W-2 job with a 1099 contract by what lands in your hand
• Tell a "no interest" offer from one that adds the interest back
• Build a buffer and test it against your worst month
• Spot a scam, pause under pressure, and read a lease or a health plan
• Plan your first 90 days in a new state or a new country, and your first year

For first jobs, first leases, freelancers and gig workers, newcomers to the United States, and anyone starting again somewhere new. No finance background needed.

Steven Schoombee is an electrical engineer, not a financial advisor. He has never lived in the United States, so he built this edition from official US sources and names each one, so you can check it yourself.

General education, not personal financial, tax, or legal advice, and not immigration advice. No tax, legal, or immigration professional has reviewed this edition.