Wall Street Didn't Want Me

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. Nina just got her first real paycheck. Grant Devida knows exactly what that feels like, and exactly how fast it can disappear. Grant grew up with nothing. He raised his little sister on a mailroom paycheck, worked his way up to Wall Street, made more money than he ever dreamed of, and then lost almost all of it when his firm collapsed in eight days. Now he's fifty, rebuilt on solid ground, and his best friend Ray is gone. Ray was a bus mechanic who never made much and quietly built more than Grant ever guessed. So Grant sits down at his kitchen table and starts recording messages to Ray's daughter, telling her everything nobody ever told him about money. Wall Street Didn't Want Me is a warm, gritty novel in the tradition of the classic money parables. Each chapter is one message: a memory from Grant's life, the plain-English lesson inside it, and one small step to take before the next paycheck. Along the way, you'll learn: Why income isn't wealth, and how to see your real net worth How to pay yourself first and build an emergency fund you won't raid How debt and interest work against you, and the order to pay things off How compound interest snowballs, and why starting at twenty-two beats starting at thirty-five How to take the free money in your 401(k) match, and the IRA versus Roth choice made simple How lifestyle creep keeps high earners broke, and why one company should never hold all your money How to automate your money, spot a too-good-to-be-true pitch, and protect the people you love Honest and sometimes heartbreaking, it's the money talk you wish someone had given you before your first paycheck. Press play and start building wealth from wherever you are. This book is a work of fiction. The money lessons are for general education only and are not financial, tax or legal advice.