To know and not to act is not to know.

Wang Yangming, 15th-century Chinese general

Firstly, congratulations on getting this far! I know it is a lot to take in. You may be overwhelmed or confused by parts of what I have proposed in this book, but that's perfectly normal. I was in the same position not too long ago and can assure you that some things must be learned as you go. At the end of the day, just take one step at a time. You might be at a stage where you need to rein in spending and get some control. You might already have that covered and need to seek out a mentor. You might be at a stage of figuring out what it is you really want and need. You might even have a good understanding of all these strategies and a target in mind, in which case you just need to point and shoot!

It doesn't matter what stage you are at in life or in your bulletproof plan — you can absolutely do it. I know that because I have seen success for thousands of everyday Australians with different careers and financial backgrounds. There is no one way to do it; everyone has different starting points, different destinations and different stops along the way.

So, I want to leave you with a challenge: this time next month I want you to have taken that first step, whatever it is. A baby step is fine. Then sit down in another month and tick off the second step. It will be like practising your own version of compounding growth; it will snowball with time. Your finances will not be bulletproof overnight, but with a bit of time, discipline and patience, you can get there. Naturally, you will doubt yourself along the way, but don't worry, we all do. You might feel undeserving of any success. Again, don't worry; we all deal with those feelings from time to time. We are programmed to associate rewards with working hard. We are not programmed to associate rewards with working smart. In this respect, your mindset will have to change.

I started writing this book one year after losing my dad, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. At that time, we barely knew the stresses and challenges facing our country and our world. Now we know that, going into the next decade, health, and especially mental wellbeing, will be one of the biggest challenges facing us all. Every year, one in five Australians experiences a mental illness and many pieces of research have demonstrated a strong link between financial distress and the risk of mental illness. While safeguarding our health is much more important than money, it seems obvious that if we don't look after our finances, it can have a debilitating impact on our whole life.

COVID-19 brought on the first recession in Australia in 30 years, albeit short-lived. The fact remains, governments will be borrowing so much money that it will push our national debt to a rate not seen since the 1960s. We'll see a proliferation of buy-now, pay-later services, payday lending, online shopping and gambling apps — all of which reported record popularity throughout COVID-19. More than ever before, having the correct tools to manage your money, and at least some basic financial literacy, will be lifelines. Sadly, too many people of my generation will arrive at their peak earning years without either.

I wrote this book in the hope that by sharing my father's silent suffering, I would be sounding an important warning to all those journeying on his precarious path. If sharing what I have learned releases the burden for just one ‘David Fitzgerald’ I will have honoured my dad and best mate's memory.

The future is not all doom and gloom. In any crisis there is also opportunity. However, with so much debt, it is even more important that the government permits people to become self-funded and financially independent. In the short term, the government is going to be spending its way out of the COVID-19-induced recession. At the same time, it will be keeping interest rates low for the foreseeable future. Governments will build infrastructure, seek population growth and incentivise companies to employ people. For some of us, this will present an opportunity to set ourselves up for life and bulletproof our finances. I guarantee, I will be seizing that opportunity with you — one step at a time.