Ingrid Solberg-Mendes
index-fund advocate
Calm and data-driven; distrusts claims of beating the market; can sound smug
Compound
His late grandfather’s letter says only “make it grow sensibly”.
Planned · not started yet
Money & personal finance Ambition Living with uncertainty Competing advice City life Workplace Hopeful Lightly witty
The premise
His late grandfather’s letter says only “make it grow sensibly”. Theo gathers advice from four people who agree about fees and almost nothing else, then a market fall in his second year tests every decision — and shows him how he behaves when money is actually at risk.
The protagonist
Theo Varga — 24-year-old graduate trainee with a first salary, a small inheritance and no idea what to do with either
The council
Every council member is an original fictional character. None represents, quotes or is endorsed by a real person.
Marcus Ellery
financial historian
Dry storyteller who reminds everyone how often certainty was wrong
Priyanka Doshi-Lane
chartered tax adviser
Precise; insists tax wrappers matter as much as returns
Bertie Okonjo
family-business owner
Prefers assets he can touch; distrusts markets he cannot see
How the story moves
Theo moves from paralysis to competence; the crash at the midpoint tests him, and later books show the long-run consequences of what he did in the panic.
What readers take away
- Calculate compound growth and the cost of starting late
- Explain workplace pensions, employer matching and tax relief
- Compare ISAs, Lifetime ISAs and general investment accounts
- Understand index funds, active funds and total cost of ownership
- Describe risk, volatility and drawdown honestly
- Apply diversification and rebalancing
- Recognise behavioural traps during crashes
- Tell regulated advice from guidance and from influencers
- Weigh saving for a house deposit against pension saving
- Write a one-page personal investment policy
- Read a fund factsheet and key information document
- Calculate the effect of a 1% fee over 30 years
- Understand inflation risk and real returns
The books
- 1The payslip Planned
- 2The pension Planned
- 3The first fund Planned
- 4The crash Planned
- 5The deposit question Planned
Book titles are working titles and may change before publication. No book is on sale until the complete series is finished, checked and released.