I’ve always been a reader. I’ve always wanted to write a book. I’ve had two books that I work on on vacations or in my free time, but when I started writing this one, something was different.
This is a topic I’m passionate about. I believe the gap exists from the beginning of the career until the end — and that many first responders are not getting the advice they need to achieve long-term financial success for themselves, or to take care of their families after they’re gone.
The idea for this book was born around the same time as the idea for The Shield Finance. I started working on outlines and topic content in August of last year. And then I started writing. I went to bed every night thinking about what needed to be done, and woke up most mornings before 3 AM to put into place the things I had gone to sleep worrying about. I wrote, iterated, researched, re-wrote, researched again, added, subtracted — in almost all of my free time — putting this together.
I spent the better part of a decade accumulating degrees and experience without a clear sense of where it was all going. This book is where it was all going.
This is the thing I am most proud of in my life. Passion project doesn’t feel strong enough.
This feels like what I was called to do — what I’ve been building towards for my entire career, through my Master’s in Adult Education, followed by the Master’s in Finance. Both built to this: having the experience, the knowledge, and the ability to deliver this content to you in a way that is succinct, clear (as can be), and arranged in a way that is actually helpful.
I believe that this book can be one of the most influential pieces written in the first responder sphere since Kevin Gilmartin’s Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement — upon which the name was inspired, and which is referenced inside. Whether you are just beginning the police academy or five years or less from retirement, I believe you will gain something from this book. That is the point.
Financial Survival for Law Enforcement releases on May 11th. The Kindle edition is available for pre-order now and delivers on release day. Hardcover and paperback will also be available starting May 11th.
It covers budgets, debt management, the retirement vehicles available to first responders, and the psychological factors that affect how we handle money in this profession. The Shield Finance was built to educate and assist first responders in gaining financial stability and independence — and this book is how that mission reaches as many people as possible.
If you read it and choose to handle your finances yourself, great. If you read it and decide you don’t want to do it alone, find a fiduciary financial planner who will always have your best interests in mind — whether that’s me or not. It’s never too late, and never too early, to start.
Financial Survival for Law Enforcement will equip you with the basic skills and knowledge to take control of your finances so they aren’t controlling you.
— Ryan
