Will Ertel wrote Resolve for his three twentysomething daughters and their spouses, then decided to publish it. That origin explains almost everything about the book: the tone, the scope, and why it reads like a father trying to hand over what he knows before the kid needs it.
Ertel is the founder of Tassel Capital Management, so the financial content comes from someone who does this professionally. It is independently published.
A correction to the previous review
The old version said this book is “tailored specifically for Christian men in their twenties.” It is not. Ertel wrote it for his daughters and their husbands, and it is addressed to young adults generally. If you were going to buy it for a daughter or a newly married couple, that works exactly as well.
What it covers
The book is organized around five foundational stewardship principles, and the rest hangs off those. Budgeting, saving, investing, and giving, with the financial mechanics grounded in Christian convictions about what money is for.
What makes it worth a look over the dozens of similar books is that Ertel is a practitioner rather than a motivational speaker. The investing material is written by someone who manages money for a living, which is not true of most Christian personal finance writing, where the author’s expertise is often in speaking rather than in finance.
It is also short and conversational. A twenty-four year old will actually finish it.
What I could not verify
The previous version credited the book with budgeting templates, financial goal-setting worksheets, and discussion prompts for family conversations. I could not confirm any of those are in it. If you are buying it expecting workbook material, check the Amazon preview first.
The book carries a couple of awards from the American Writing Awards and the International Book Awards. Those are entry-fee competitions rather than juried literary prizes, so treat them as marketing rather than as an independent verdict. That is not a knock on the content, just a note on what the badges mean.
Note also that the listing this post originally linked is the Kindle edition. The print edition is linked below as well.
Who should read it
Someone in their twenties who is earning real money for the first time and has no framework for it. A parent who wants to hand a book to an adult child without turning it into a lecture, which is more or less exactly what Ertel built it for. Newly married couples sorting out money together.
Skip it if you are past that stage and already have the basics running, or if you want deep investing content rather than a foundation.
One honest note: no book substitutes for the conversation. Ertel wrote this because he wanted his daughters to have it in writing, not instead of talking to them. If you buy it for someone, read it too.