There is a price to be paid for a book. And hopefully with it comes a reward.

For you, the reader, it's about 30 bucks (depending on whether it's a physical book or e-book) and about 10 to 20 hours of your time. With most books, I think you get your money's worth in enjoyment from the words on the page. But there's an added bonus with finance titles — you can often literally make thousands of dollars out of the ideas in them! Awesome! Many books have done that for me, and I hope Mortgages Made Easy does the same for you.

Authors pay a price: blood, sweat and tears. More accurately, writer's angst (blood), deadline panic (sweat) and estrangement from family (tears). All of which happened in the writing of this book. The upside for me? Well, you reading this bit. And moving on to enjoy the rest of this book. Ultimately, I hope that you profit from reading this book. To complete the karmic cycle, contact me to let me know if something from this book made a difference to your life. Authors love it. Hit me with an email: [email protected]. Or visit the website (www.brucebrammallfinancial.com.au) to sign up for our newsletters or find out some more about the process.

While one person bashes out the words, that's only a part of the story of a book. This book, for instance, wouldn't have happened without the following people's involvement.

My wife, Genevieve. Mrs DebtMan has said ‘no' to every book I've ever considered after the first one. But she comes around. Because she's tops. (And because a husband barricaded in his office writing a book is a husband who's not fighting for control of the remote.)

In order of appearance, Edward (DebtBoy) and Amelia (DebtGirl). You might think you love me more than I love you, but that's simply not possible. This fact won't become obvious to either of you for a while. But one day, in about 25 to 30 years, you'll understand.

This book is, in essence, a follow up to Debt Man Walking, published in 2008. A lot of unexpected stuff followed DMW's publication. There was the unexpected reaction to the book, which unexpectedly launched a few businesses (Castellan Financial Consulting and Castellan Lending, which morphed into Bruce Brammall Financial in September 2014), which meant that I have met a whole bunch of wonderful people, both clients and friends of the businesses, that I would not have otherwise met.

So, to the fantastic clients of Bruce Brammall Financial, many sincere thank-yous. This book wouldn't have occurred without your incredible support. It's the clients who are attracted to our business' core values — education, protection, simplicity, independence, fairness, leadership and wisdom — who spread the word via referrals, who humble me and my staff every day with their support for our business.

Thanks to Helen Savage, my office manager and first employee, the other woman in charge of managing my time. My life would be an even more hectic and disorganised mess without your continued professional assistance.

Over shorter periods, but for similar reasons, go thanks to Bruce Brammall Financial's other staff, including Gautam ‘Gordon' Seth and Ian Wood, without whom the business simply wouldn't be what it is.

I'm only allowed to continue writing books because people were kind enough to pay for and read the previous ones. Thank you to all those who have, as well as those who read my weekly columns in some of Australia's great media publications, including The West Australian, Eureka Report and News Limited's Your Money personal finance section.

With those publications, I've worked with some great editors. Not only have they given me latitude to write with a bit of flair and occasionally let me have a rant, but they are extra special because they approve invoice payments. Honourable mentions there go to James Kirby (Eureka Report), Sean Smith and Neale Prior (The West Australian) and Anthony Keane (News Limited's Your Money).

There was a point in time when I needed a retreat, a writer's log cabin, or else this book wouldn't have happened. The SOS flare went out and to the rescue came Maurn and Anne and way more than a log cabin. Eternal gratitude.

There are places in life that you avoid. They're uncomfortable and irksome. They make you feel jittery and nauseous. For reasons I still can't always fathom, every week I allow my business coach Geoff McDonnell to lead me to these haunted houses. But with a ‘creepy places tour guide' like Geoff, they all turn out to be manageable.

And to marketing guru Toby Ralph, for quickly and succinctly ending five years of branding confusion.

Speaking of great mentors, special thanks to two truly fine mortgage brokers, John Frame and Tanya du Preez of Loan Clinic, who are brilliantly knowledgeable and generous with their time.

Kristen Hammond, executive commissioning editor at publisher Wiley, hopefully knows that I think she's awesome for her help with this book and previously with Debt Man Walking. Just in case she doesn't, here I go: ‘Kristen, you're awesome'.

And for Mortgages Made Easy's editor, Allison Hiew, who literally added wisdom from half a world away, a final special thanks for the many improvements you made to this book.