Press and media

Everything a journalist, reviewer, or booker needs for Mr. 401(k)’s Principles of Financial Literacy, on one page. For anything else, write to press@portokalipress.com.

The book

Mr. 401(k)’s Principles of Financial Literacy: The Young Person’s Guide to Money, Markets, and the Modern Economy by Petros Koumantaros. On sale December 1, 2026. Formats: paperback, hardcover, Kindle. ISBN 979-8-9972106-0-1 (paperback), 979-8-9972106-1-8 (hardcover), 979-8-9972106-2-5 (e-book). Page count: 334. Imprint: Portokali Press, Jackson, Wyoming. List prices: $19.99 paperback, $27.99 hardcover, $9.99 e-book.

A plain-English guide to money, markets, and the modern economy, written for capable teenagers and young adults, and for the parents and teachers who guide them. Most money books jump straight to budgets and tips. This one starts with a better question: what is money, really? Every claim is shown with the math, so readers never take a number on faith.

Fast facts

Mapped benchmark by benchmark to the National Standards for Personal Financial Education (CEE and Jump$tart, 2021): 38 of 40 eighth-grade and 56 of 68 twelfth-grade standards across all six topic areas.
Grew out of FinLit with Mr. 401(k), a volunteer financial literacy course taught to 7th and 8th graders since 2022: 75+ students across 4 cohorts; all course materials free and openly licensed (CC BY 4.0) at petros.us.
Inside: 48 discussion prompts, 9 hands-on activities, an 18-chapter summary set, a 225-term glossary, a chapter-by-chapter sources section, a nine-section business-plan capstone, and a consumer-protection appendix.
As of mid-2026, thirty states guarantee every high school student a standalone personal-finance course; the book arrives standards-mapped for the teachers, parents, and districts those mandates create.

The author

Petros Koumantaros has devoted most of his career to helping Americans prepare for their financial futures. He spent two decades leading Spectrum Pension Consultants, the retirement plan consulting and administration firm his father founded in Tacoma, Washington, and co-founded a financial technology company serving retirement savers. He has testified before the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on improving retirement savings and was appointed by the Governor of Washington to the Washington Saves Governing Board. He has earned professional credentials from the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries and the National Association of Plan Advisors, and has written and spoken extensively on retirement policy and financial education. In 2022, he developed a financial literacy course and began teaching it as a volunteer; his students came to know him as Mr. 401(k). Mr. 401(k)’s Principles of Financial Literacy grew out of that classroom. He wrote the book he wishes someone had handed him at fourteen.

The author’s speaking page and appearances: petros.us/speaking. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/petrosk.

About the press

Portokali Press is an independent publisher in Jackson, Wyoming, founded in 2026 to publish Mr. 401(k)’s Principles of Financial Literacy and the titles that follow it.

Story angles

From the Senate witness table to a middle school classroom: the 2022 HELP Committee testimony (“Rise and Shine: Improving Retirement and Enhancing Savings”) that turned into a volunteer course, then a book. Hearing record: https://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/rise-and-shine-improving-retirement-and-enhancing-savings
The teacher who gives it away: four terms of curriculum, openly licensed, free to any classroom (petros.us/about-finlit).
Thirty states now mandate personal finance; who is writing the books teachers actually want to teach from?

Assets

The Plan on One Page and the Teacher and Parent Guide are free downloads on the author’s site: petros.us/the-book.

Contact

Media inquiries, interview requests, review copies, and anything this page does not answer: press@portokalipress.com.

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