New book, September 2026
The 10 Laws of Finance
A Real-World Education in Money, Business, and Freedom
Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA. Deloitte, then Google Cloud, now a Teaching Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University.
He wrote his first financial statement in a coffee-stained notebook, in the back of the car he was living in. The same rules held up years later in billion-dollar deal rooms at Google Cloud.
Why this book exists
A finance education that started in the back of a car
The first financial statement Devon Coombs ever wrote was in a coffee-stained notebook, in the back of the car he was living in. His recording studio had failed in the 2008 crash. He was $10,000 in debt, and for more than a year that car was home. The notebook page was the first honest look at his own numbers, and the ten laws in this book began as the rules it forced him to face.
The rules worked. He put himself through community college while working multiple jobs and running a small tutoring practice, found accounting, and built a career from Deloitte to Google Cloud, where he served as controller for Google Cloud Marketplace and the accounting expert for the AI Deals Desk. The same laws that rebuilt a life from a car held up in multi-billion-dollar transactions.
He left Google to teach. He now teaches finance at Santa Clara University, advises executives through Devon Coombs LLC, and wrote this book to put that education in reach of anyone, whether the starting point is a first budget or a Fortune 500 balance sheet.
Ten laws, three parts: where you are, where you are going, and how you get there. Between a notebook and a boardroom, only the scale changes. As the book puts it, the tools don’t change. Just the zeros.
Inside the book
Ten laws in three parts
Part One
Where You Are
- 1You Cannot Fix What You Hide
- 2Displaying Wealth Consumes It
- 3A Number Alone Will Lie to You
Part Two
Where You’re Going
- 4Accuracy Emerges from Error
- 5Present Decisions Create Exponential Future Impact
- 6Potential Is a Story; Cash Flow Is Reality
Part Three
How You Get There
- 7The Only Worthwhile Risks Command Incremental Expected Rewards
- 8Concentration Creates Unnecessary Fragility
- 9Every “Yes” Has a Casualty
- 10Success Hardens into Constraints
Early praise
What early readers are saying
“Devon Coombs has crafted a masterful bridge between the technical rigor of finance and the personal habits required for true freedom. This is more than a textbook. It is a practical and achievable roadmap for anyone seeking to position their financial reality with an honest and intentional life.”
Bahram Parineh
Director, Business Honors Program, San José State University
“This book is an excellent bridge between personal finance, corporate finance, and the practical application of these principles to everyday life. It is a recommended read for anyone looking to get serious about their future, finances, and decision-making, well beyond the surface-level advice offered by most books in the genre.”
Jordan Walters
High-Net-Worth Wealth Manager and Founder of the Career Launch Initiative for San José State University
“As a founder working at the intersection of accounting and AI, I used to see accounting and finance as something procedural and often treated as a chore. This book completely changed that perspective. Devon Coombs shows that finance is about revealing the truth through numbers, giving a clear picture of where you stand, and helping you make better decisions about what comes next. More than just concepts or metrics, it challenges you to think about your true end goals. A thoughtful and refreshing take that goes far beyond traditional finance.”
Harton Wong
Former Google AI Engineer and Founder of TABot
First edition 2026. Paperback. ISBN 979-8-9965184-0-1. Published by Devon Coombs LLC.