The Simple Path to Wealth

Personal finance doesn't have to be complicated. The basics, consistently applied, beat sophisticated strategies almost every time.

The complete simple strategy:

1. Spend less than you earn — always

2. Avoid debt except a reasonable mortgage

3. Build 3–6 month emergency fund in HYSA

4. Contribute to 401k up to employer match

5. Max out Roth IRA (or backdoor Roth if income too high)

6. Max out remaining 401k

7. Invest extra in taxable brokerage in total market index funds

8. Never try to time the market

9. Rebalance once a year

10. Increase savings rate every time income rises

The one fund portfolio:

Vanguard Target Retirement fund matching your expected retirement year. Automatically diversified globally, automatically rebalances, automatically gets more conservative. Total cost: ~0.10%/year. Requires zero knowledge to maintain.

The most important habits:

Automate everything — savings, investments, bill payments

Ignore financial news and market predictions

Play defense on the big three: housing, transportation, food

Increase income as much as possible — savings rate compounds

Reference:

Wikipedia: Financial Independence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_independence