The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life

by J.L. Collins

Complex investments exist only to profit those who create and sell them.

Spend less than you earn—invest the surplus—avoid debt.

Do simply this and you’ll wind up rich. Not just in money.

Carrying debt is as appealing as being covered with leeches and has ...

Take out your sharpest knife and start scraping the littl...

If your lifestyle matches—or god forbid exceeds—your income, you are no mo...

Avoid fiscally irresponsible people. Never marry one or otherwise give him or h...

Avoid investment advisors. Too many have only their own interests at heart. By the time you know enough to pick a good one, you know enough to handle your finances yourself. It’s your ...

You own the things you own and they in...

Money can buy many things, but nothing more valuable ...

Life choices are not always about the money, but you should always be clear about the financial im...

Sound investing is not co...

Save a portion of every dollar you earn or that otherwi...

The greater the percent of your income you save and invest, the sooner yo...

Try saving and investing 50% of your income. With no debt, this ...

The beauty of a high savings rate is twofold: You learn to live on less even as ...

The stock market is a powerful wealth-building tool and you should be investing in it. But realize the market and the value of your shares will sometimes drop dramatically. This is absolutely normal and to be expect...

Nobody can predict when these drops will happen, even though the media is filled with those who claim they can. They are delusional, trying to sell you something or both. Ignore them.

When you can live on 4% of your investments per year, you are financially independent.

“If you could learn to live on rice and beans, you wouldn’t have to cater to the king.”

Three things saved us: Our unwavering 50% savings rate. Avoiding debt. We’ve never even had a car payment. Finally embracing the indexing lessons Jack Bogle—the founder of The Vanguard Group and the inventor of index funds—perfected 40 years ago.

I post on my blog when the spirit moves me and I might even get another book or two written.

Or I can just sit on the porch with a cup of coffee and read the books others have written.

One of my very few regrets is that I spent far too much time worrying about ho...

The older I get the more I hold each day precious.

I’ve become steadily more relentless in purging from my life things, activities and people who no longer add value while seeking out and adding those that do.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”

If you intend to achieve financial freedom, you are going to have to think differently. It starts by recognizing that debt should not be considered normal. It should be recognized as the vicious, pernicious destroyer of wealth-building potential it truly is. It has no place in your financial life.

Less than 3%, pay it off slowly and route the money to your investments instead. Between 3-5%, do whatever feels most comfortable: Either put the money to debt payment or investments. More than 5%, pay it off ASAP.

Focus your time and attention there, rather than on exploring clever strategies.

But debt is always a dangerous tool and the history of commerce is littered with failed companies ruined by the debt they took on.

The more and greater things you allow in your life, the more of your time, money and life energy they demand.

Houses are an expensive indulgence, not an investment.

I am a firm believer in personal responsibility and that debts freely taken on should be faithfully repaid.

There are many things money can buy, but the most valuable of all is freedom. Freedom to do what you want and to work for whom you respect.

Those who live paycheck to paycheck are slaves. Those who carry debt are slaves with even stouter shackles. Don’t think for a moment that their masters aren’t aware of it.

I may not have owned a Mercedes, but I owned my freedom.

Of course, a million dollars is a very arbitrary goal. Perhaps the better question is: Can everybody achieve financial independence?

Money is a very relative thing.

Being independently wealthy is every bit as much about limiting needs as it is about how much money you have. It has less to do with how much you earn—high-income earners often go broke while low-income earners get there—than what you value. Money can buy many things, none of which is more important than your financial independence. Here’s the simple formula: Spend less than you earn—invest the surplus—avoid debt

As we discussed in the introduction, do only this and you’ll wind up rich. Not just in money. But if your lifestyle matches or exceeds your income, you forfeit your hopes of financial independence.

Unfortunately, few will ever even see this as an option. There are pervasive and powerful marketing forces at work seeking to obscure the idea that such a choice exists.

But if you want to be wealthy—both by controlling your needs and expanding your assets—it pays to reexamine and question those beliefs.

Stop thinking about what your money can buy. Start thinking about what your money can earn.

And then think about what the money it earns can earn.

you’ll start to see that when you spend money, not only is that money gone forever, the money it might have ea...

There is an opportunity cost to no longer having that money available to work for you.

Once you have your F-You Money, all you need do is make sure you continue to reinvest to outpace inflation and keep your spending below the level your stash can replenish.

Rule #1: Never lose money. Rule #2: Never forget rule #1.

“The Dow started the last century at 66 and ended at 11,400. How could you lose money during a period like that? A lot of people did because they tried to dance in and out.”