The Simple Path to Wealth
Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life — JL Collins
Originally a series of letters Collins wrote to his daughter, this book makes the case that investing well is almost boring: spend less than you earn, avoid debt, put the rest in a low-cost total-market index fund, and stay the course. The financial industry has an interest in convincing you it's complicated. It isn't.
Meeting Schedule
Schedule coming soon — check back here once we’ve picked our dates.
About the Book
The Simple Path to Wealth is, on purpose, short. Collins’s argument is that you don’t need the full investing shelf — you need a few durable ideas, executed consistently over decades.
The core ideas
- Spend less than you earn. The gap between income and spending is the whole game. Bigger gap, faster wealth.
- Avoid debt. Debt is someone else claiming a share of your future earnings.
- Invest in low-cost index funds. Collins famously advocates for VTSAX (Vanguard Total Stock Market). Own the whole market, pay almost nothing in fees.
- Stay the course. The market will crash. You will panic. The only people who lose money are the ones who sell in the panic.
- F-You money. Save enough that you can walk away from a bad job, a bad situation, a bad deal. The freedom is worth more than the math.
- The 4% rule. Rough retirement math: if you can live on 4% of your invested portfolio per year, you’re done working — forever.
How we’ll read it
Collins’s chapters are short and conversational. Expect candid discussion about our own money decisions, the gaps we’re (or aren’t) growing, and what “enough” looks like for each of us.