The Simple Path to Wealth

Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life

By: JL Collins

Narrated by: JL Collins, Peter Adeney

Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

This book grew out of a series of letters to my daughter concerning various things - mostly about money and investing - she was not yet quite ready to hear.

Since money is the single most powerful tool we have for navigating this complex world we've created, understanding it is critical.

"But Dad," she once said, "I know money is important. I just don't want to spend my life thinking about it." This was eye-opening. I love this stuff. But most people have better things to do with their precious time. Bridges to build, diseases to cure, treaties to negotiate, mountains to climb, technologies to create, children to teach, businesses to run.

Unfortunately, benign neglect of things financial leaves you open to the charlatans of the financial world. The people who make investing endlessly complex, because if it can be made complex it becomes more profitable for them, more expensive for us, and we are forced into their waiting arms.

Here's an important truth: Complex investments exist only to profit those who create and sell them. Not only are they more costly to the investor, they are less effective.

The simple approach I created for her and present now to you is not only easy to understand and implement, it is more powerful than any other.

Together we'll explore:

• Debt: why you must avoid it and what to do if you have it
• The importance of having f-you money
• How to think about money, and the unique way understanding this is key to building your wealth
• Where traditional investing advice goes wrong and what actually works
• What the stock market really is and how it really works
• Why the stock market always goes up and why most people still lose money investing in it
• How to invest in a raging bull or bear market
• Specific investments to implement these strategies
• The Wealth Building and Wealth Preservation phases of your investing life and why they are not always tied to your age
• How your asset allocation is tied to those phases and how to choose it
• How to simplify the sometimes confusing world of 401(k), 403(b), TSP, IRA, and Roth accounts
• TRFs (target retirement funds), HSAs (health savings accounts), and RMDs (required minimum distributions)
• What investment firm to use and why the one I recommend is so far superior to the competition
• Why you should be very cautious when engaging an investment advisor and whether you need to at all
• Why and how you can be conned, and how to avoid becoming prey
• Why I don't recommend dollar cost averaging
• What financial independence looks like and how to have your money support you
• What the Four Percent Rule is and how to use it to safely spend your wealth
• The truth behind Social Security
• A case study on how this all can be implemented in real life

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2016 JL Collins (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"In the dark, bewildering, trap-infested jungle of misinformation and opaque riddles that is the world of investment, JL Collins is the fatherly wizard on the side of the path, offering a simple map, warm words of encouragement and the tools to forge your way through with confidence. You'll never find a wiser advisor with a bigger heart." (Malachi Rempen, filmmaker, cartoonist, author, and self-described ruffian)

This is it!

I have read dozens of great, and not so great books on the subject of wealth management, financial planning and the like. As a relatively financially successful middle-class American I can say that much of the advice offered herein is very helpful. I wish I had known years earlier to be this focused and simple in my approach to building wealth. Anybody making $20,000 a year or more and starting young and willing to follow this man’s advice will retire sooner or later at something between well-off and corpulently wealthy.

If I was going to suggest that someone read one book and only one book on the subject of financial independence without going into too much detail on why this is the one book, this would be my suggestion.

The prose are incredibly crisp and succinct. I would love to have a beer with the author. He’s basically a stoic wrapped in the iconoclastic veil of a money man. Cheers!

excellent book, may need to listen again

I should listen again in a couple years as a refresher. Practical and thoughtful read.

Great book on planning for retirement!

I learned a lot from this book. It inspired me to start saving and investing more of my income. I even talked my wife into doing the same. Great tips and information that would take ages to look up on your own.

Amazing

I loved this book. It’s changed the way I think and I have already changed my habits and thoughts on investing and living as a whole. Everyone should read ( or listen) to this book.

Love it. Simple approach to investing.

love it. A simple approach to investing that I believe really works. Have had many of the same ideas myself and liked the reinforcement of the author.

Money tips I will pass on to my own kids

I wish I had read this book seven (7) yrs ago when a co-worker of mine recommended VIX as my first investment.
I threw some money into VIX and saw my investment depreciate as the economy soared. Needless to say, I never recovered from it. After a few years of VIX, I took my losses and moved on.
For those not familiar with VIX, VIX = Fear index = betting against the market. :-(

My second adventure with investing was DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan). I invested in DRIPs for over four (4) years and picked decent stocks. However, most of my gains went toward FEES (transfer d’argent fee, set up fee, ongoing investment fee, batch sale fee,… ). I got frustrated after a while and through hours of reading, digging, podcast listening, I came across Index Investing.

This book breaks down index investing to a few simple steps and puts passive investing at eye level.

I have been trying to put together a collection of notes about my experience with investing as well as money tips to pass on to my kids. JL Collins nailed it in “The Simple Path to Wealth”.

Thanks Uncle Jim

Simple investing for everyone

I love this strategy for investing. Just wish he would have written it without the rough language, so I could recommend it to family and friends.

I do not find enough words to adequately praise!

I could completely vote for this being in young adult's required learning. It is not so much just investing information alone. The basis of, and proof given, should be more than enough to anyone with an open mind to hear that here is a working path, go do it. The book is also an envelope of ideas from a parent to a daughter, and very nicely written.
I seriously do not have enough ability to properly praise this book, as most of my learning has not been in investing.
G.H.

sincerely Thank You!

so helpful! So well read! I feel confident now in achieving Financial Freedom! thank you thank you!

excellent

Loved this book Please Read It!!!
ASAP!!! You'll be glad you did!!
Don't Delay retire today!!