Books · Money
Book summary and verdict
The Simple Path to Wealth
Collins says buy the whole market, automate it, and leave it alone. Naturally, I check it before breakfast, see one red number, and decide fifty years of capitalism need emergency supervision from a man eating cereal over the sink.
Should you read it?
Read it if investing still feels like a private club where everyone else understands the acronyms. Skip it if you already buy broad index funds and can keep your hands off them. I said can, not intend to.
L.Collins wants me to buy the whole stock market cheaply, automate the payments, and perform the advanced financial maneuver of leaving it alone. I was qualified until the first red number.
The ideas
I · Simplicity
You do not need a genius investment strategy. You need one that can survive five minutes alone with you.
The plan is simple: spend less than you earn, avoid stupid debt, buy tiny pieces of lots of companies, then leave them alone. We can ignore a smoke alarm for six months, but not a retirement account for one afternoon.
That’s it. Unfortunately, the plan depends on you leaving something alone, and human beings cannot do that. We poke bruises to see if they still hurt. We reopen arguments from 2014 because suddenly we thought of the perfect response. We watch our investments fall three percent and become wartime economists before lunch.
So the real subject here is not finance. It is stopping you from touching the money. The arithmetic is simple. The creature performing the arithmetic is emotionally unstable.
“Eat less and move more” is also simple. Then somebody brings doughnuts into the office, and suddenly you are conducting important research into whether custard contains protein. Money works the same way. You know the plan right up until the plan becomes mildly uncomfortable.
L.Leave the money alone. It is doing better without supervision.
II · Leverage
Real wealth is when the boss says everyone must work Saturday, and you can afford to wish everyone a nice weekend.
The rest of this idea is in the app.
III · Haystack
Do not bet retirement on one miracle company. Buy a little of everything and let the corporations fight in the bag.
The rest of this idea is in the app.
IV · Foam
Do not dump an investment for having one bad day. My family kept me.
The rest of this idea is in the app.
V · Mazes
Ask an adviser who gets paid when you trade whether you should trade. Incredible news, you should.
The rest of this idea is in the app.
What to actually do
Write down every debt, its balance, and its interest rate, including the one you have been treating like a mysterious family shame. Pick a repayment order tonight.
Smaller: Highest rate first saves more money. Smallest balance first may keep you moving. Your plan has to survive Friday night, not impress a mathematician.
L.Excel never has a bad Tuesday and orders forty dollars of dumplings.
Find a reputable, low-cost fund available in your country that spreads your money across many companies. Check what it owns, its annual fee, its local tax treatment, and any charge for buying it.
Smaller: The explanation should be boring and complete. If it requires a genius founder, a secret opportunity, and the words "get in early," you are not investing. You are the trick.
L.Many companies. Low fee. Local rules. Nobody needs a secret.
Pick an amount and have it leave checking automatically every payday.
Smaller: If you plan to save whatever is left, nothing will be left, because you know the guy spending it. He has your PIN.
L.Pay him last.
Turn off investment price alerts and unsubscribe from one market-prediction newsletter. Delete the shortcut that lets you inspect your retirement before breakfast.
Smaller: You are not gathering useful information. You are asking capitalism, “Do you still love me?”
L.Your retirement should not be managed by whoever you are before coffee.
Move one starter amount into a separate emergency account, then keep adding to it until the next surprise feels rude instead of catastrophic.
Smaller: When the mechanic names a figure with a comma in it, you want to swear once, not go home and rank your possessions by resale value and emotional importance.
L.You still hate the bill. You do not meet a payday lender.
Still in the app
- What happened when people tried them
- Bullshit?
- Where readers disagree
- The one thing worth remembering
The rest of this book is in the app.
Skip the Book reads the self-help books so you don't have to: what each one argues, what happened when real people tried it, which claims are exaggerated, and what to do tonight. 108 books and counting, new ones most days.
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