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The Simple Path to Wealth Book Review

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There is brilliance in simplicity. – Bruce Lee

Recently, I began reading the book The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins.

The book originated with letters to his daughter about financing.

On my path towards financial freedom, I have decided to read the books of other Personal Financial Bloggers.   

The book du jour: The Simple Path to Wealth.

Do you believe in coincidence?

I don’t believe in coincidence. I think that all things work together for good. – Kathie Lee Gifford

“I do not believe in meaningless coincidences. I believe every coincidence is a message, a clue about a particular facet of our lives that requires our attention.” – Deepak Chopra

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Well, it just so happened that the last finance blogger I interviewed for this website was Dave of Accidental FIRE called: Accidentally Wealthy on Purpose.

In that interview, he informed me that his favorite personal finance book was The Simple Path by JL Collins.

I mean what are the odds that I would be reading that EXACT BOOK at that EXACT MOMENT. 😲 Pretty slim that is for sure.

I too thought the book was pretty good and gives some sound financial advice.

I even tweeted out that advice directly from the book. And to my surprise JL Collins gave me a like. I appreciated that! 😉

After, doing that interview and sending the tweet and the getting a like form the author, I decided that I must do a book review on this book. Why? I feel that if you see something three times (3x), then it must be for a reason. They say things happen in three’s. So I went with it!  

Let’s get to it!

Drum roll please.

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THEEEEEEE SIMPLE PATH TO WEALTH!!!!

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

WHO IS JL COLLINS?

He has been an investor since 1975. In 2011, he wrote a series of letters to his daughter about money and investing; which morphed into jlcollinsnh.com and led to this book.

Welcome inside the mind of the man who started the infamous Stock Series on his blog.

The foreword of his book was by Mr. Money Mustache.

Serious praise for the book:

“Let’s face it: Most investment books are boring. Dull. Uninspired. This book brings managing your money to life.” – Paula Pant, Afford Anything

“The media claim stock investing is no better than gambling. Collins cuts through the crap. He demonstrates a simple level-headed way to wealth that will lead you to a richer life.” – J.D. Roth, Founder Money Boss and Get Rich Slowly

I have to agree wholeheartedly with J.D. Roth’s assessment. I also got to meet him at FinCon. Nice guy 😉

See my post on FinCon

FinCon 18: The Recap From Your Friendly Neighborhood Greenbacks Magnet Part I and Part II

After reading the book, it was really eye-opening. One of the simplest approaches to investing and building wealth that I have ever read and I read A LOT!

My library card is on fire!!!   😂

Now let me tell you why I feel that way about the book.

DEBT IS A BURDEN

There is no free lunch. tweet

There is no such thing as E-Z financing. Credit cards come with enormous interest rates. If you look on credit card statements today, it will give you two numbers.

One is how long it will take to pay off your balance paying the minimum amount.

The other is how long it will take before your balance is paid in full after three years.

Knowing that you can be paying off that sweater from last year until your kids are ready to graduate from college should scare most straight to the path of cash only!

Debt causes too many constraints and limits personal and financial freedom.

Paying a $10 minimum on a $300 balance is a sure fire way to the poor house.

If you owe more than 5% interest on any debt, then get rid of it ASAP. And forget all these consolidation loans and balance transfers. That’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Just work on steadily paying off the one with the most interest and then continue until all the debt is gone.

Then make being debt free last forever.

WHY YOU NEED F-U MONEY

We all need it.

You know why? Because sh*t happens, that’s why.

What happens if you chip a tooth, get hit by an uninsured motorist, and the basement floods all in the same week?

You have to pay to handle of these situations. If nothing else, an insurance deductible; which can run into the thousands as house flooding can be a deductible as high as $5,000!

I previously wrote on F you money in a blog post called How Do You Play With FIRE?

Here is part of that post here for your convenience.

My blog post from the Mark Cuban on F-U Money blog post

LEVELS OF WEALTH

Only you can decide how much money is enough. However, if we go by Rockefeller, enough is always a little more. Basically, how much money is enough?

For purposes of simplicity, we will use the examples of enough money given by billionaire Mark Cuban.

Mark Cuban on enough money:

“‘Enough’ is what it takes to not worry about the bills.”

“‘A lot’ is enough that you never have to worry about working again.”

“‘F you’ money means you can rent a jet to go wherever you want, whenever you want, and no party is out of reach.”

“‘F everyone’ money means you can have your favorite band in your backyard, not care how much it costs, and lend them your jet to get there.”

We’re not talking about rich; talking about wealthy. Chris Rock once said, “Shaquille O’Neal is rich. The guy who pays his salary is wealthy.”

He also said comfort is the poison. Too much of it can slow down your progress on the road to wealth. All I mean is to stay hungry. I’m just saying there are different levels of wealth.

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So trust me when I say you need F-U Money.

MAGIC BEANS ARE INDEX FUNDS

Coco Chanel — ‘Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.’

Jack Bogle founded the Vanguard Group in 1974.

Mr. Bogle created the first S & P 500 index fund. Due to its immensely low fees because the investors own Vanguard and not some company or board of directors that want to please shareholders, this book advises an investment in the VTSAX at Vanguard.

JL Collins advice: Invest in index funds with Vanguard and keep what is yours.

I concur.

I need all my coins. I want ALL of my MONEY! I aim to keep as much of it as possible. I’m almost as bad as Scrooge McDuck. Almost.

See my post on Money Lessons I Learned From Scrooge McDuck

Remember that episode of Ducktales when Fenton Crackshell was counting all of Scrooge’s money that he dumped into the lake in “Liquid Assets Part 1.”  That’s me! 🤣

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This total stock market fund holds the entire U.S. stock market fund; which includes about 3,700 stocks.  As most of these companies are worldwide and involved in international markets, you only need this one fund. Simple right? 😉

And it is comprised of 80% of all the top funds in the S & P 500, so no need to diversify as you already have it here.

If that did not convince you, the maybe the best stock-picker of all time can: Warren Buffet.

He owns the company Berkshire Hathaway (stock symbols; BRK.A and BRK.B)

See my posts

Forget Simon, Do What Buffet Says

How I Used The Buffet 25 Strategy to Walk The Talk

Money And Chocolate

Don’t Take Money Too Personal

Patience Is The Key To Wealth

3 Rich Habits Of Millionaires

Do You Want A Million Dollars? Ask For It!

In the 2013 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder letter, Buffet advised the following:

“What I advise here is essentially identical to certain instructions I’ve laid out in my will. One bequest provides that cash will be delivered to a trustee for my wife’s benefit. My advice to the trustee could not be more simple: Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. (I suggest Vanguard’s.)”

I am a Vanguard and Berkshire Hathaway investor and I approve this message. 😉

Have you recently wrote a book? Are you looking for a review? Do you want to be Greenback’d? Tweet me. I’ll be here @mjp2520

Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Retirement, Saving, Wealth

How do you play with FIRE?

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“It is so liberating to really know what I want, what truly makes me happy, what I will not tolerate. I have learned that it is no one else’s job to take care of me but me.” – Beyoncé

Many of you may have heard of the FIRE movement (financial independence, retire early). However, what some of you may not know is that there are different ways to FIRE.

Let’s explore some of those ways shall we.

WHAT IS FIRE?

According to Camp Fire Finance, the elevator pitch for FIRE is this, “When your investments generate enough money to cover your annual expenses you’re financially independent (FI). At that point work is optional and you can retire early (RE) if you want to.”

Basically, you have more than enough money coming in to stop working. Usually, this requires anywhere from $1 million to $5 million dollars depending on what you want or need to spend to maintain your lifestyle or that of the one you dream of having.

For example, if you decide you want to withdraw at least $80,000 a year, you would need to have a $2-million-dollar portfolio.

HOW DO YOU BUILD A $2 MILLION DOLLAR PORTFOLIO?

“Don’t focus on getting to $1 million; focus on getting to $2 million.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

I heard that little gem when Mr. Schwarzenegger was doing a radio interview.

So, one word: invest.

Property, stocks, art, and stamps can all help you build your net worth.

“Market crashes are the best times to buy,” he said. “When Walmart has a sale, everybody would run in to buy. But when the stock market has a sale, or the real estate market has a sale, everybody runs away. That’s why there’s a difference between rich and poor today because they don’t know a good thing when they see one.” – Robert Kiyosaki quoted from a MarketWatch interview

Do not focus on your income; focus on your net worth.

Earning a high income means nothing, if you spend it all. If you make $85,000, but spend $86,000 you’re in the red. You can blow through just about any paycheck.

PURSUIT OF LIFE, LIBERTY, HAPPINESS AND FINANCIAL FREEDOM

The pursuit of financial freedom takes work and time. I thought this post from Apathy Ends, hit the nail on the financial head on why people are not rich, yet. See my post on Patience is the key to wealth.

I will never forget that episode of America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) when Ms. J was teaching the girls how to walk down the runway. He was fierce and determined.  What he got from the girls was gentle and undetermined or undefined and lazy.

He commented to them, while slapping his hands together, with one palm face up against the other hand palm down for emphasis: “I want you to walk like you’re selling it and the rent is due tomorrow.”

I could think of no better way to tell someone that is how you approach your money and your life’s work. Either be all in or don’t do it at all. Passion is what separates the have’s from the have not’s. And in that case, it was a $100,000 prize and modeling contract.

Get a financial education. Learn all you can about money. Make a plan or a budget for your money, but make it sexy. I know for some people talking about interest rates puts them to sleep, but how about we think of the subject differently and come at it from another angle.

I went to a meetup in DC and heard J. Money of BudgetsareSexy say this, “Do you want to learn how to balance a check book? Boring. Or do you want to learn how to save a million dollars?” WHAT?!!!

Did you also know reducing your 401(k) investment fee by 1% can provide you with 10 years of income? Shocking? Yes, I know. I can teach you how to save $1 million and keep $100,000!

Now, those things sound sexy and exciting. Yes,  please tell me more.

Once you have a question. Start looking for answers.

THE RULE OF 25

“I can never be safe; I always try and go against the grain. As soon as I accomplish one thing, I just set a higher goal. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am.” – Beyoncé

If your annual expenses are $55,000 a year, then you need $1.375 million to retire (55,000 x 25) and then this should last you for the next 25 years.

The formula used to calculate your 25 years of expenses is this (expenses x 25 years).

Estimate your FIRE number.

You want more money to retire on? Like Beyoncé says, set a higher goal.

For $100,000 in income, you would need a $2.5-million-dollar portfolio to generate that kind of cash.

See chart.

Source: Camp Fire Finance 

THE RULE OF 300

Say your monthly expenses are $3,500, then you need $1.05 million to retire (3,500 x 300) and that should last you for the next 25 years.

As you can see, it is similar to the Rule of 25. It only differs slightly in we use monthly expenses versus annual expenses in this calculation.

Source: Four Percent Rule

THE FOUR PERCENT RULE

The 4% rule refers to your withdrawal rate: the annual percentage amount you can safely withdraw from your investment portfolio when you retire.

Therefore, if you want to withdraw $200,000, then you need a $5-million-dollar portfolio.

Source: Camp Fire Finance

THE THREE PERCENT RULE

“Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.” – Casey Kasem

The 3% rule refers to your withdrawal rate: the annual percentage amount you can safely withdraw from your investment portfolio when you retire.

This allows you to touch your interest earned at a slower pace. Since, you are withdrawing 3% instead of 4%. Meaning your draw down the principal more slowly, if ever. The more you have squirreled away and the less you take, you may not even touch the principal at all.

I know that is really shooting for the stars, but that really is the goal. You never want to touch principal. That way, you live only off the interest forever!

I got this chart from doing another online search and the best I came across was from the blog Financially Alert.

Source: Financially Alert 

LEVELS OF WEALTH

Only you can decide how much money is enough. However, if we go by Rockefeller, enough is always a little more. Basically, how much money is enough?

For purposes of simplicity, we will use the examples of enough money given by billionaire Mark Cuban.

Mark Cuban on enough money:

“‘Enough’ is what it takes to not worry about the bills.”

“‘A lot’ is enough that you never have to worry about working again.”

“‘F you’ money means you can rent a jet to go wherever you want, whenever you want, and no party is out of reach.”

“‘F everyone’ money means you can have your favorite band in your backyard, not care how much it costs, and lend them your jet to get there.”

We’re not talking about rich; talking about wealthy. Chris Rock once said, “Shaquille O’Neal is rich. The guy who pays his salary is wealthy.” He also said comfort is the poison. Too much of it can slow down your progress on the road to wealth. All I mean is to stay hungry. I’m just saying there are different levels of wealth.

FIRE IT UP

“Focus on all four of your net worth factors: increasing your income, increasing your savings, increasing your investment returns, and decreasing your cost of living by simplifying your lifestyle.” – T. Harv Eker

Simple math can help you retire rich.

Unfortunately, many people think of math as a foreign language and say it’s too hard to learn.

In my experience, to build wealth you need to know addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. And that’s about it.

Why FIRE AT ALL?

More control and satisfaction over how you spend your time and money. Finding something you love to do and are passionate about is life changing and fulfilling. What you want is…FREEDOM. Waste less money and work with what you’ve got. Do more with what you have.

What do you want out of life? Write it down. Go seek answers. They say seek and you shall find.

According to Mr. Money Mustache, you should focus more on you than your bank account. Get wiser and healthier so you can increase your probability to get wealthier. My favorite quote of his is this: “Salads and barbells every day.” Become your best self with hard work, dedication, and consistency. Be the Boss.

READY, AIM…FIRE!!!

According to an article by Physician on Fire (POF), called What is fatFIRE?, a Facebook group defined FIRE as the following:

FIRE = Financial Independence. Retire Early.

leanFIRE = FIRE on a shoestring budget.

fatFIRE = FIRE on a generous budget.

Most aspiring to fatFIRE have a target of $2.5 Million or more or the equivalent annual budget of $100,000 or more based on a 4% withdrawal rate.

I found a breakdown of the terms financially speaking on Miniafi on the difference between lean and fat FIRE under the title So Many Terms!

I break it down like this:

LEAN FIRE = $1 million dollar or less portfolio

FIRE = $1.25 to 2-million-dollar portfolio

FAT FIRE = $2.5 million dollar or more portfolio

FIRE is about having enough passive income flows to never work again or to decrease the amount of time you spend doing work you don’t want to do and increasing it on the work you do want to do.