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Financial independence (FIRE)

The Simple Path to Wealth

J. L. Collins

Own the whole market cheaply through a low-cost index fund and let it compound - the one simple path to freedom.

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Chapters

14
  1. Chapter 01Debt: The Unacceptable BurdenPay off high-interest debt before anything else - it is a fire eating your future money.Read this chapter →
  2. Chapter 02Why You Need F-You MoneyBuild a stash big enough to walk away from any job or situation.Read this chapter →
  3. Chapter 03Can Everyone Really Retire a Millionaire?Save a big slice of your income and let compounding do the heavy lifting.Read this chapter →
  4. Chapter 04How to Think About MoneyEvery rupee you invest is a worker earning more rupees for you.Read this chapter →
  5. Chapter 05Investing in a Raging Bull (or Bear) MarketDon't wait for the right moment and ignore the crash prophets - no one can time markets.Read this chapter →
  6. Chapter 06The Market Always Goes UpOver decades the whole market climbs, even though it plunges scarily on the way.Read this chapter →
  7. Chapter 07Why Most People Lose Money in the MarketPeople lose by panic-selling in crashes and chasing fads - behaviour does the damage, not the market.Read this chapter →
  8. Chapter 08Keeping It Simple: Index FundsBuy one low-cost total-market index fund and you own everything - no picking needed.Read this chapter →
  9. Chapter 09Bonds and Selecting Your Asset AllocationSplit between stocks and bonds to match your stomach, then rebalance back to that split.Read this chapter →
  10. Chapter 10What Is It About Vanguard Anyway?Choose the cheapest broad fund from a company that works for you, the investor.Read this chapter →
  11. Chapter 11The Tax-Advantaged BucketsUse tax shelters like EPF, PPF and NPS to hold your money, and put the right assets in the right accounts.Read this chapter →
  12. Chapter 12Why I Don't Like Investment AdvisorsMost advisors are salespeople whose fees quietly eat your returns.Read this chapter →
  13. Chapter 13Magic Beans: You Can't Pick WinnersNobody reliably picks winning stocks, times the market, or outruns the con artists - so don't try.Read this chapter →
  14. Chapter 14Withdrawal Rates: How Much Can I Spend?You can safely draw about 4% of your pot a year and not run out.Read this chapter →

This is my own plain-English understanding of the book’s ideas, in my own words with my own ₹ examples, laid out against the book’s real chapters so you can relate the two. It is not the book and reproduces none of its text - if it helps, please buy the book. Not affiliated with the author or publisher. The author is not SEBI-registered; nothing here is investment advice.