Money is a weirdly emotional topic. We treat it like a dark art, something reserved for the guys in tailored suits on Wall Street who speak in Greek letters and "alpha." But then you pick up The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins, and you realize we’ve all been sold a lie. Complexity is a profit center for the industry, not a benefit for you.
Collins didn't set out to write a bestseller. Honestly, he was just a dad trying to explain money to his daughter, Jess, so she wouldn't have to worry about it. She didn't want to hear it at first. Typical kid, right? So he wrote a series of letters. Those letters became a blog, the blog became a cult classic, and now, in 2026, the book is still the "Bible" of the Financial Independence (FIRE) movement.
The VTSAX Obsession: It’s Not About the Fund
If you’ve spent five minutes in a finance forum, you’ve seen the "VTSAX and chill" memes. People treat this specific fund—the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund—like a magic totem. But here is the thing: it’s not about the four letters.
It's about what they represent.
Collins argues that you don't need to find the "next Apple." You just need to own everything. VTSAX buys you a piece of roughly 3,600 American companies. When a company like Sears dies, it just drifts out of the index. When a company like Tesla or Nvidia rockets to the moon, you already own it. It’s "self-cleansing."
The math is brutal for the pros. About 82% of active fund managers—the ones charging you 1% or 2% in fees—fail to beat a simple index over the long haul.
Think about that. You are paying someone to give you worse results than a computer that just buys everything. It's madness.
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The "F-You Money" Mindset
We’ve been conditioned to think wealth is about the stuff you buy. The German SUV. The granite countertops. Collins flips the script. To him, money is a tool to buy the only thing that actually matters: freedom.
He calls it "F-You Money."
It's the amount of cash that allows you to walk away from a toxic boss or a soul-crushing job without blinking. It's not about being a hermit or living on rice and beans forever—though he famously jokes that if you can live on rice and beans, you never have to "cater to the king." It’s about the power of the "gap."
The gap is the distance between what you earn and what you spend. If you earn $100k and spend $100k, you are a slave. If you earn $50k and spend $25k, you are on the road to being a god.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Strategy
Critics love to poke holes in The Simple Path to Wealth. They say it's too aggressive. Too US-centric.
- The International Debate: Collins doesn't really care for international funds. He argues that US companies derive so much revenue globally that you already have international exposure. In 2026, with US tech giants like Apple and Microsoft still dominating the globe, that argument holds some weight. But if the US dollar tanked tomorrow? You might wish you had some unhedged European or Japanese stocks.
- The Bond Problem: He suggests a 100% stock allocation for a long time. That’s easy to say when the market is up 14% like some analysts project for 2026. It’s a lot harder when your $1 million portfolio becomes $600k in three months. Most people think they have a high risk tolerance until the "Big Ugly Event" actually happens.
- The Optimization Trap: There are "smarter" portfolios. The Paul Merriman four-fund strategy or a factor-tilted portfolio might technically offer better risk-adjusted returns. Collins knows this. He just doesn't care. Why? Because complexity is the enemy of execution. If a plan is too hard to follow, you'll quit when things get hairy.
Stop Looking at the "Yield"
In the current 2026 market, people are obsessed with interest rates and whether the Fed is going to pivot. They’re looking for "income" or "dividend" stocks.
Collins would tell you to stop it.
Dividends aren't free money. When a company pays a dividend, its share price drops by that amount. It’s just moving money from one pocket to the other while potentially triggering a tax bill. Focus on total return. Focus on the low expense ratio. VTSAX costs 0.04%. That’s $4 for every $10,000 you invest. Compare that to a "wealth manager" taking $100 plus commissions.
How to Actually Start (The 2026 Reality)
The world looks a bit different now than it did when the book came out in 2016. Inflation has been stickier. Housing is a mess. But the core pillars haven't budged an inch.
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- Kill your debt: Especially high-interest consumer debt. It’s a parasite.
- The 50% Rule: Try to save half your income. Sounds impossible? Maybe. But even getting to 20% puts you ahead of 90% of the population.
- The 4% Rule: Once your annual expenses are only 4% of your total portfolio, you’re "done." You've won the game.
It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a get-rich-slowly-but-surely process. It requires the discipline to do absolutely nothing when everyone on social media is screaming that the sky is falling.
Actionable Next Steps
If you want to apply The Simple Path to Wealth right now, don't overthink it.
- Audit your fees: Go into your 401k or IRA today. Look at the "expense ratio" of your funds. If you see anything over 0.20%, you are being robbed. Switch to the lowest-cost total market index or S&P 500 fund available.
- Automate the "Gap": Set up a recurring transfer to your brokerage the day your paycheck hits. If you don't see the money, you won't spend it.
- Calculate your "Freedom Number": Take your annual spending and multiply it by 25. That’s your target. Seeing that number makes the goal feel real, rather than just a vague dream of "retirement."
- Ignore the noise: In 2026, the headlines will find new things to scare you with—AI job displacement, geopolitical tensions, whatever. Remember that the market has survived world wars, depressions, and pandemics. It’s a bet on human ingenuity.
Don't wait for the perfect moment to start. There isn't one. The "simple path" is only effective if you actually walk it.