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Your learning path
There is a lot to read and try on this site. This path puts it in the order a tree grows: first the soil and the roots, then the trunk, the branches and the fruit. Follow the order or jump to where you are; your progress is saved in this browser.
Your progress
0 of 43 steps
Your progress is saved only in this browser: it is not sent to any server and you do not need an account.
Where do you want to start?
Pick the one closest to your situation and we take you to that point on the path. Everything before it is still there if you need it.
- I am starting from zeroI want to understand the basics and get my money in order.Your starting point
- I want to get out of debtOr stop scraping by at the end of the month.Your starting point
- I want to start investingI already save and want my money to work.Your starting point
- I am planning retirement or FIREI want to know when and how I can get there.Your starting point
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Stage 1 · 3 steps
The soil
Where am I right now?
What you will learn: What personal finance and financial independence are, and an honest picture of where you are starting from before you change anything.
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Take Control of Your Financial Future: An Introduction to Personal Finance and Financial Independence
Personal finance and habits aren't taught in school, but anyone can master them. Discover how small daily actions and compound interest build long-term independence.
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Freedom Compass assessments
Two free questionnaires: one about your current situation and one about your relationship with risk. You receive a personal report by email.
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Personal Finance Simulator
Make the money decisions of an ordinary life and watch your wealth, your cash flow and your wellbeing move.
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Stage 2 · 11 steps
The roots
Money habits that hold on their own
What you will learn: Knowing where your money goes, building a budget, paying yourself first, getting out of debt and understanding why you decide what you decide.
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Foundations of Personal Finance: How to Control Expenses and Build Wealth
Discover simple tips for budgeting, tracking expenses, and making smarter money choices to achieve financial freedom without giving up what makes you happy.
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Expense management
A free Excel template for recording every expense for 15 days or a month, so you can see where your money actually goes. Free for newsletter subscribers.
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Personal budget
A free Excel template for comparing where your money actually goes with the budget you want to have. Free for newsletter subscribers.
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Pay Yourself First: The Simple Habit to Build Lasting Wealth
Learn how saving a fixed percentage before spending can break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle and help you easily build an emergency fund.
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The Slow Money System: A Calmer Way to Build Wealth
A practical weekly rhythm that replaces financial urgency with a small set of repeatable decisions.
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Spending with Purpose: How to Align Your Money with What Truly Matters
Financial growth isn't about cutting all joy—it's about intentional spending. Discover how aligning purchases with your core values unlocks lasting freedom.
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Life cost calculator
Convert the price of any purchase into the hours of work it costs. A different, and more honest, way to look at spending.
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Debt Management: How to Get Out and Stay Out of Debt
Debt can feel overwhelming, but the right strategy can change everything. Compare Good vs. Bad Debt and learn the Snowball vs. Avalanche payoff methods.
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The Psychology of Money Decisions: Why Knowing the Math Is Not Enough
Nobody fails at money because they can't calculate compound interest. They struggle because the decision arrives in a moment and the consequence arrives in a decade, and the mind simply isn't built for that gap.
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Building Wealth Through Good Financial Habits: Key Lessons from Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Discover how to build long-term wealth using proven financial habits from Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Learn the key differences between assets, liabilities, good debt, and cash flow.
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Monthly personal finances analysis
A free Excel template for drawing up your monthly balance: income, spending, assets and liabilities in one picture. Free for newsletter subscribers.
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Stage 3 · 9 steps
The trunk
Putting your money to work
What you will learn: Why idle money loses value, how compounding works for and against you, and the basics you need to start investing calmly.
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Why Inflation Exists — And How to Stay Ahead of It
Inflation quietly erodes cash reserves. Learn why mild inflation drives economic growth and discover how stocks, real estate, and TIPS protect your wealth.
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Beating Inflation and Leveraging Compounding: How to Make Your Money Work for You
Money sitting in a savings account loses value every single day to inflation. Discover how compound growth and broad-market investing can help you build long-term wealth.
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Compound interest calculator
Work out how much your money will grow with monthly contributions and an annual return. Free, no sign-up, and the math runs in your own browser.
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Negative compounding calculator
Work out how much of your wealth fees and taxes take over the years, and how much growth is lost along the way. Free, no sign-up, and the math runs in your own browser.
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Put Your Money to Work: Make Money While You Sleep
Saving alone won't build wealth due to inflation. Discover how compound growth, stocks, real estate, and passive streams let your money work while you sleep.
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Investing 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Your Wealth
Investing isn't just for the wealthy. Learn the basics of stocks, bonds, ETFs, and robo-advisors to start building long-term compound growth today.
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Understanding Bonds: Why They’re Important Market Indicators
Bond prices and yields may seem complicated, but they are key indicators of market sentiment. Discover how bond yields move, why they impact interest rates, and how to position your portfolio.
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Market Time Machine
Travel to any year of market history and invest: you see the falls and the recoveries the way someone actually lived them.
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What a Century of Market History Teaches: Drawdowns, Recovery and Diversification
“Over the long run the market goes up” is a true sentence and an almost useless one. The numbers that decide whether you stay invested are how deep the falls went, how long they lasted, and what they did to a mixed portfolio.
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Stage 4 · Optional · 9 steps
The branches
Knowing the vehicles from the inside
What you will learn: How funds, ETFs, hedge funds and real estate work under the hood, so you choose knowing what you are buying. Optional: go deeper when you need it.
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How Collective Investment Schemes Work: Inside the Machinery of Mutual Funds
Ever wondered what happens behind the scenes when you buy a fund? Discover how advisers, custodians, depositaries, and daily NAV calculations keep your money secure under SEC and FCA rules.
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Investment Limits and Risk Diversification in Funds: The US and UK Rules
How do funds protect your money from massive market crashes? Discover the US 1940 Act diversification tests, the UK's 5/10/40 rule, and the index fund exemptions that keep your portfolio safe.
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What Your Fund’s Name Is Hiding: Investment Mandates and Regulatory Categories
A mutual fund's name isn't just marketing—it's a legally binding mandate. Discover how regulatory asset thresholds, currency limits, and risk metrics protect your portfolio.
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Engineering Behind Index Funds, ETFs, and Guaranteed Funds
How do financial institutions create guaranteed returns and index tracking? Discover the mechanics of Asian options, Zero-Coupon bonds, and ETF trading.
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How Hedge Funds Work: Operating Structures, Strategies, and Risk Metrics
Uncover how hedge funds create market-independent alpha. Discover leveraged strategies, High-Water Mark fees, Fund of Hedge Funds structures, and advanced metrics like VaR.
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Real Estate Market Mechanics: Housing Cycles, Affordability Ratios, and Credit Dynamics
Uncover the economic drivers shaping the real estate market. Explore historical housing booms, affordability metrics like price-to-income, and the impact of demographic trends.
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Real Estate Tax Optimization: Direct Ownership vs. REITs and Mutual Funds
Discover how holding real estate through specialized vehicles like REITs or mutual funds compares to direct property ownership in tax efficiency, liquidity, and long-term wealth compounding.
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Glossary
Every term in the branches explained in two lines. Keep it open while you read.
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Stage 5 · 9 steps
The fruit
Financial freedom
What you will learn: The sources of passive income, how your portfolio changes with age, when you could stop depending on a salary and how to protect that plan.
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Passive Income Is Not One Thing: Four Engines and What Each One Costs
A dividend fund, a rented flat, a bond ladder and a course you sold once are four completely different machines. They differ in the capital they need, the hours they quietly ask for, and the way they break.
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Passive Income Engine
Compare the four passive income engines with the same money and find out what each one really costs.
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How Your Investment Allocation Should Change as You Age
Discover how to transition your portfolio from aggressive growth in your 20s to wealth preservation in your 60s using rules like 100-Minus-Age, TDFs, and target-date lifecycle strategies.
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Retirement Planning 101: How to Secure Your Future
Planning for retirement doesn't have to be overwhelming. Learn how to set target goals, leverage the 4% rule, maximize accounts, and build long-term compound wealth.
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Financial freedom calculator
Find out how much wealth you need to live off your investments, and how much you would have to save each month to get there.
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Freedom Calendar
Your income, spending and investments turned into a single date: the day you stop needing a salary.
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Sequence-of-Returns Risk: Why the Order of Returns Decides Your Retirement
Two people can retire with the same money and earn the same average return, and still end up in very different places. What separates them is the order the good and bad years arrive in — and that's the one thing an average can never show you.
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Monte Carlo FIRE
Thousands of possible futures for your retirement plan: the probability that the money lasts, not an average.
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Family Wealth Compass app
Brings your net worth, your goals and your plan together in one place, with your data in your browser or in your account. It is currently in beta: it may change, and you may run into the odd bug.
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Stage 6 · Optional · 2 steps
The light
Time and energy for what matters
What you will learn: Delegating and organising your day so the time money buys you actually stays yours. Optional, at any point on the path.
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Freeing Time for What Matters: Mastering the Art of Delegation
Too busy to focus on your true goals? Learn how using the Eisenhower Matrix and smart delegation frees up mental bandwidth for what matters most.
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Boost Your Daily Productivity with Lean Management Tools
Originally built for Toyota factories, Lean management can transform your personal focus. Learn how 5S, Kanban, and Kaizen reduce mental friction and unlock daily productivity.
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Keep growing
If you want to go further
A new article in your inbox every week, the complete course in order, or a session to work through your own numbers.
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Email newsletter
One article a week, in your language, and the Excel templates without being asked for your email again.
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Course "From Zero to Financial Freedom"
This whole path on video, in order and with exercises, to follow at your own pace.
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One-to-one sessions
An hour to go through your budget, your habits or your plan with your own numbers. Education, not advice.
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Want to see everything?
The path covers the essentials in order. The blog has every article, including the newest ones, sorted by topic.
See all articles