The simple path to wealth! What a week that was. We had the man himself, the godfather of financial independence, JL Collins, talking us through index investing and his investment strategy.

This week we bring together all the questions about investing from last week and work it into a simple strategy that we can all follow to buy assets over time and create passive income for ourselves. 

Before we dive into this we had a question from one of the audience...

What is the (insert country) version of VTSAX?  JL talked a lot about investing in VTSAX last night which is fine if you are American but what about a version in the UK, Ireland, India, New Zealand etc?  This question has come up multiple times in the Facebook group since. 

The simple answer is that if you live else where in the world then don't search for a version of VTSAX rather look for a Global tracker.  Home Country bias is where you only invest in your country (fine for Americans as their companies are mostly global) but BAD for the rest of us.  So look for a simple Global Tracker such as the Vanguard FTSE Developed World Ex UK or the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund and just start there.  

The investing course
This was Part 2 of the 3 weeks we are spending on investing.  

• Part 1. Week 6. The Theory. Introduction to assets, diversification and what are stocks and shares?
• Part 2. Week 7. JL Collins. The Simple Path to Wealth and index investing in detail
• Part 3. Week 8. Putting it into practice. What type of account should you open? How do you actually implement this stuff?

Coming up in week 8
You might be thinking...
"This is all very well Donegans but I'm now sat at my laptop ready to invest, how do I actually do it? What are the different accounts I can get? What are the different fees you have to pay and how can you minimise these?" 

Well in week 6 we covered some of the theory of investing. This week we had JL Collins live explaining more about index investing and his Simple Path to Wealth. Next week (week 8) we're going to talk about how to implement all of this! Stick with it, we're building week on week. We have one more week of content to cover this investing stuff. Hang tight. You don't need to implement anything yet! We have more to tell you.

We will go through platforms, accounts (ISAs, SIPPs and other versions) and how to actually get your first investment going. 

Disclaimer
We are NOT financial advisers. The content of this course, the articles on this blog and these articles are NOT financial advise. This is our opinion and we are just sharing what we are doing. DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK

Resources to learn more about index investing
This is not an exhaustive list of course. Also you don't have to read/watch/listen to all of these. Just pick ONE and start!

• Watch JL Collins' Google talk about investing. It's a one hour talk. Instead of watching an episode or two of your favourite Netflix show watch this instead. You will be much wealthier in the long run!
• JL Collins' book The Simple Path to Wealth. All of JL's investment advice is free on his blog. For a more condensed and easier to read version you can buy the book (link to UK version or US version). YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY THE BOOK. There's nothing additional in the book that isn't on JL's blog. The book is just a more condensed and easier to read version. The links to the books are affiliate links, if you buy the book using these links we will get a small commission which helps to cover the cost of the Zoom account and web hosting or you can just go direct to Amazon and search for them. You could also get it from the library of course.
• When we ran the course last time we didn't give enough information on how to choose an index fund and how to actually get going. During lockdown we wrote a whole series of articles covering this and they go into way more detail than we have time to cover on our calls. Here are some articles about index investing.
  
• JL recorded a guided meditation for when the stock market is dropping. Listen to his dulcet tones to help you stay calm and stay the course

Week 7 homework
To get the most out of this course you must do the homework (plus homework is fun! Or that's what Katie tells me....)

So here is the homework for week 7... 

1. Have you done the homework from week 6? If not go back and do it now!  We are going to ask you these questions repeatedly over the next few weeks, what funds do you have?  What platform are they on?  What are the fees?

2. Pick ONE of the resources from the list above about index investing and have a read/watch/listen.

3. Use the fees tool Katie created to compare your existing investments and their fees to Vanguard investments.  Fees are one of the biggest killers of your financial success.  We need to minimise these as much as we can. 

This tool gives you the ability to take what is written on different platforms websites, input it into the tool and then compare the results over time.  1% doesn't feel like a lot but it is a killer to your financial future.  

​Have fun and if you enjoy the tool write Katie a nice message as she spend a lot of time creating this for you!​

How much does it cost to invest? Katie Donegan's Fee Tool enables you to compare investment platform and fund fees to see the impact over time.

Ask for help
Remember to reach out in the Facebook group with any questions you have or if you get stuck. Don't let confusion be an excuse for not progressing with this stuff. We are here to support you!

Alan and Katie