The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins is the best book on investing I’ve ever read.
It is a must-read for anyone trying to figure out why and how to invest in the stock market.
If you’re a new investor and don’t understand how to invest in the stock market, Collins will set you on your way.
If you’re a seasoned investor unsure what to do in times of economic uncertainty, Collins is here to help.
Maybe you just need a bit of motivation or a reminder of how simple it is to build long-term wealth. There’s no one better than Collins to provide that pep talk.
Who is JL Collins?
JL Collins is sometimes described as “the Godfather of Financial Independence” in the personal finance community. He has a popular blog where you can read more about his story.
The short version is that he wrote a series of letters to his then teenage daughter about money, investing, and life. He wanted to impart the wisdom he had accumulated during his lifetime and help her avoid the mistakes he had made.
Those letters eventually led to his blog, which then led to his bestselling book, The Simple Path to Wealth, first released in 2015.
Since then, Collins has been a thought-leaders in the financial independence community. He has inspired thousands, if not millions, of people around the world to accumulate massive wealth by following a few simple rules.
What makes Collins so transformative is his ability to make seemingly complex topics (like investing) into easily digestible and actionable information.
If you have any intention of becoming financially independent and haven’t read The Simple Path to Wealth, now is the time to do so.
I’ve read his book cover-to-cover twice and constantly refer back to his lessons.
Each time I read his book, I’m reminded how simple it is to reach financial independence if I can just follow a few simple tips.
I’ll share those simple rules with you at the bottom of the post. Before I do, here is a bit of context about each time I read his book, first in 2019, then again in 2025.
Seeing those dates, you may already be wondering if world events between 2019 and 2025 changed his philosophies.
Let’s find out.
I first read The Simple Path to Wealth in 2019 as a DINK.
I first read The Simple Path to Wealth in 2019 and just finished the updated version. Even if you’ve read the original version, I highly recommend you read new edition released in 2025.
Here’s why.
When I read the original version in 2019, market conditions and the world economy were in very different places than they are in 2025.
Back in 2019, the stock market had been closing out one of the best decades in history. As reported by US News:
From a market’s perspective, the 2010s will forever be remembered as an era of slow but steady gains on Wall Street, and a period of sustained growth for investors and their retirement accounts.
By the end of the 2010s, the market had been on the longest bull run in history. It was such an epic run that it was fairly common for most people to see big gains in their portfolios without much effort or knowledge.
On a personal level, my life was also very different in 2019. My wife and I were enjoying married life before having kids. We had just purchased our first rental property in a trendy Chicago neighborhood.
On top of that, we were DINKs (“Dual Income No Kids) and able to save aggressively for our next investment.
We were considering another rental property, but I first wanted to learn more about the power of investing in the stock market.
This is what led me to read The Simple Path to Wealth the first time.
Side note: If you are currently a DINK, or will soon be a DINK, please pay extra attention here.
Don’t waste this powerful opportunity to supercharge your investments.
When you’re in a relationship where you have two incomes coming in and are sharing financial responsibilities, you have the opportunity to supercharge your Later Money goals.
This is what my wife and I were able to do, even if we didn’t know what a DINK was. We each had good incomes coming in and our monthly expenses were low.
Also, we didn’t have to worry about childcare. We were young so the odds of unexpected medical care were lower. All things considered, it was pretty easy to keep our Now Money to a minimum with plenty to spare for Life Money.
This allowed us to fuel our Later Money goals. We had money in the bank and seemingly endless choices.
And, I didn’t want to screw it up.
Reading The Simple Path to Wealth was a way to educate myself in hopes of not screwing it up.
I read the new version of The Simple Path to Wealth in 2025.
Fast forward to 2025. I read the new version o The Simple Path to Wealth because I was curious if Collins’ viewpoint had changed due to major world events, like the Covid-19 pandemic.
I was also curious to see whether his advice would still resonate with me now that I’m a seasoned real-estate investor and have a personal finance blog.
Well, I’m happy to report that Collins’ message hit me stronger today than it did in 2019.
If anything, Collins’ lessons are even more applicable today than they were in the 2010s when markets were soaring.
In the new edition, Collins discusses how recent world-changing events, like the Covid-19 pandemic and international wars, actually strengthen his long-time recommendations.
This was very refreshing to learn because I have been following his advice and recommending his book for years.
In times of economic uncertainty, Collins explains, it’s even more important to have a plan for your money.
Once you have that plan, you need to stick to it, no matter what.
Collins provides the motivation and tools to stick to the plan.
Why is The Simple Path to Wealth such an important book?
When I teach my personal finance class to law students, I ask at the beginning of class what my students hope to learn.
One of the most common responses I hear every year is, “I want to learn how to invest in the stock market.”
OK, fair enough.
The truth is I’ve yet to find any resource better than The Simple Path to Wealth to teach us how and why to invest in the stock market.
What makes Collins such a good teacher?
In The Simple Path to Wealth, Collins uses basic, every day, language that we can all understand. This is his greatest gift.
Too many books on investing are so dense that they are useless to the average person.
Collins is different. He successfully blends his life experiences with the historical data, in easy to understand terms, to show us that investing is not hard.
For many people, especially people at the beginning of their careers, investing can seem intimidating.
As Collins explains, that’s because it’s big business for investment companies and banks to make investing seem hard and scary.
These companies spend billions of dollars marketing every year to convince us that investing is complicated. Their goal is to convince us to pay them lots of money to manage our money.
You don’t have to believe them. You certainly don’t have to pay them tons of money to invest in the stock market.
Collins will not only show you how invest on your own, he’ll also give you the tools to outperform the financial professionals.
What are Collins’ simple rules to live by?
Collins’ main message is that investing should not be complicated. When done the right way, it’s simple and effective. Hence, the title of his book.
Collins explains that each of us can achieve long-term wealth by following a few simple rules:
- Spend less than you earn.
- Invest the surplus.
- Avoid debt.
Sound advice, indeed.
If you can live by these simple rules, the next question is what to do with your surplus money earmarked for investments.
Collins has a simple and effective plan for you that he details in his book.
What is Collins’ simple and effective plan for investing?
Collins’ plan is both simple and effective. He doesn’t expect you to just take his word for it, either. He has the research and historical data to back it up.
Make no mistake: just because something is simple does not mean it is ineffective.
So, what is Collins’ simple and effective plan to invest for long-term wealth?
- Invest in low-cost, broad-based index funds. His favorite investment has always been Vanguard’s total stock market index fund, VTSAX.
- Ignore the noise. Be mentally tough. Stay the course.
That’s it.
You don’t need fancy investments. You don’t need a financial advisor. All you need to do is commit to the plan.
If you’re thinking that this is too good to be true, you need to read The Simple Path to Wealth.
How can it really be that simple?
You might be thinking, how can it really be that simple? If all people had to do was invest in index funds, everyone would be rich.
That’s exactly Collins’ point!
Everyone could be rich if they follow these simple rules.
The problem is most people allow their emotions to get in the way and steer them off the path.
Collins does his best to help you deal with those emotions.
If you don’t believe that index fund investing will make you wealthy, look at this stat about the recently announced sale of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers:
That’s right. The Buss family would have an extra $3 billion today if they had invested in the S&P 500 instead of purchasing the Lakers in 1979!
Many thanks to blog reader, DJ, for passing this one along!
I know, I know. Owning the Lakers was probably a ton of fun. They also surely made money on the team along the way.
The point remains: investing in an S&P 500 index fund also would have generated massive wealth. And, that wealth would have come without the effort and the headaches of running a major professional sports organization.
I can picture Collins having a good laugh about stats like this.
Read The Simple Path to Wealth.
I recommend The Simple Path to Wealth to all of my students and friends who ask me about investing.
There is not a better book out there to make the concept of investing seem approachable for all of us.
Collins is clear and humorous. He’s also stern when he needs to be.
If you read this book, you’ll realize that becoming wealthy through the stock market does not have to be complicated.
It can be wonderfully simple.
- Have you read The Simple Path to Wealth?
- Are you convinced that investing can be both simple and effective?
Let us know in the comments below.
