Your money, in plain English
A few numbers, then three answers: where you can afford to live, where you're headed, and the one thing worth doing next. Rough numbers are fine, and nothing leaves this browser.
About you
1 · Where can I afford to live?
2 · Where am I headed?
3 · The one thing to do next
Something happened?
Come back when life changes. Each one is a single short page.
Something happened
Pick what's going on. You'll get a short answer using your numbers from Start here.
Learn more
The details behind the answers, for when you're curious. None of this is required.
← Learn more
Learn more
Same job. Three different lives.
Three friends start the same job on the same day at the same salary. None of them does anything reckless. Watch where a few ordinary choices in the first couple of years take each of them.
Net worth by age · today's dollars
The 12-month raise rule
📈
When your pay goes up, keep your spending where it was for 12 months. Send the whole raise to savings and debt.
🧠
After a year you won't miss spending you never started, and the higher savings rate just feels normal. That's how Maya ends up saving a quarter of her pay without ever feeling a cut.
🚗
The first lifestyle upgrade is usually a car. A $600/month lease is $36,000 over five years with nothing to show for it. Invested instead, at 4% real, it's about $40,000.
Your turn: Start here puts your own numbers in this picture.
The move from this tab: Set up savings once, on day one, so it happens before the money reaches your checking account. 401k to at least the full match through payroll. An automatic transfer to a Roth IRA the day after payday. An automatic transfer to a high-yield savings account until you have 3–6 months of expenses. Then live on what's left.
How this works: Savings rates include the employer match. Returns are 4% after inflation, all in today's dollars. Taxes use the State and Filing settings on the Paycheck tab. "Work optional" is when savings reach 25× what that person spends in a year (the 4% rule). "Coast" is when savings will reach that by 65 without adding another dollar. Social Security isn't counted; it would move everyone a few years earlier.
Your numbers
My plan
Six short sections. Rough numbers are fine. You'll get the one step to focus on this month, how much to set aside each payday, and what comes after. Nothing is sent anywhere — your numbers stay in this browser.
1. You
2. Your pay
3. Saving for retirement
4. Bills you must pay, per month
5. Debts
Credit cards, buy-now-pay-later, student loans, car loans, personal loans, medical bills.
6. Savings
Costs you know are comingOptional · makes the payday plan more accurate
Car repairs, holidays, trips and a new phone aren't emergencies. They're bills that come once a year instead of once a month. Rough yearly amounts:
Move my plan to another deviceCopy a code, paste it there
Your numbers are saved only in this browser. To use them on another phone or computer, copy this code, send it to yourself, and paste it into Money Basics there.
← Learn more
Module 1
Time is the asset
The most powerful force in investing isn't how much you earn — it's how early you start. See what waiting 10 years actually costs.
Start now
Start 10 yrs later
About these numbers: Returns shown are real (inflation-adjusted). 4% real ≈ 7% nominal minus 3% inflation. All dollar amounts are in today's purchasing power.
← Learn more
Module 2
Where to put your money first
The order you fund accounts matters more than how much you invest. Tap each step to learn why.
← Learn more
Module 3
Pay yourself first
Savings happen before you see the money — not from what's left over. See how contributions affect take-home and how the tax code subsidizes your retirement accounts.
Per paycheck breakdown (biweekly)
Fed tax
FICA
State
401k
Roth IRA
Take-home
Livability check
Family support:
$0/mo
← Learn more
Module 4
Roth or Traditional?
Answer a few questions about your situation and we'll tell you which account type makes more sense — and why.
← Learn more
Module 5
Coast FIRE
The point where your savings will grow to fund retirement on their own — no more contributions needed. Find your number.
Instead of fixating on a huge number 40 years away, Coast FIRE gives you a near-term milestone. Hit it, and your savings will grow to cover retirement on their own — contributions become optional. Use the Paycheck tab to find your monthly savings, then enter it below.
Your timeline
Note: All values in today's dollars. 4% real return ≈ 7% nominal − 3% inflation. FIRE number = 25× annual spending (4% rule).
← Learn more
Module 6
What to actually invest in
The evidence on index funds vs. stock picking — and a smarter framework for doing both.
The short answer: In your Roth IRA and 401k — buy FZROX + FZILX (Fidelity, 0% fee each) or VTI + VXUS (Vanguard/Fidelity/Schwab, 0.03–0.05%/yr). ~80% US, ~20% international. Low cost, automatic diversification, zero thinking required. Everything below explains why this works.
The evidence
Audited return data from every active fund vs. simple index funds, published by organizations with no incentive to favor either side.
SPIVA Scorecard — S&P Dow Jones Indices ↗
88%
of large-cap active funds underperformed the S&P 500 over 15 years
SPIVA U.S. Scorecard
95%
of active funds underperform over 20 years — gets worse the longer you look
SPIVA U.S. Scorecard · 20-year data
SPIVA tracks actual reported returns of every active mutual fund against its benchmark. Funds that close due to poor performance are included — not cherry-picked. spglobal.com/spdji
DALBAR — What individual investors actually earn ↗
DALBAR measures what real people actually earned after buying high, panic-selling, and chasing hot stocks. The 2.6% annual gap compounds into a massive retirement shortfall — on $100K starting investment, that gap is over $500K at retirement. dalbar.com
Warren Buffett's $1 million bet ↗
10-year annualized return (2008–2017)
In 2007, Buffett publicly bet $1M that a simple Vanguard S&P 500 index fund would beat the world's best hedge funds over 10 years. He won by a landslide. His opponent conceded early. Buffett has since instructed his wife's inheritance go into a simple S&P 500 index fund — not his own team's management.
Why it still feels wrong
You know someone who made a killing on Nvidia. So why doesn't the data match? Survivorship bias — you only hear about the winners.
100 stocks from 10 years ago — what actually happened
Big winners (ones people talk about)
Underperformed or flat
Major losers / near zero
The stocks you hear about are the survivors. Nobody posts about Peloton (−95%), Zoom (−85%), Rivian (−90%), or WeWork (bankrupt). The index fund owned Nvidia all the way up automatically — without guessing in advance, and without needing to hold through its 80% drawdown in 2022 without panic-selling.
The timing problem: Even picking the right stock isn't enough. Studies show most individual investors who owned Nvidia still underperformed the index — they sold too early or bought after the big run.
The 90/10 framework
We're not telling you to stop picking stocks. Instead, here's a structure that lets you play without putting the foundation at risk. It's about how you allocate each dollar, not which accounts you open.
The 90/10 rule — applied to every dollar you invest
🔒
Retirement accounts (Roth IRA, 401k) — 100% index funds, always. These are the vault. No stock picks, ever. FZROX + FZILX, or VTI + VXUS. Automated and untouched.
🟢
Taxable brokerage, 90 cents of every dollar — index funds. Same boring foundation continues here. This is the long-term engine inside your brokerage account.
🟡
Taxable brokerage, 10 cents of every dollar — your picks. This slice lives inside the same brokerage account. Pick stocks, try a sector ETF, whatever excites you. Real money, real consequences — that's how you learn.
💡
Key insight: The 10% slice could theoretically go to zero and it wouldn't sink you — because 90% of your taxable deposits plus 100% of your retirement accounts are still compounding. The account doesn't go to zero. A small slice of monthly contributions gets to be fun.
How your money flows each month
🔒 Roth IRA + 401k
100% index fundsEvery dollar here goes into boring index funds. No exceptions. FZROX + FZILX (Fidelity) or VTI + VXUS (Vanguard/Schwab). Automated and untouched.
📈 Taxable brokerage
90% index · 10% picksThe same brokerage account holds both. 90 cents of every dollar deposited goes into index funds. 10 cents goes into whatever you want to pick. The account doesn't go to zero — a small slice of your monthly deposit might.
See the monthly dollar split and long-term results
← Index funds (90%)Picks (10%) →
90/10 total
All stock picking (your rate)
All index funds
The real value of 90/10: After a few years you'll have two positions running side by side with real money. The comparison becomes its own teacher. Most people who try it eventually move the split to 95/5 or 100/0 on their own. The lesson lands when it's personal.
References
[1]SPIVA U.S. Scorecard — S&P Dow Jones Indices. spglobal.com/spdji/en/research-insights/spiva/
[2]DALBAR Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior (QAIB). dalbar.com
[3]Buffett's $1M bet — Berkshire 2017 Annual Letter. buffett.cnbc.com
Asset allocation — how you divide between stocks and bonds — is the single biggest driver of long-term results. More important than which specific funds you pick.
Find your allocation
Your suggested allocation
What to actually buy
Why not a target date fund?
Target date funds auto-shift from stocks to bonds as you approach retirement. That auto-pilot is useful at 55 — it costs you at 25. A 2065 fund today already holds ~10–15% in bonds, and keeps adding more every year. With a 40-year runway you can ride out any crash — time is your safety net. Bonds in your 20s just drag returns without giving you anything useful in return.
Simplest portfolio in your 20s: Two funds — FZROX + FZILX (Fidelity, 0% fee each) or VTI + VXUS (Vanguard/Fidelity/Schwab, 0.03–0.05%/yr). ~80% US, ~20% international. Rebalance once a year. Add bonds when you're within 15–20 years of retirement.
← Learn more
Module 7
Job change fire drill
Changing jobs triggers five financial decisions with hard deadlines. Most people only negotiate salary — and forfeit thousands everywhere else.
The #1 mistake: Cashing out your old 401k. On a $20,000 balance you lose ~$6,000–7,000 to taxes and the 10% penalty — instantly, permanently. Roll it over instead.
Answer a few questions and we'll tell you exactly what to do with your old 401k.
The cost of leaving before a vesting cliff is real money. See if it's worth staying longer.
Vesting schedules explained
Cliff vesting
0% vested until a specific date — then 100% instantly. Common: 1-year cliff. Leave one day early: forfeit everything.
Graded vesting
Vest gradually: e.g. 20%/yr over 5 years. Each year you leave earlier costs a specific slice. Check your plan documents.
Also check: RSU/stock option vesting dates, profit-sharing distributions, and whether your annual bonus has a "must be employed on payment date" clause. Timing your last day around these can be worth several months of salary.
You have 60 days from your last day of employer coverage to enroll in COBRA or an ACA marketplace plan. After that, you're uninsured until your new employer's plan starts.
FSA warning: If you have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), it's use-it-or-lose-it. Spend down your balance before your last day — schedule dental, glasses, prescriptions. HSA funds are yours to keep regardless.
Compare your options
How to decide
Choose COBRA if…
You have ongoing care, prescriptions, or procedures already scheduled. Same doctors, same deductible mid-year. Worth the cost for continuity.
Choose marketplace if…
You're healthy, gap is short, or you want to check for a subsidy. Go to healthcare.gov — most young professionals qualify for meaningful subsidies. Special enrollment starts your last day; subsidies are income-based and often larger than people expect.
Tip: You can enroll in marketplace even if you haven't used COBRA yet. Job loss = qualifying life event = 60-day special enrollment period. You do not have to elect COBRA first.
The 30 days before and after your last day. Each item has a deadline — miss them and the window closes.