Or press and hold the picture (right-click on a computer) to save it.
Or press and hold the picture (right-click on a computer) to save it.
Simplify wealth creation with an investing engine that compounds gains instead of fees.
Invest a small percentage of what you earn each month. Over time it compounds into something incredible.
Drag a slider, or tap a number to type your own.
Same $500 a month, same return. Compounding does not add up; it multiplies.
Every number on this page is arithmetic on these. Change any of them and judge the result yourself; that is the point of a tool.
Keep fees low. You pay them win or lose, and they eat your gains like a parasite.
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Uses the contribution, years and return you set above.
Beating the market once is totally possible. Beating it every year is science fiction.
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Each bar: where most investors land, as a share of what the index fund gave them. The dot is the typical one.
The sooner you start, the sooner compounding growth kicks in.
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Either way you invest for , in the index fund.
The fund is the engine; the account is the garage. The same fund is taxed differently in each, so the order matters. This part is US rules and 2026 limits only; other countries have their own equivalents (ISA, TFSA, superannuation). Not tax advice.
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Your part-one contribution, filled in Bogleheads order until the money runs out. Emergency fund and card debt come first.
Your workplace plan. Take the full match first: it is free money. Then pick the index fund on the menu.
Your own retirement account, any broker, any fund. Roth: tax now, never again. Traditional: tax later. Most beginners start with a Roth.
Never taxed: going in, growing, or coming out for medical costs. Invest it and let it compound; after 65 it works like an IRA.
For everything else, and the one you can spend any time. Hold broad index ETFs here; keep bonds in the tax-sheltered tanks.
Simple selections to start. Three funds are enough: total US, total international, total bond. Examples, not a recommendation.
Arithmetic, not advice. Real returns come in lumps; keep contributing through the bad years and the order matters little.
Send a snapshot of your plan to someone you trust.
Free and independent, none of them selling a fund. Where a claim rests on research, the original paper is linked.
The posts that became The Simple Path to Wealth: why to index, why most people lose, why advisors cost more than they look. His 2026 update adds ETFs and international.
Buy the whole market, ignore the news, keep going. His "Shockingly Simple Math" is compounding applied to your savings rate.
A 2% fee over a working life hands about two-thirds of your money to the fund company. Sharpe's two-page Arithmetic of Active Management proves why: after costs, passive must win.
Fees predict fund results better than star ratings or past performance: the cheapest fifth of funds succeeded 62% of the time, the priciest fifth 20%.
About 97% of Buffett's fortune arrived after age 50. Time in the market beat brilliance.
Buffett's bet: the index fund made 8.5% a year, the hedge funds 0.3% to 6.5%. Self-directed traders trail the market (Barber and Odean), and a few big winners carry the whole market, so random picks fare badly (Bessembinder).
84% of active funds trailed the S&P 500 over ten years, 92% over twenty. Of the top funds in 2021, none were still on top in 2025 (Fama and French: luck, not skill).
Fill in this order: emergency fund, employer match, high-interest debt, HSA, IRA and 401(k), then taxable. Roth or traditional depends on your tax rate now versus in retirement (2026 limits).
All of this in ten principles, plus a start-up kit from opening an account to a three-fund portfolio. Bogle's own speeches are the primary source.
How the math works. Each month the balance grows by (return − fees), then your contribution is added. Taxes and market swings are left out on purpose: they change the numbers, not the shape.
Not financial advice. This page is educational; it does not know your situation.
Vibes Investor simplifies wealth creation.
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