The Index Card
by Helaire Olen and Harold Pollack
A professor once said all the personal-finance advice you need fits on an index card, wrote it on one, and it went viral. This book explains the ten rules: save ten to twenty percent, pay off credit cards, max out retirement accounts, buy index funds, never buy or sell individual stocks, keep fees low, buy insurance, and so on. It is short, clear and refuses to make money complicated.
Read it if…
you want the basics in a form you cannot overthink.
Skip it if…
you are past the basics; there is nothing advanced here, on purpose.
Three things you will actually use
- Save first, automatically.
- Index funds, low fees, leave them alone.
- Ignore the financial entertainment industry.
Do this first
Copy the ten rules onto an actual index card and tape it where you pay bills.
Our verdict
Plain, correct and brief; the anti-complexity money book.
Compare with other Money books
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Tony Robbins · Money
Bloated with a few important chapters; read selectively.
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Scott Trench · Money
Practical and staged; a solid plan for the starting line.
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