The Index Card
Helaine Olen & Harold Pollack · 2016
A finance professor once proved that everything you truly need to know about money fits on a single 4x6 index card, and then a journalist helped him show why those plain-spoken rules beat the expensive, complicated advice the industry sells you. This is personal finance stripped to what actually works.
Boils all sound personal finance down to ten simple rules that fit on an index card.
Three of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of The Index Card pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.
- Aim to save 10-20% of your income, and build the emergency fund first, even starting at 1% and ratcheting up beats waiting until it 'feels affordable.'
- Pay your credit card in full every month; carrying a balance at 15-25% interest quietly cancels out almost any investment gains you make elsewhere.
- Max out tax-advantaged accounts (401(k), IRA, Roth, 529) and never leave a free employer match on the table, it's an instant, guaranteed return.
The other 4 — and the full 11-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 10 chapters
The whole summary runs about 11 minutes, read or listened to.
- The Card That Beat the Experts
- Save 10-20% (Pay Yourself First)
- Pay Your Credit Card in Full: Every Month
- Max Out Tax-Advantaged Accounts
- Never Buy Individual Stocks
- Buy Cheap, Diversified Index Funds
- Mind the Fees
- Hire a Fiduciary, or No One
- Houses and Insurance: Boring on Purpose
- Support the Safety Net (and Keep It Simple)
Finish The Index Card tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 11 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
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