And what people should understand is if you're looking at this and you're thinking,

wow, this is enormously complex, you're not wrong. Most of the stuff that Wall Street sells

is enormously complex. Classically, some of it is so complex, they don't understand it themselves, right?

That's the bad news. The good news is you could put

your arm on the table and sweep all of that off onto the floor because we don't need any of it.

Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today on Her Money. I'm Gene Chatsky, and if you

have been thinking about financial independence,

about the sacrifices it takes, whether it's realistic, how to get there faster, you are not

alone. The fire movement and fire for those of you who are not familiar stands for

financial independence, retire early. The movement has just

exploded over the last decade, with the fire Reddit community alone now topping 700,000 members.

But in a world of rising prices and stock market swings, is the classic

strategy of spending less than you earn, maxing out your investments in low-cost funds,

and avoiding debt still enough to get you there? My guest today says it absolutely is. J.L. Collins is often called the

godfather of financial independence. He's with me today to share why the simple path to fire is still the

smartest one. And his book, The Simple Path to Wealth, became an instant classic when it came out in 2016.

Now he's back with a brand new updated edition for 2025.

He's got fresh takes on everything from meme stocks to inflation and a punch list of actionable

steps to help you get started today. We're going to take a break. We'll be right

back. If there's one app you need on your phone in 2025, it's upside. It is one of the smartest

tools out there for getting a little something back on the things that you're already spending

money on, like gas and groceries

...