Your Journey to Financial Freedom: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Wealth and Happiness

Journey to Launch podcaster Souffrant debuts with a sound program for achieving financial independence, which she defines as being able to live on the “money you’ve accumulated in your investment accounts... indefinitely.” Her five-step program involves figuring out “what your bills and liabilities are in comparison to what you’re earning,” paying off most debts, establishing an emergency fund, “investing consistently and growing your assets,” and maintaining a financially sustainable lifestyle once one accumulates enough wealth to support themselves without a job. Souffrant’s down-to-earth style makes financial principles accessible, as when she explains the benefits of investing in index funds over individual companies by noting the latter “involves taking on more concentrated risk whereas investing in the overall market and passively waiting for returns on average can be a more efficient strategy” because of the “low work” and “low effort” required. The author is also unusually sympathetic to the notion that sometimes short-term spending can be worth postponing financial independence, as when she recounts her decision to splurge on a family trip to Disneyland instead of investing the money. Additionally, her suggestions are specific and pragmatic (her “25x rule” recommends saving 25 times one’s desired annual spending before retiring). Approachable and sensible, this gets the job done. (Dec.)