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The Simple Path to Wealth | JL Collins | Talks at Google

Talks at Google · talk · Watch on YouTube

Investing & personal finance

What it is

Author JL Collins discusses his book The Simple Path to Wealth at Google, covering avoiding debt, simple index fund investing, and retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs. It is an hour-long interview in plain language.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN points people to it as the clearest single video on simple, long-term index fund investing.

  • 7 people recommended it
  • 7 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2019, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “This video is probably the most clear resource I can think of that has all the information in one place.”

    Clearest single resource on index fund investing

    f0e4c2f7, 2021-10 · Strong recommendation · in “Redditors are right about the unfairness of the market”

  2. “this talk covers the basics”

    Covers the basics of the simple path to wealth

    patrickk, 2019-11 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?”

  3. “JL Collins [1] has a great talk at Google”

    Talk on not watching markets too closely

    caro_douglos, 2019-12 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: How do you consume noisy financial news?”

  4. “Or for a video intro, he gave this 1hr Talk@Google”

    One-hour video intro to JL Collins's investing ideas

    mister_tee, 2021-03 · Recommendation · in “The Joy of Fuck-You Money (2018)”

  5. “JL Collins lays out how to invest for your retirement using index funds, explained in simple and commonsensical terms.”

    Simple explanation of retirement investing with index funds

    murm, 2021-06 · Recommendation · in “How do I start investing?”

  6. “Good introduction”

    Good introduction to simple long-term investment rules

    ggop, 2022-05 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: How to invest savings?”

  7. “Here's a good video that makes a case for this.”

    Case that index funds beat active trading

    qnleigh, 2025-12 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: jl collins, index funds, personal finance, retirement, financial independence

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