the most effective way in the right way for you to build wealth for the long term not just get rich quick the first thing you want to do is get a $1,000 emergency fund 40% of Americans cannot cover a $400 emergency in cash so getting this emergency fund is huge number two you want to start paying off your consumer debt you want to pay off the smallest debt first regardless of the interest rate a lot of people want to do the highest interest rate first mathematically that is correct but also if we were doing math we wouldn't be in credit card debt would we now once you are debt free then you want to save up a fully funded emergency fund of 3 to six months of expenses you can put that in a high yield savings account then from there you want to invest 15% of your income into retirement save for kids college if you have kids and a 529 or an ESA and then throw any extra money you have at your mortgage and then once your house is paid off you're going to move on to the last step and that is to continue to build wealth and be extremely generous okay this plan is not flashy and exciting but let me tell you this plan will take you from where you are to building wealth the right way it's going to give you peace it's going to give you control and you're doing it not get rich quick you're doing it longterm which is lasting wealth which is what we're going
