The Answer Key + Where the Money Goes

A shortage ends. A loop returns you

A shortage ends the day money arrives. A loop takes the money, feeds itself, and puts you back where you started — which is how somebody can earn well at least once and hold nothing.

There are only so many of these, and most people are running three at a time. One of the three does most of the damage — finding which is the whole exercise.

A lever is not a habit

If the loop still returns you to the same position while you do it, it is a habit. If the loop cannot complete, it is a lever.

Rising earlier, working harder, spending less — all habits, and all fully compatible with standing in the same place for thirty years.

Order beats effort

Raise your income while an unnamed obligation runs and the raise is claimed before you see it. Try to save while you have no spare hours and there is nothing to save with.

The same eight actions in the wrong order produce nothing at all.

Debt: rate, not size

Rank every debt by its true annual rate, steepest first, whatever the balance. Clearing the smallest balance first feels wonderful and is the most expensive order available.

A 0% loan ranks last however large it is. And the buffer comes before the repayment — a safe place to save beats access to more credit.

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