Welcome to The Financial Minimalist — FinnPath's newsletter. No jargon, no hot takes, no 40-minute reads. Just the handful of financial ideas actually worth your attention this week.
This week's big idea: the $100,000 fee you never see
01. A 1% annual expense ratio sounds harmless. It isn't. Compounded over 30 years, it can quietly drain over $100,000 from your retirement account — and most people never notice because it's never itemized on a statement.
02. The fix takes about 15 minutes: find the expense ratios on the funds you own, and swap the expensive ones for near-identical index funds charging 0.03–0.10%.
03. Read: How to find the fee and eliminate it → (https://finnpath.com/blog/expense-ratios.html)
Quick reads
The best high-yield savings accounts of 2026 — ranked. (https://finnpath.com/blog/emergency-fund-hysa.html) Your emergency fund should be earning 3.8–4.4% APY, not the 0.5% your big bank pays.
Dollar cost averaging: the boring strategy that beats almost everyone. (https://finnpath.com/blog/dollar-cost-averaging.html) No timing, no market watching. Invest a fixed amount every month and let the math work.
Just started your first job? Make this 401k decision this week. (https://finnpath.com/blog/first-job-401k.html) A 10-minute guide to enrolling before your first paycheck — not months later.
When the market drops 10%, here's exactly what to do. (https://finnpath.com/blog/market-volatility.html) Corrections happen roughly every two years. Most investors make the same expensive mistake every time.
Tools of the Week
Not sure whether Roth or Traditional wins for you? The answer is simpler than the internet makes it (https://finnpath.com/blog/roth-vs-traditional.html) and you can run your own numbers with the FinnPath calculator (https://finnpath.com/calculator.html).