Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know Best of HMDK: Financial Literacy for Dummies (Like Me) with JL Collins
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Mar 11, 2026 
JL Collins, personal finance author behind The Simple Path to Wealth, offers plainspoken guidance on money and investing. They cover simple rules like spending less, index-fund investing, and avoiding debt. Conversations touch on diversification vs. concentrated bets, why houses aren’t investments, and how to balance present joy with long-term freedom.
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Buy Vanguard Total Stock Market
- Invest your surplus in low-cost broad-market index funds like VTSAX.
- JL Collins recommends VTSAX so you own virtually every publicly traded U.S. company and benefit from broad-based returns.
Indexing Beats Most Active Managers
- Index funds beat most active managers over long horizons due to lower costs and broad diversification.
- JL Collins cites decades of research showing active managers rarely outperform the market after fees.
Stocks Returned About 12% Long Term
- Long-term U.S. stock market returns historically average around double digits annually.
- JL Collins found VTSAX returned about 11.9% over a 40-year span and ~12.2% over 50 years in his update.
