Understanding your personal finances need not be complicated.

It is not difficult to understand your personal finance needs.  When University of Chicago professor Harold Pollack interviewed Helaine Olen, an award-winning financial journalist and the author of the bestselling Pound Foolish, he made an off-hand suggestion: everything you need to know about managing your money could fit on an index card. To prove his point, he grabbed a 4″ x 6″ card, scribbled down a list of rules, and posted a picture of the card online. The post went viral.

Pollack later teamed with Olen to explain why the simple rules of the index card outperform more complicated financial strategies. The action plan his outlined in the book, The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated, works in good times and bad, giving you the tools, knowledge, and confidence to seize control of your financial life.  Pollack, and co-author Helaine Olen detail 9 fairly simple practices you would want to do to get on top of (and stay on top) of your personal finances…

• Rule No. 1: Strive to save 10 to 20 percent of your income.
• Rule No. 2: Pay your credit card balance in full every month.
• Rule No. 3: max out your 401(k) and other tax-advantaged savings accounts.
• Rule No. 4: Never buy or sell individual stocks.
• Rule No. 5: Buy inexpensive, well-diversified index mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.
• Rule No. 6: Make your financial advisor commit to the fiduciary standard.
• Rule No. 7: Buy a home when you are financially ready.
• Rule No. 8: Insurance. Make sure you’re protected.
• Rule No. 9: Do what you can to support the social safety net.

Here’s to your prosperity and financial success.