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Educational content only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice. Verify all fund data on the issuer's page before investing. You can lose money investing.

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Module 0 — The 60-minute promise

By the end of this kit you will have: a brokerage account funded, an automatic monthly buy, three ETFs chosen, and one written rule for what to do when the market drops. That's the whole product. Everything else is noise.

Module 1 — Why ETFs beat picking

An ETF is one ticker that holds hundreds or thousands of companies, priced continuously through the trading day.
Cost compounds against you. A 1.00% fund and a 0.03% fund on $100k over 30 years differ by roughly a third of the ending balance at the same gross return.
Broad index ETFs remove the two decisions beginners get wrong most: which company, and when.

The four numbers to check on any ETF

Number	What good looks like	Why it matters
Expense ratio	Under 0.10% for core holdings	Guaranteed annual drag on returns
Assets under management	Over $1B	Closure risk and tight spreads
Index tracked	Broad, rules-based, well known	Tells you what you actually own
Structure	Plain-vanilla, physically backed	Avoids leverage, derivatives, single-stock gimmicks

Module 2 — The three-fund core

One US stock fund, one international stock fund, one bond fund. That is a globally diversified portfolio. Expense ratios below are what the issuers published as of February–August 2026 — re-check before you buy.

Slot	Example ticker	Expense ratio	Covers
US stocks	VTI (total market) or VOO (S&P 500)	0.03%	~3,500 US companies (VTI) vs 500 large caps (VOO)
International stocks	VXUS	0.05%	Developed + emerging markets outside the US
Bonds	BND	0.03%	US investment-grade taxable bond market

Optional satellites (cap at 10% combined)

SCHD — US dividend-quality screen, 0.06%. Use for income preference, not for higher expected return.
AVUV — US small-cap value, 0.25%. Higher expected return, higher tracking pain. Only if you can hold it through a decade of underperformance.

Module 3 — Pick your allocation in 90 seconds

Answer one question: how many years until you spend this money?

Horizon	US	International	Bonds
20+ years	60%	30%	10%
10–20 years	50%	25%	25%
5–10 years	40%	20%	40%
Under 5 years	Don't use this kit — use cash or T-bills	—	—

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The exact split matters far less than (a) your cost, (b) your savings rate, and (c) whether you sell in a crash. Pick a row, write it down, move on.

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Module 4 — Setup, step by step