The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life

Collins opens the chapter by identifying debt as the single greatest obstacle to financial independence. Through an anecdote about his first credit card, he introduces the deceptive allure of minimum payments and high interest rates, framing debt as a systemic trap designed to enrich lenders and marketers while draining individuals of long-term financial control. He argues that debt should not be normalized, describing it as a modern form of financial “slavery.”

Collins supports this claim with several types of evidence: nationwide debt statistics, personal stories, and detailed critiques of consumer, student, and mortgage debt. He outlines the emotional, psychological, and behavioral tolls that debt imposes—likening its effects to addiction—and stresses how debt narrows options, heightens stress, and fosters destructive spending cycles. His practical advice is straightforward: list all debts, cut unnecessary expenses, and pay off the highest-interest debts first. He rejects popular debt payoff methods that appeal to emotional comfort and cautions against services that promise shortcuts.

The chapter critiques a society that promotes consumption through easy credit and equates student debt with opportunity, though it does not fully reckon with the structural barriers that force individuals into taking on certain kinds of debt (for example, student or medical). Nevertheless, Collins’s broader message remains timely: Debt is not a neutral tool but a costly burden that limits freedom, especially for those who unconsciously accept it as normal.