Start · Choose Your Situation

Where do you start?
Pick the life you're actually in.

READ4 min · UPDATED2026-07-05

This site has hundreds of pages, which is useless if you can't find the three that fit your situation right now. Skip the tour. Find your row below and follow it. Everything here is free, and the personal finance content works whether you own Bitcoin or not.

FASTER: ANSWER 11 QUESTIONS

If you'd rather be routed automatically, the Start Here quiz turns your income, debt, and savings into a sequenced plan with dollar amounts in about five minutes. No email, no signup, answers stay on your device. Otherwise, pick a situation below.

I'm behind, out of savings, or in a crisis

Stabilize first. Investing advice does not apply until the emergency is handled and the income is steadier. Start here, in this order.

→ Help Now, the triage page for an urgent money problem → Financial Safety Net, food, health, utility, and rent programs you already fund with taxes → Zero to One, building the first $1,000 from nothing → Debt First, when to pay debt before anything else → Payday Loans, the 400% trap and how to escape it → Bankruptcy, what to do when the debt is mathematically unpayable

I have steady W-2 income and want the right order

There is a proven sequence: high-interest debt, a starter emergency fund, the full employer match, then tax-advantaged accounts. Run it in order.

→ Order of Operations, what to do first, second, and third → 401(k) Match Optimizer, capture the full free money → Open a Roth IRA, how to open one today → Emergency Fund, how much and where to keep it → Debt Payoff, avalanche versus snowball

I'm self-employed, freelance, or gig

Irregular income and self-employment tax change the plan. Reserve for taxes first, then build a bigger buffer, then use retirement accounts built for you.

→ Self-Employed Start, the first moves when you work for yourself → Estimated Taxes, the quarterly safe-harbor rules → Solo 401(k), the highest-limit self-employed retirement account → Irregular Income, the buffer-account system for uneven months → Gig Worker Finance, taxes and benefits when you have no employer

I have kids

Dependents raise the emergency-fund target and add tax credits and college-saving choices. If you are raising them on one income, see the single-parent row below.

→ Having a Baby, what the first year actually costs → Parent Finance, the money order-of-operations for families → 529 Plan, tax-advantaged college saving → Kids and Money, teaching and building for children

I'm a single parent

One income carrying dependents changes the whole order: a larger emergency fund, childcare as the binding cost, and protection moving up the list.

→ Single-Parent Finances, the adjusted order of operations for one income and kids

I'm disabled, or caring for someone who is

Means-tested benefits change the rules. The wrong account can cut off SSI or Medicaid, so this is one area where the structure matters more than the return.

→ Special-Needs Planning, ABLE accounts, trusts, and the benefit cliff → Disability Insurance, protecting the income that funds everything → Health Insurance, deductibles, HDHPs, and coverage gaps

I'm in the military or a veteran

Federal pay, the TSP, and service-specific benefits give you tools civilians do not have. Use them.

→ Military Finance, pay, benefits, and the service-member playbook → TSP, the low-cost federal retirement plan and its match

I'm near or in retirement

The job shifts from accumulating to drawing down without running out or overpaying tax. Sequence and timing become the whole game.

→ Near Retirement, the final-decade checklist → Social Security Strategy, when to claim → Required Minimum Distributions, the forced-withdrawal rules and the 25% penalty → RMD Calculator, your first required withdrawal by age and balance

I'm outside the United States

The framework is universal. The account names and tax rules are US-specific. This page tells you exactly what carries over.

→ Outside the US, what applies globally and what to translate

I want normal personal finance, no Bitcoin

Every personal finance page on this site stands on its own. You never need to buy, hold, or believe in Bitcoin to use any of it. Start with the classics.

→ Personal Finance Hub, the complete playbook → Order of Operations, the sequence that works at any income → Index Funds, the evidence-based case for passive investing → Open a Roth IRA, tax-free growth without any crypto

My basics are covered and I want to optimize

Match captured, Roth funded, debt handled. Now the marginal moves in tax and asset location start to matter.

→ Backdoor Roth, contributing above the income limit → Tax-Loss Harvesting, turning red positions into a tax break → Index Funds, keeping costs and turnover low → FIRE, the math of financial independence

I'm here for Bitcoin

The honest case, how to buy, and how to hold it yourself so it is actually yours.

→ Bitcoin for Beginners, why it exists and how it works → Why Bitcoin, the case from first principles → Bitcoin Allocation, how much to hold → Sparrow Wallet, self-custody setup step by step

STILL NOT SURE

Take the Start Here quiz. It reads your real numbers and hands you one primary action, a plan with dollar amounts, and the three pages to read next. Or browse everything on the full site index.

Last updated 2026-07-05. Not financial advice. Pick the row that fits and follow it.