Protect the Balance Sheet

Ensure the household balance sheet is resilient before productive assets are accumulated.

1. 1

   Reading Your Own Balance Sheet≈ 13 min

   Constructing a household balance sheet that separates productive assets, personal-use assets and liabilities.

2. 2

   Sizing the Protective Reserve≈ 13 min

   How the framework thinks about reserve sizing, and why the target depends on income volatility rather than a fixed rule of thumb.

3. 3

   High-Cost Liabilities First≈ 14 min

   Why liability interest rates set the hurdle for every allocation decision, and how the framework sequences repayment.

4. 4

   Single Points of Failure≈ 12 min

   Identifying the concentrations — income, insurance gaps, custody, documentation — where one event can undo years of accumulation.