Rich by Default: How Anyone Can Manage Their Investments and Build Wealth With Simple ETFs

A plain-English guide to low-cost index fund investing for Canadians and Americans, narrated by Lee Thomas.


The author discovered his own parents were paying roughly 30,000 dollars in advisor fees on a typical retirement portfolio. That single discovery sparked this book. Investing should not require a financial advisor, a special degree, or a 2 percent annual management fee that quietly eats decades of compounding. Rich by Default lays out the simplest, lowest-cost path to long-term wealth. Lee Thomas walks the listener through the hidden-fee trap, the case for low-cost ETFs and broad-market index funds, and a step-by-step blueprint anyone can follow in Canada or the United States.


What you will hear:


1. The Hidden Fee Trap.

2. Taking Back Control.

3. ETFs, The Simple Solution.

4. Blueprint, Stocks and Bonds Made Simple.

5. Ready-Made Portfolios You Can Copy.

6. Tax-Smart Accounts.

7. Escaping Advisors and Pensions.

8. Automate and Forget It.

9. How to Stay Calm When the Market Crashes.

10. Retirement Withdrawals and Sequence Risk.

11. Rich by Default (Conclusion).


Plus a Frequently Asked Questions chapter covering fees, TFSAs, RRSPs, IRAs, 401k plans, and which broker to pick.


This is not a get-rich-quick book and it is not financial advice. It is a calm, practical roadmap that strips investing down to what actually works: low fees, broad-market index funds, tax-smart accounts, and consistent contributions.


For fans of plain-English investing instruction and the low-cost index fund philosophy. For everyday investors in their twenties, thirties, forties, and beyond who want to take control of their money without paying someone two percent a year to do the basics.


From the author of Done Being Broke and Habit Master, the same direct teaching voice applied to the investing problem.