I used to treat every sharp price move as a prompt to rethink the holding. That created a strange problem: the market got to decide when I reviewed my own rules. Now I require three answers before I change anything: 1. What changed? 2. Which written rule applies? 3. What action does that rule allow? If I cannot name the new evidence, point to a rule written before today and show the action it allows, my default is WAIT. Waiting does not mean ignoring risk. It means separating a real change in the case from the uncomfortable feeling that comes with volatility. Try this with one decision you are considering this week. Write the three answers in your Decision Journal. If one is missing, schedule a review date instead of inventing a reason on the spot. — Lars General investment education only.

When I compare two funds, cost is one of the few inputs I can see before the future unfolds. That makes it important—but not enough on its own. ESMA’s latest report found that ongoing costs across EU funds kept falling, but much of the change came from newer, cheaper funds. Costs in long-standing funds moved less. Their conclusion is not “pick the cheapest fund.” It is that product choice and transparency still matter. In my own process, I write down four things before comparing performance: • ongoing fee • trading or spread costs • currency and platform costs • the role the product is meant to serve Then I ask: does the extra cost buy something my written policy actually needs? Try this with one fund you own or are researching. Put every known cost in one row and add the source date. If you cannot verify a cost from the provider’s documents, mark it Needs Evidence rather than guessing. Source: https://www.esma.europa.eu/document/market-report-costs-and-performance-eu-retail-investment-products-2025 General education only.

For a long time, my instinct was to add another column whenever an investing decision felt unclear. More data. More scores. More tabs. It looked thorough, but it did not always make the decision better. The useful change was simpler: write the rule first, record the source, and decide what happens when the evidence is missing. That is the idea behind RBI. The sheet should not impress you. It should make the next question obvious. A small exercise for this week: find one field in your investing spreadsheet that has never changed a decision. Remove it—or write the rule that explains why it deserves to stay. A simpler process is much easier to follow when the market gets noisy.

I hate buying a course and discovering that it is a handful of generic videos plus a spreadsheet with no explanation. So here is the honest line between free and paid. RBI Starter gives you a real result: a first one-page investment plan. Finish that course before deciding whether you need anything else. The paid RulesBasedIncome System is for the next problem—turning that first page into something you can actually operate. You use the tools to write your investment policy, give every part of the portfolio a role and a limit, compare funds and ETFs, define contribution and rebalancing rules, record decisions and schedule reviews. The final output is an Investment Operating Manual you can explain and maintain. Individual-company research is optional and sits in a separate Stock Research Lab. You can see the actual course screens and the full breakdown here: https://rulesbasedincome.com/system Founding access is USD 297 once. There is no subscription and no required call. If the free plan is all you need, keep using it. Upgrade only if you want the deeper 30-day build. — Lars All examples are educational, not recommendations or customer outcomes.

Use this thread as the single source of truth for current RBI files. FREE PLANNER — VERSION 1.0 Released 30 July 2026 RBI Starter Planner contains 10 tabs: • Start Here • Readiness Check • Goals & Horizons • Risk Guardrails • Building-Block Comparison • Portfolio Policy Draft • One-Page Plan • Review Routine • Maya Worked Example • Glossary and Sources Get the current Excel file or make a Google Sheets copy from RBI Starter in Classroom. The free planner is useful on its own. PAID OPERATING SYSTEM — VERSION 1.0 Released 30 July 2026 The RBI Investment Operating System contains 26 tabs. Core 30-day build (19 tabs): • Start Here • Dashboard • Source Log • Version Log • Investment Policy • Goals & Horizon • Risk Guardrails • Portfolio Allocation • Fund Comparison • Cost Calculator • Concentration & Overlap • Rebalancing • Decision Rules • Decision Journal • Monthly Review • Quarterly Review • Annual Review • Investment Operating Manual • Core Guided Case Optional Stock Research Lab (7 tabs): • QVM • Company Research • Red Flags • Valuation • Position Sizing • Thesis • Guided Demo The paid files appear inside The RulesBasedIncome System after purchase. Excel and Google Sheets are both supported. HOW CHANGES ARE HANDLED Every material update will state: 1. the version number and release date; 2. the lessons or tabs affected; 3. what changed and why; 4. whether an existing working copy needs action; 5. known limitations. Before replacing a working copy, keep a backup. Do not paste new formulas into an active file without checking references. Formula outputs do not validate source quality, and worked examples remain fictional and educational. If you suspect a problem, post in Questions with the tab, cell, expected behaviour and a fictional reproduction case. Do not share holdings, account values or personal financial details.