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.

You should not have to buy a black box. Start with the free RBI Starter and finish Lesson 6. It shows the real planner, the outputs you should have after seven days and the exact difference between the free plan and the full system. Then inspect the full product page: https://rulesbasedincome.com/system There you can see real course visuals from the Investment Policy, Fund and ETF Comparison, Decision Journal and Investment Operating Manual workflow. The paid system takes the free one-page plan further. You build: • a complete Investment Policy Statement; • portfolio roles and limits; • fund and ETF comparison and rejection rules; • contribution and rebalancing rules; • a Decision Journal; • monthly, quarterly and annual reviews; • a finished Investment Operating Manual. Individual-company research is optional. The separate Stock Research Lab uses the fictional Northstar case to show why a promising score can still end in WAIT when important evidence is unresolved. The founding price is USD 297 once. No subscription and no required calls. Use the free course first. Upgrade only if you want the deeper 30-day build and the full 26-tab operating system. All examples are fictional and educational. They are 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.

My monthly review is deliberately boring. I give it 30 minutes: • 5 minutes: check incomplete stages and hard stops. • 10 minutes: review only new evidence linked to a rule or trigger. • 10 minutes: update concerns, owners and review dates. • 5 minutes: record the decision — or deliberate non-decision — and schedule the next action. Then I close the workbook. The point is not to create activity. It is to stop every price move from becoming an emergency. Try this now: put one monthly review in your calendar. If you cannot finish in 30 minutes, note where the process became unclear. That is the part to simplify.