This week on the Retirement Quick Tips podcast, I'm talking about why most Americans never reach financial independence and become wealthy.

Debt and spending decisions that start in early adulthood, and patterns of debt accumulation and never getting out of that hamster wheel is why most americans never reach financial independence or build enough wealth to get there.

A few weeks ago, I spoke to a class of high schoolers taking an elective on personal finance, and this is the alterative path I offered to them that will help make financial independence more likely.

Ok, first of all - as I said earlier this week: Follow the old nursery rhyme: 1st comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage. Don't deviate from this path. Get married, then have kids. And stay married.

Beyond that, here's the path for someone seeking financial independence that I laid out and would recommend to every single teenager contemplating life after high school and wanting to get started right: