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I still remember needing new windshield wipers when I was just out of college. They were around $60, and at the time, that unplanned expense stressed me out.

It wasn’t a major financial emergency. Money was just tight. There wasn’t much margin for an unexpected expense, and we certainly weren’t in a position to check every financial planning box we knew we eventually wanted to check.

I think a lot of people can relate to some version of that story. Maybe it was a car repair, a medical bill, or simply getting to the end of the month and hoping nothing else came up.

When you’re in that stage of life, financial advice can almost be overwhelming. Build an emergency fund, save for retirement, fund an HSA, open a Roth IRA, buy enough insurance, save for a house, pay off debt, start a 529…the list goes on.

All great things to do. The problem is you may not have enough money to do all of them.

As our income grew, we tried to take a fairly simple approach. Rather than allowing every additional dollar to immediately become additional lifestyle, we started adding pieces to our financial foundation. We increased retirement savings, added an HSA, built more cash, and eventually started funding other goals.

Our lifestyle grew along the way too, but so did our financial foundation. Over time, that created something incredibly valuable: margin.

So, how do you go from simply keeping up to having that type of flexibility?

I’ve started thinking about it through a framework that conveniently fits the name of our firm: SIMPLIFIED.

This isn’t intended to be a rigid checklist. Some of these steps may happen at the same time or in a different order depending on your circumstances. It’s simply a framework for deciding where the next available dollar might go as your financial margin grows.

S — Save for Emergencies

Before worrying about optimizing every investment account, give yourself some breathing room.

Consider building enough cash that a car repair, medical bill, home expense, or interruption in income doesn’t immediately create new debt. How much you need depends on your family, income stability, expenses, and comfort level.

I — Insure Against the Big Risks

Make sure you can comfortably cover your health, auto, and homeowners deductibles, then look at the risks that are too large to simply save for.

Life, disability, property, and liability insurance all play a role in protecting the financial foundation you’re building.

M — Maximize Your Employer Match

If your employer offers a retirement-plan match, understand how it works and consider contributing enough to receive the full match available to you.

That doesn’t mean you need to max out your entire 401(k) immediately. When money is still tight, there may be other priorities competing for those dollars.

P — Pay Down High-Interest Debt

Credit cards and other high-interest debt can make it difficult to create meaningful financial margin.

I would also separate high-interest debt from all debt. A credit card with a high interest rate and a low-rate mortgage are two very different planning decisions and don’t necessarily need to be attacked with the same urgency.

L — Leverage Your HSA

If you’re eligible for a Health Savings Account, consider how it fits into your plan.

An HSA can help cover current healthcare expenses while also providing potential tax advantages and the ability to accumulate money for future healthcare costs.

I — Invest in a Roth IRA

As more room becomes available, a Roth IRA may provide another place to build retirement assets outside your employer plan. You do not receive a tax deduction for Roth IRA contributions, but qualified withdrawals in retirement can be tax-free. That can make a Roth IRA a useful piece of a broader retirement and tax strategy, depending on your income, eligibility, and overall financial situation.

F — Fund Retirement Further

Maybe you started by contributing enough to your 401(k) to receive the employer match. As income grows, consider going back and increasing that percentage.

It doesn’t have to happen overnight. Gradually increasing retirement savings as income grows can allow you to make progress without ignoring everything else you want to accomplish today.

I — Invest for Other Goals

Not every future goal happens in retirement.

Maybe you want to help fund college, buy a different house, travel, start a business, retire early, or simply have investments that aren’t tied to a retirement account.

Start with the goal and timeframe, then determine what type of account and investment strategy makes sense for it.

E — Eliminate Lower-Interest Debt Strategically

Once the rest of your foundation is taking shape, you may decide to tackle lower-interest debt more aggressively.

There can be a real emotional benefit to becoming debt-free, but there is also an opportunity cost. Money used to pay down a mortgage could potentially be invested, kept available as cash, or used for another goal.

There isn’t always a mathematically perfect answer. Look at the decision alongside everything else you’re trying to accomplish.

D — Decide What’s Next

This is really what you’ve been working toward.

You have cash available, you’ve addressed the major risks, you’re saving for retirement, and expensive debt is under control. Now you have choices.

Maybe you pay down the mortgage. Maybe you invest more, increase college savings, give more, remodel the kitchen, take a great vacation, or simply decide you don’t need to save every additional dollar you earn.

There is a point where financial planning becomes less about figuring out what you need to do and more about deciding what you want your money to do.

Building It One Piece at a Time

Looking back, there wasn’t one moment where we suddenly went from worrying about a $60 set of windshield wipers to feeling like we had financial flexibility. It happened gradually.

Income grew, and when it did, we tried to add another piece to the foundation rather than letting every new dollar immediately disappear into our lifestyle. We didn’t do everything at once, and we certainly didn’t do everything perfectly.

That’s the part I think gets lost when we talk about personal finance. You don’t need to fix everything this month.

If you’re in financial survival mode, figure out which part of the foundation needs attention first. If you’re starting to have a little more left over each month, decide which piece you can add next. And if you’ve built most of the foundation, give yourself permission to decide what you actually want that additional margin to accomplish.

This acronym is not a formula for a perfect financial life. It’s simply a framework for building a stronger foundation until eventually the question changes from “Can we afford this?” to “What do we want our money to do for us?”