Michael West Financials LLC · Est. 2024
Walkthrough · Roadmap

Where does your next dollar go?

The Money Order of Operations tells you what to do with each dollar — match, debt, emergency fund, Roth, HSA, 15%, goals, debt, wealth — in order. This walkthrough collects nine facts about your situation and stamps a personalized roadmap on it: which step is next, which are done, and which you can skip.

If regular giving is part of your plan, set that percentage first and run this walkthrough on what's left — the guide explains why.

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Answer what you know — leave anything unsure on the default. The roadmap below updates as you go.

1. Does your job offer a 401(k) (or 403b) match?
1a. Are you contributing enough to capture the full match?
2. Do you have at least $1,000 in savings, separate from checking?
3. Any debt with APR above ~7%? (credit cards, payday loans, some private student loans)
4. Do you have 3–6 months of essential expenses in cash savings?
5. Is your health plan an HSA-eligible HDHP? (high-deductible health plan)
6. Are you contributing to a Roth IRA (or Traditional IRA)?
7. About what % of your gross income goes to retirement savings (your contributions, not the match)?
6%

Includes 401(k) + IRA + HSA contributions, expressed as % of gross paycheck.

8. Big medium-term goals coming in the next 5–15 years? (house, kids' college, business)
9. Any low-interest debt? (mortgage, low-rate auto loan, federal student loans under ~6%)
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Your roadmap

Based on your answers, start here.

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The full reasoning behind this sequence is in the Money Order of Operations guide. Each step links to the calculator or guide that goes with it.

How this works

One unfunded step at a time.

The order isn't a to-do list you tackle in parallel. It's a sequence of cliffs: you fund step n until it's done, then move to step n+1. The whole point is to avoid the most expensive mistake in personal finance — saving for the wrong thing first.

  • Match always wins. Step 1 (capture the 401(k) match) is the only step with a deadline that ticks every paycheck. Even mid-debt-payoff, even mid-emergency-fund, you keep contributing to the match. The 50–100% guaranteed return beats every other option below.
  • Steps stay funded. Once an emergency fund is full, you don't drain it to pay extra mortgage. Once you're at 15%, you don't drop to 8% to fund a vacation. The order is also a defense against undoing your own work.
  • Drop back when life changes. If you blow through your emergency fund on a real emergency, drop back to step 4 and rebuild it before resuming higher steps. The order survives setbacks because it's about what's currently unfunded, not "where you've been."
Plain English

Don't try to do every step at once. Pick the lowest unfunded step and feed it until it's done. The walkthrough above tells you which one that is, given your answers.

Why this isn't a budget

A budget tells you where money goes each month.

The order of operations tells you where your next dollar goes — across months, across years, across life stages. They're complementary, not competing.

  • The budget is the discipline of allocating each paycheck. Tools: Budget builder.
  • The order of operations is the strategy that decides what those allocations are aimed at. Tools: this walkthrough, plus the calculators below.
  • The two work together: the budget answers "how much"; the order of operations answers "for what."
Next step

Read the full guide for the reasoning.

The walkthrough condenses the order into action. The full guide explains why each step sits where it does — the math, the tradeoffs, and the common mistakes at each step.

Read the full guide → Talk through it with someone