Every mission here covers one part of the same flight plan: how money actually works, and how to make it work for you over the long haul. Fly them in order or jump around — each mission ends with a systems check. Pass it, and the mission's cleared.
The whole deck is one file — yours to share. Flying a mission alongside someone you trust makes it stick.
Start here. This is the base every other mission builds on: what actually lands in your account, where it goes, and the emergency fund that keeps a bad week from becoming a bad year.
Your salary is the gross. What hits your account is the net — after the government and your benefits take their cut. Knowing the gap is the whole game. Drag your pay and watch where it goes.
A budget isn't a cage — it's a plan for the take-home above, decided on purpose instead of by accident. A common starting split is 50/30/20: half to needs, a third to wants, a fifth to saving and debt. Adjust to real life; high rent shifts the mix.
Based on your take-home of $0/mo from Exhibit A. That 20% save slice is what feeds Missions 03 and 04.
An emergency fund is cash for the surprises — a car repair, a job gap, a medical bill. It's what keeps a bad week from turning into credit-card debt, or forcing you to sell investments at the worst possible time. Aim for 3–6 months of essential expenses, parked in high-yield savings.
Tax math is a simplified estimate (2025 single-filer standard deduction and brackets, 7.65% FICA, flat state rate); it ignores pre-tax deductions, credits, and local taxes. Real paychecks vary. Not personalized advice.
Debt works against you. Every dollar of interest is money you pay just to stand still. This mission cuts it down: seeing how interest works against you, the fastest ways out, and building a credit record clean enough to open doors.
The same force that grows your investments runs in reverse on debt. Credit cards are the worst offenders, and the minimum payment is engineered to keep you paying interest for years. Drag the dials and watch the trap.
The move is always the same: pay the minimum on everything, then throw every spare dollar at one target. Two schools disagree on which target. Here are the same example debts run both ways — drag your extra payment and flip between them.
Your credit score is the record lenders check before they trust you with a car loan or a mortgage — and a good one saves you thousands in interest over a lifetime. Here's roughly what it's made of (the exact weights vary by scoring model).
The top two — paying on time and keeping balances low — are two-thirds of the whole score, and both are entirely in your control.
Payoff and interest figures are simplified estimates (fixed monthly rate; illustrative minimum-payment and example-debt figures); real cards vary in how minimums and interest are calculated. Not personalized advice.
Not all savings are the same. Money you'll need soon and money for the long term follow completely different rules — and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes.
Every goal falls into one of two buckets, decided by one question: when do I need this money?
Somewhere safe and steady — a high-yield savings or money market account. It won't grow much, and that's the point: it can't drop right before you need it.
Invested for growth — index funds in your 401(k) or a Roth. It swings year to year, but it has decades to ride those swings out and compound.
A sinking fund is a named bucket you fill a little at a time for a known goal, so it doesn't blow a hole in your month when it lands. One bucket per goal.
Say a deposit + the essentials to get into your own place runs ~$3,000, and you want to be ready in 10 months. That's not "hope it works out" — it's $300 a month into a labeled account, starting now. Boring, automatic, done. The tool below runs any goal for you.
Name a goal, set the amount and the deadline — see what it takes, and where the money should live.
The whole mission in one line: the sooner you need it, the safer it has to sit. A market that's your best friend over 30 years is a menace over 8 months. Short-term money stays in savings; only long-term money gets invested.
A starting point, not personalized financial advice; figures are illustrative and rates change over time. Talk to your dad (or a professional) when real money's on the line.
This is the mission that funds the rest of your life. You've already got the pieces — a paycheck, a 401(k), a Fidelity brokerage. Now here's how to put them to work and let time do the heavy lifting.
Drag the sliders. Watch what a steady monthly habit becomes by 65 — and what waiting 10 years costs. Even $100/month started at 23 beats much bigger amounts started at 33.
At BAE, whatever the plan matches on your contribution is an instant 50–100% return — the best trade you'll ever make. Make sure your contribution is at least enough to grab all of it. Leaving match on the table is leaving pay behind.
Free moneyMoney you've already paid tax on that then grows 100% tax-free. If BAE offers a Roth 401(k), or through a Roth IRA in your Fidelity account — especially attractive early in your career, when your current tax rate may be lower than it will be later.
Great early onYour Fidelity taxable account is perfect for anything beyond the tax-advantaged space — keep it in low-cost index funds. Work toward saving ~15% of your pay all-in over time.
Level up"Roth IRA or index fund?" is a trick question — like asking "box, or the stuff inside it?" The Roth is the box. Index funds are what you put in it. Good news: you already have the accounts — the job is making sure the right things are inside them.
Pick an account → add index funds → let time do the work.
Tap each. Most young investors put nearly everything into a low-cost index fund and get on with life.
That smooth curve up top is a simplification. Real markets jump 50% one year and drop 37% the next. Here's every 30-year stretch in history at $100/month — drag to pick your starting year.
A crash feels like an emergency. It's the only time stocks go on sale. The people who get hurt aren't the ones who live through a crash — they're the ones who sell. Real numbers, 2008, on $10,000 already invested:
That automatic monthly buy scoops up more shares when prices crash — you grab the discount without guessing the bottom, which even the pros get wrong.
3–6 months of expenses in plain savings. That's what keeps a job loss or car repair from ever forcing you to sell at the bottom.
Uses S&P 500 total returns (dividends reinvested), 1926–2025; real life shaves off fees and taxes. The 7% is illustrative. History isn't a guarantee. Not personalized advice.
Building wealth is only half the job — the other half is not losing it to one bad day. This mission is about defense: the coverage you actually need, the life-insurance trap to sidestep, and the paperwork and habits that keep thieves out.
Insurance has one job: take a risk that could wipe you out and hand it to someone else for a small monthly fee. You don't insure the small stuff — you insure the catastrophes. Flip your situation on and see what actually applies to you.
If someone does depend on your income, life insurance matters — but the industry pushes the expensive kind hard because it pays big commissions. Here's the honest comparison.
There's an insurance product for almost any fear, and most exist because they're profitable for the seller — the risk is small or the payout is capped. Run every offer through one test: would this loss actually wipe me out, and could I not cover it myself? If the answer is no, skip it and self-insure with your emergency fund.
Two quiet things that protect everything you're building.
The person you name as beneficiary on a 401(k), IRA, or life-insurance policy overrides your will. Set them when you open the account, and update them after any big life change — it takes two minutes and prevents real messes.
And lock down your identity — most of these are free and take minutes:
General education, not insurance or financial advice; coverage needs and costs vary by person, state, and insurer. Sample premiums are rough illustrations. Not personalized advice.
The last stretch is the long game: how taxes actually work (so you stop fearing a raise), how to grow the one number that matters most — your income — and how to point all of it at a life you actually want.
The most common tax myth is that crossing into a new bracket taxes your whole income at the higher rate. It doesn't. Brackets are like buckets that fill in order — only the dollars in the top bucket get the top rate. Drag your income and watch it fill.
Budgeting matters, but your spending can only shrink to zero. Your income has no ceiling — raises, new skills, switching jobs, a side gig. And a raise you invest instead of absorb into your lifestyle compounds like everything else. Drag a raise you'd bank each month:
Every mission before this one was mechanics. This is the reason for them. Money is only useful for what it buys you — and that's different for everyone. What is it really for, to you? Tap what fits.
Federal tax figures use 2025 single-filer brackets and the standard deduction, federal only; they ignore state tax, credits, and other deductions. Illustrative, not personalized advice.