The Ways To Wealth Takes a Scientific Approach to Managing Debt and Achieving Financial Prosperity

In a Nutshell: The Ways To Wealth is a website that provides comprehensive personal finance advice. R.J. Weiss, the site’s founder, is a Certified Financial Planner who is passionate about guiding individuals toward sound money management practices. The site advises readers on how to get out of debt and begin building wealth, while also reviewing financial products, services, and trends. 

Individuals seeking assistance managing their finances and selecting investments may search for a professional to guide them. Financial advisors can provide sound financial guidance and recommend investment options to their clients. They want their clients’ investments to grow, but some financial advisors may also be motivated to steer clients toward investments and financial products that are the most profitable to themselves. Financial advisors don’t have an obligation to act in their clients’ best interests.

On the other hand, fiduciary advisors take a different approach to managing their clients’ money. By law, they must act in the best interest of their clients. Fiduciary advisors aren’t motivated to line their own pockets by pushing high-fee products or services to their clients.

R.J. Weiss is the founder of The Ways To Wealth, a personal finance website that delivers balanced money management advice. Weiss is a Certified Financial Planner who began his career as a fiduciary advisor. In that role, it was essential to him that his clients understood he would always put their best interests ahead of his own.

“Being a fiduciary to my clients was very important to me,” Weiss said. “I always wanted to put their interests first. I’ve taken that same approach to building The Ways to Wealth. Readers know that the information and tools they access on the site are all geared toward bettering their financial health.”

Weiss, who started the site in 2016 as a side project, said he didn’t have any grand plans to turn The Ways To Wealth into his full-time job. 

“I just started writing on the blog to share my thoughts and insights with the public,” he recounted. “And things just snowballed from there to the point that I had a responsibility to my readers to dedicate myself to the site full-time.”

Weiss said he combines creativity with scientifically based research to analyze the behavioral and psychological factors that influence money management. This allows him to create content that examines the roots of peoples’ financial decisions and better understand how he can best guide them.

How to manage debt is one of the most important strategies to learn on the path to financial health. Weiss said one of the most popular resources on the website, called “How To Get Out Of Debt Fast (The Science-Backed Way),” identifies a step-by-step process people can use to tackle debt.

“In addition to talking about tactics for getting out of debt, we take a look at the research behind debt management,” Weiss said. “We also take steps to gamify getting out of debt, so our readers can have a fun experience while learning to manage their debt.”

Visitors to the site can download a spreadsheet that allows them to enter their personal financial information. They will then be presented with the estimated date they’ll be able to fully pay off their debt. Weiss said those who use this tool should think of their debt payoff date as their goal. Users can update their financial data on the spreadsheet over time, enabling them to study how their behaviors influence their ability to progress toward being debt-free.

Learning to save and regularly setting aside money to service debt is a crucial practice in debt management. It can be easier for individuals to save money when their income increases. A significant portion of The Ways To Wealth is devoted to helping individuals learn how to earn extra money to supplement the income from their job .

“Regardless of where people are in their financial journey, we want to make it as easy as possible for them to get to the next level,” Weiss explained. “If they’re in the debt-payoff stage, we’ll teach them about saving but also how to earn more money through side hustles and passive income strategies. This helps people progress to the next stage — growing their net worth and investing.”

Visitors to The Ways To Wealth are presented with a menu listing a variety of subjects. Visitors who choose a particular area of interest are then directed to access a guide that provides basic information on the selected topic. Readers desiring to study more detailed information about a specific topic have options to progress further. Weiss designed the site so that more detailed learning on a particular topic, for example learning how to save while living paycheck to paycheck, are just a click away.

The Ways To Wealth also features reviews that educate readers on how specific products and services can improve their financial management. Weiss and his staff use different methods to determine which products and services to review.

“We regularly review new products,” Weiss said. “Sometimes I’ll see a product and be intrigued by the company’s business model. And that can lead to a review. In general, our reviews have a lot of depth. We like to detail for our readers what exactly the product offers and how it can benefit them. I also watch for emerging trends, so I can keep our readers informed and updated on the topics that may soon impact them.”

The Ways To Wealth’s approach to educating consumers about financial subjects, whether it’s understanding emerging trends like new forms of cryptocurrency or established investments like stocks, is to provide practical guidance that readers can easily implement into their financial practices.

Working from home and investing are two topics Weiss said exploded in popularity during the pandemic. Readers were looking for more information on these topics, and The Ways To Wealth rose to the occasion with fresh content.

“We want our content to be as impactful as possible,” Weiss said. “For example, during the pandemic, people were increasingly interested in investing in individual stocks. We posted information about how to pick individual stocks. And we made recommendations about how to incorporate investing in stocks into an overall financial plan that takes account of people’s goals, such as retirement or saving for a downpayment on a home.”

The Ways To Wealth also provides reviews of the philosophies and recommendations of outside personal finance experts. Weiss cites The Ways To Wealth’s review of the pros and cons of the debt snowball method as an example of an educational article that offers an in-depth explanation of the subject. This approach empowers readers to gain a comprehensive understanding of what the method is and how it can influence their finances.

Weiss appreciates the opportunity to assist consumers who are seeking financial guidance.

“Early in my career, I was primarily working with high-net-worth individuals,” he explained. “Now, it’s really nice to be able to communicate with readers who are having questions about more everyday financial problems. Once they access our information, they realize that it’s often just a simple fix that’ll have them headed in the right direction.”

Weiss said that, although he enjoys writing content for the site, he understands that people have different preferences for how they learn and absorb content. He is planning to expand the delivery format of The Way To Wealth’s content to include video podcasts and an increased social media presence.

“Our overarching goal is to help people by educating them with the right resources,” Weiss said. “We aim to cut through the noise and provide a balanced, expert point of view. The Ways To Wealth is where true financial education happens.”