From Zero to Wealth: The Investment Roadmap That Actually Works

So you’ve got some cash sitting around, and you’re wondering what the hell to do with it. Welcome to the club — most people feel completely lost when facing investing decisions. But what if there’s a proven playbook that takes you from your first grand to genuine wealth? According to investment strategist Codie Sanchez, the path isn’t as chaotic as you’d think. She breaks it down into four distinct phases, each building on the last.

Phase 1: Invest in Your Greatest Asset — Yourself

Here’s a hot take: before you dump money into Airbnb listings or real estate deals, the smartest investment you can make is in yourself. Sanchez hit the nail on the head on the “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast when she said this is the highest-performing asset class available.

Why? Because unlike a stock that might tank, or a property that might depreciate, you have unlimited upside. Learning high-income skills, deepening your financial literacy, or expanding your professional network compounds over time in ways that stocks can’t touch. If your capital is limited right now, betting on yourself first makes more sense than jumping into the S&P 500. You’re literally investing in your future earning potential.

Phase 2: Build a Foundation With Low-Risk Index Funds

Once you’ve got some real money flowing in, it’s time to deploy it smartly. And here’s the reality check: unless you’re spending every waking hour analyzing companies like professional fund managers do, you’re probably not going to beat the market consistently.

That’s why Sanchez advocates for low-cost index funds as your core foundation. The genius is in their simplicity. Vanguard and similar platforms let you build a fully diversified portfolio in literally one click. Want to be more conservative? Go with a 60/40 split — 60% stocks, 40% bonds. That’s typically solid for someone in their mid-30s. Younger crowd can handle more risk, so 80/20 makes sense. The point is you’re getting instant diversification without overthinking it.

Phase 3: Level Up With Alternative Investments (Only If You Know What You’re Doing)

Now we enter expert territory. Private equity, real estate syndications, commodities, options — these are where things get spicy. But and this is a big but, these plays aren’t for beginners messing around trying to get rich quick.

Sanchez notes that a whole generation discovered options trading and thought it was a video game. They gamified investing, made it seem fun, and suddenly everyone had access to complex derivatives. Here’s the issue: these tools absolutely can destroy your wealth if you don’t understand them. Private equity means owning stakes in companies that never trade publicly — solid for professionals. Alternative investments can work, but they require serious knowledge and risk tolerance.

Phase 4: Become the Asset Itself

The real money? It comes from becoming the company that other people invest in. This is the endgame where you build your own business, raise capital for it, and own the upside entirely.

Sanchez puts it perfectly: “You don’t make real money by fiddling around at the edges of financial investing. You make it by becoming the investment.” Buy a business outright, raise funding rounds, hit a liquidity event — that’s where generational wealth is actually built. Most millionaires didn’t get there by picking the right stock. They got there by owning the enterprise.

The Real Framework

The genius of this four-stage model is that it respects where you are financially. You don’t need to do all four simultaneously. Start with phase one, graduate to phase two when you’ve got capital, explore phase three only if you’ve got the expertise and capital, and tackle phase four when you’re ready to go all-in. This isn’t get-rich-quick — it’s get-rich-actually.