The Index Card
The Index Card by Helaine Olen and Harold Pollackby Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack
Tied for most recommended of 7 personal finance books
Short, mostly sensible personal finance advice that people find reasonable. Critics note it was written about ten years ago.
Short, mostly sensible personal finance advice that people find reasonable. Critics note it was written about ten years ago.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reasonable, sensible financial advice overall
“All-in-all, not terribly bad advice; one could do a lot worse.”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “From MIT: AI financial advice is surprisingly good”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Written about ten years ago
“This is actually the 'schtick' of a book that was written ten years ago”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “From MIT: AI financial advice is surprisingly good”
Other personal finance books people recommend
The four most recommended other personal finance books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Index Cardby Helaine Olen and Harold PollackThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| The Psychology of Moneyby Morgan Housel | 3 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Die with Zeroby Bill Perkins | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Art of Spending Moneyby Morgan Housel | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Millionaire Next Doorby Stanley and Danko | 3 | 1 | 75% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 3 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“This is actually the 'schtick' of a book that was written ten years ago”
“All-in-all, not terribly bad advice; one could do a lot worse.”
“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Index_Card”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.