So I've been reading about this framework Elon keeps pushing at Tesla meetings, and honestly it's been stuck in my head because it actually applies to how most of us should be thinking about money. The guy literally repeats this thing to an annoying degree according to his biographer, but here's the thing - it actually works for personal finance too, not just factory optimization.

The whole elon algorithm breaks down into five steps, and a financial planner named Drew Parker pointed out how each one maps directly onto building wealth. Let me walk through it because it changed how I'm thinking about my own financial plan.

First up is questioning every requirement. Musk's point is that you shouldn't just accept something because a smart person said it or because it came from some official department. Apply that to personal finance and you're basically saying don't follow generic wealth-building advice just because it's conventional wisdom. Your financial situation is unique, so strip out the noise and build a plan based on what actually matters for your specific goals.

Second step is deleting anything you don't need. Musk says if you're not adding back at least 10% of what you cut, you didn't delete enough. For finances this means removing all the unnecessary complexity - the generic benchmarks, the assumptions, all those financial spreadsheets you think you need but don't. Keep only what directly applies to you.

Then comes simplification and optimization, but here's the key - you do this after deletion, not before. This is where most people mess up. Don't over-engineer your financial plan with complicated tools or excessive paperwork. Use what actually works and nothing more.

Step four is accelerating cycle time. Every process can be sped up, but only after you've done the first three steps. So once you've got a solid plan, ask yourself if you really need 20 years to reach a goal. Could you save a bit more and get there in 15? The sooner you hit your targets, the sooner you get your life back.

Last is automation, and this has to come last. Set up automatic payments, automatic savings deductions, maybe review progress every six months. But don't automate until you know your plan is actually solid. Musk made this mistake in his factories trying to automate too early.

What's interesting is how this algorithm thinking forces you to be intentional instead of just following what everyone else does. You're basically questioning, simplifying, and optimizing your wealth strategy the same way a billionaire optimizes a factory. The framework doesn't care if you're running Tesla or just trying to build a better financial future for yourself.