A family with children is now [2003] 75 percent more likely to be late on credit card payments than a family with no children.  The number of car repossessions has doubled in just five years.  Home foreclosures have more than tripled in less than 25 years, and families with children are now more likely than […]

Bankruptcy has become deeply entrenched in American life.  This year [2003], more people will end up bankrupt than will suffer a heart attack.  More adults will file for bankruptcy than will be diagnosed with cancer.  More people will file for bankruptcy than will graduate from college.  And, in an era when traditionalists decry the demise […]

We consumers have become a nation of servants to financial institutions.  We used to joke that a bank was where you could borrow money if you could prove you didn’t need it.  Now, with the advent of aggressive credit marketing strategies, we can borrow even when we shouldn’t be allowed to.  We are sold credit in […]

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life.  Comes into us at midnight very clean.  It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands.  It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.
— John Wayne

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim.  When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.
— Seneca (4 B.C. — A.D. 65)

If I asked you to make a list of your top ten values in life, to write them in precise order of importance, I’d be willing to bet that only 1 in 10,000 could do it.  But if you don’t know the answer to this question, how can you make clear decisions at all?  How […]

Take away the cause, and the effect ceases.
— Miguel de Cervantes

One of the biggest challenges in anyone’s life is knowing how to interpret “failures.”  How we deal with life’s “defeats” and what we determine is the cause will shape our destinies.  We need to remember that how we deal with adversity and challenges will shape our lives more than almost anything else.
— Anthony Robbins, Awaken […]

My wife does most of the investing, but she does it from the heart. We look for things we would like to happen — very positive. We don’t own any tobacco stock, for instance. Because it’s not about money. Money’s just the flower. You plant a seed and then the flower comes out, or you plant […]

All of us who are intimately familiar with over-spending know that it is very easy to five-and-ten-dollar ourselves into oblivion. The good news is that you can five-and-ten-dollar yourself right back to financial health, too.
— Mary Hunt, The Cheapskate Monthly Money Makeover

Perhaps it’s time for you to force a little financial maturity upon yourself.  It’s okay to have a balance in your checking account.  It will not burn a hole there; just keep your mitts off it and allow your plan to work.  Believe me, it will all come out right by the end of the […]

Getting rid of debt is a huge relief — unlike anything else I’ve ever really felt in my life.  And the great thing about it, which I noticed pretty quickly, was that once I had a written plan and put it into action, I got a little jolt of energy every month.  Just looking at those decreasing […]

Contentment is natural wealth. To be content, happy with one’s situation in life, is to be wealthy. Riches come not from money and material items, but through living life in a manner that fulfills you.
— Lisa, financial blogger; Contentment Is Wealth (blog) || “Contentment Is Wealth” (post)

Your money behavior is a direct reflection of your money beliefs.  Your money beliefs, true or false, are the driving force behind your every financial act.  It doesn’t matter where those beliefs came from.  The way to be cured of your money ills is to uncover and eliminate false money beliefs and replace them with […]

If you know the point of balance, you can settle the details.  If you can settle the details, you can stop running around.  Your mind will become calm.  If you mind becomes calm, you can think in front of a tiger.  If you can think in front of a tiger, you will surely succeed.
— Mencius