Discipline does not mean suppression and control, nor is it adjustment to a pattern or ideology.  It means the mind sees “what is” and learns from “what is.”
— J. Krishnamurti

Why do people persist in an unsatisfying [situation], unwilling either to work toward solutions or end it and move on?  It’s because they know that changing will lead to the unknown, and most people believe that the unknown will be much more painful than what they’re already experiencing.  It’s like the old proverbs say:  “Better […]

I can remember coming home one day, I was working two jobs, teaching school and working in the summer in the New Franklin laundry to make ends meet, and having my wife say, “Give me your wallet.” And I gave her my wallet. And at this time — this was the early 1970s — everybody was giving […]

A budget simply records how much money is coming in and where it is going out.  A budget makes no judgment; it’s a tool that tells the truth.  And once you learn how to use a budget well, it becomes an instrument that helps deliver your lifelong dreams.  A budget is a key tool in […]

The whole point of building a larger net worth is to provide the wherewithal for living expenses while you do what you most want to do.
— George Kinder, The Seven Stages of Money Maturity

One of the best ways to procrastinate and deflate real motivation is to create big goals that are interpreted as “long term.”  As soon as we set these goals or identify these kinds of projects, we tend to feel smug and self-congratulatory and pseudocomplete about them, just because we’ve committed to them, and our drive […]

It’s great to be motivated, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re basically nothing more than a really fired up idiot.
— Steve, financial blogger @ AdventureMoney // “Investment or Money Down the Toilet”

All too often, the security of a mediocre present is more comfortable than the adventure of trying to be more in the future.  So many people get to the end of their lives wondering what could have been — don’t let this happen to you.
— Anthony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within

To maintain your wealth, you must take control of your spending.  But don’t develop a budget; develop a spending plan.  How’s that for Transformational Vocabulary?  Truly, if a budget is done effectively, it is a spending plan.  It’s a means for you — or if you’re married, you and your spouse — to decide what […]

Doing money right is not a core competency for most people.  This is either a baffling irony or a natural consequence of a materialistic culture.  People feel stupid about money, so they keep it at arm’s length, sometimes for decades.  People may be OK when it comes to earning money and quite adept at spending […]

The other key to staying ahead of the game is saving.  You need a savings stash to keep you from sliding back into debt.  Think about it:  You’re moving along, putting aside your $10 a day, paying down your credit cards, making terrific progress.  Then your dog gets a nasty double ear infection.  Between trips […]

Money isn’t that hard.  Getting straight with your money can be challenging — in the sense that you may have to make some difficult choices and break some long-standing habits — but it isn’t complicated.  You don’t have to be great at math, and you don’t have to understand a lot of specialized financial terms.  […]

If you want to get straight with your money, then there are no free passes.  There is no oh-well-there’s-nothing-I-can-do.  Because there is always something you can do. … Maybe you can’t make things perfect, but you can always make things better.
— Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi, All Your Worth

The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation.  It is common sense to take a method and try it:  If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.  But above all, try something.
— Franklin D. Roosevelt, May 22, 1932