I hear this all the time:  “But it [smart personal finance] is so hard.”  Well, it’s easier than you think, and it’s certainly easier than becoming a financial statistic.  Being a financial failure is what’s really hard.
— Tod Barnhart, The Five Rituals of Wealth

When advised to budget, most people respond: “But I just don’t have enough money.”  In fact, most of these individuals have a lot more money than they think; they just lack control of it.  Making more money is not the answer.  The sad truth is that if you’re out of control, no matter how much […]

Some people never realize that they can redirect their present incomes and become wealthy.  They buy into the popular culture and ignore the wisdom of the ages.  You are responsible for your choices.  Recast your habits and you will change your life permanently.  You may change temporarily by sheer force of will, but it will […]

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness.  Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
— Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Debt robs a man of his self-respect and makes him almost despise himself.
— P.T. Barnum, The Art of Money Getting

The first rule of all enterprise is to know a solid value when you see it.  The second rule is to be able to act on an opportunity when it arises.  If your neighbor suddenly decides to sell his extra building for 50 percent of its true value but only if he can have cash in twenty-four […]

What is the one bold stroke through which you can help out the entire nation and at the same time make yourself feel empowered?  Simple:  Collect as many credit cards as you can, and max them out.
— Ben Stein, How to Ruin Your Financial Life

A lot of people get confused about what to do first when it comes to saving money: pay off debt, save for their retirement, or just put money away for an emergency fund. Listen, if you are paying 18 percent interest on your credit card debt, it makes absolutely no sense to start a savings […]

I know you think you’ll feel better if you buy a new shirt, buy a new blouse or go get your hair done because you’re feeling down a bit; life’s gotten to you.  But, the truth is, if you have $500 in your savings account, then you’ve got self-esteem, because that’s the one thing you […]

But consider people who are deeply in debt — bad debt.  They essentially have spent their time in advance, for they are obligated to be at their jobs to repay their debts.  They have spent their time in advance of it arriving.  This is what I mean by the term mortgaging your life.
— Jon Hanson, […]

The key to cash flow is to make sure you have cash left over at the end of the month after you’ve paid all your bills — this is known as “positive” cash flow.  The only entity that can legally operate with a “negative” cash flow month in and month out for years on end […]

In ancient Babylon, a slave was able to earn a few extra shekels on his own time, after completing his master’s work, to save toward buying his way out of slavery.  He could actually redeem (repurchase) himself.  We, too, may redeem ourselves from the bondage of bad debt.  Perhaps you do not feel like you […]

Money is not taught in schools.  Schools focus on scholastic and professional skills, but not on financial skills.  This explains how smart bankers, doctors, and accountants who earned excellent grades in school may still struggle financially all of their lives.  Our staggering national debt is due in large part to highly educated politicians and government […]

The problem with Americans is that they act and spend as if they are rich before they actually ARE rich.
— Economist interviewed in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

Most people have it all wrong about wealth in America.  Wealth is not the same as income.  If you make a good income each year and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier.  You are just living high.  Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend.
— Thomas Stanley, Ph.D., and William Danko, The Millionaire […]