Failure to plan is expensive.  Choosing to anticipate is the way to head off the big financial blows, because you are buying a commodity more precious than money: time.
— Mary Hunt, Live Your Life for Half the Price

In time that $22,000 [inheritance] will inevitably go down to $20,000, then $15,000, and before you know it, it will be gone. Most likely the balance on Karen’s secret credit card will be higher as well. What happened to Karen happens to most of us. We’re afraid to really look at our finances head-on, to […]

If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough. In an environment of more is better, “enough” is like the horizon − always receding. You lose the ability to identify that point of sufficiency at which you can choose to stop.
— Joe Dominguez, Your Money or Your Life

Let honesty and industry be thy constant companions, and spend one penny less than thy clear gains; then shall thy pocket begin to thrive; creditors will not insult, nor want oppress, nor hungerness bite, nor nakedness freeze thee.
— Benjamin Franklin

I was just like most people who finally had money.  Rather than act responsibly with my newfound cash flow, I felt I was entitled to make up for lost time by eating out every night, hitting the clubs, taking nice vacations, and filling my life with whatever gadgets I wanted.  I thought picking up the […]

Affirmations are fine, but affirmations alone don’t change your life.  You can say, “I am rich, I am rich, I am rich” until your face turns the color of money, but until you stop doing stupid stuff with your money and start doing smart stuff with your money, you will still be broke.  Affirmation without […]

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

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, […]

Remember what I said before: A job is only a short-term solution to a long-term problem.  Most people have only one problem in mind, and it’s short-term.  It’s the bills at the end of the month.  Money now runs their lives.
— Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Our society thrives on materialism, cashing in on the sin of covetousness.  Its modus operandi is to create within our hearts a longing for the things we do not have.  Not only a longing, but also an attitude of need and entitlement.  We need it.  We deserve it.  Especially if someone else has it.
— Alistair […]

It’s like I’ve said, “I’ve been broke a lot of times, but I’ve never been poor.” My mother taught me to put some money aside for a rainy day. But our industry is the worst in the world for money — same with athletes. After I played a benefit concert to pay for my friend’s medical […]