Where’s the peer pressure to live small today so that we might live comfortably tomorrow?  Where’s the celebrity spokesperson to tell us how way cool it is to eschew the little luxuries of the moment in order to afford a long-term-care policy?  Where’s the slick marketing campaign that can convince us to forgo a year’s [...]

Perhaps we cling to our affluence — even though it isn’t working for us or the planet — because of the very nature of our relationship with money.  As we shall see, money has become the movie screen on which our lives play out.  We project onto money the capacity to fulfill our fantasies, allay [...]

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

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 [...]

A big part of being strong financially is that you know where you are weak and take action to make sure you don’t fall prey to the weakness.  And we ALL are weak.
— Dave Ramsey, Total Money Makeover

You drive the car, the $400,000 car around the corner, and park it and instantly the thrill goes away. You find it’s a waste of money. And no matter how big your house is, you can only sit your ass in one seat at a time.
— Russell Simmons, entrepreneur and producer, Def Jam records

In the new world of unregulated lending, families are barraged with advertisements and offers for a new product:  all the debt they could ever want, and more.  Now, in a single year, more than five billion preapproved credit card offers — totaling over $350,000 of credit per family — pour into mailboxes all across America.
— [...]

A major reason that we give in to our materialistic urges is that we’re creatures of habit.  It might take some thought and effort, but habits can be broken.  So, if you find it difficult to walk past your favorite store without going in, try crossing to the other side of the street.  If you [...]

Teach yourself to compare down, not up.  It makes complete sense that you’ll be disappointed if you’re constantly comparing your wardrobe to that of your boss (who earns twice as much as you do) or your colleague (whose spouse created the latest reality-TV smash).  Instead, if you need to compare at all — and most [...]

Well, Mr. or Ms. Excuse-Maker, it’s time you stopped whining and started taking control of your financial situation.  It’s easy!  You just need to follow these steps:
 
1. Analyze your cash flow.  “Cash flow” is a term that accountants use to describe the flowing of cash.  To analyze your cash flow, first sit down at your kitchen [...]

What happens when unforeseen disaster strikes — when Dad loses his job or when Mom asks for a divorce?  Families face events that elude all careful planning.  The first line of defense is their all-purpose passbook savings account, an account that is tax-disadvantaged.  If things get really bad, many families find that the only way [...]

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 [...]

Don’t buy things; buy freedom.
— David Futrelle

This [tracking your spending] is not about following our (or anyone else’s) budgets, with standardized categories and a suggested percentage of income that should go toward each category.  This is not about swearing at the beginning of each month that you’ll do better.  This is not about guilt.  It’s about identifying, for yourself, what you [...]

Just as your children have to learn the rewards of hard work, you have to relearn them.  But trust me:  Frugality really does offer greater psychic rewards than conspicuous consumption.  Start treating the little things in life with more respect and it will carry over to the bigger things.  When you start having an increased [...]