Quotes and Wisdom

The following is an ever-growing list of money quotes I find useful, wise, or interesting

  1. Spend less than you make and invest the difference
  2. Never spend more than you make
  3. Invest early and often
  4. Pay yourself first
  5. Stack cash. Buy assets, not liabilities. Keep your bills low. Act broke. Stay positive
  6. VTSAX and chill
  7. Earned income should fund your investments. Passive income should fund your lifestyle
  8. Find a way to make money while you sleep or you will work until you die – Warren Buffett
  9. You won’t save money when you get a raise. You won’t save money when the car is paid off. You won’t save money when the kids are grown. You will only save money when it becomes an EMOTIONAL PRIORITY. You have to want the benefits of saving more than you want another Amazon package at your door. – Dave Ramsey
  10. A few good years of focused frugality can set you up for life.
  11. View all purchases not as dollars spent, but as hours of life you exchanged for those dollars. Have any of your purchases ever been a waste of time?
  12. Few things make people go broke as quickly as trying to appear rich.
  13. Market crashes create more millionaires than any other time. Load up on assets for cheap and ride the market all the way up
  14. The market takes the stairs up, but the elevator down.
  15. Growth is driven by compounding, which always takes time. Destruction is driven by single points of failure, which can happen in seconds, and loss of confidence, which can happen in an instant. The irony is that growth – if you can stick around – is a more powerful force, because it compounds. But setbacks capture greater attention because they happen suddenly – Morgan Housel
  16. You won’t get rich off a salary alone, so invest. Inflation steals the value of your money, so invest. Compound interest works wonders
  17. Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. – Epictetus
  18. 95% of millionaires own stocks. Less than 1% of them are day traders. Invest in great companies and forget about the noise!
  19. The biggest financial advantage you can give yourself is resisting the urge to impress anyone. Live in a small place, drive a modest car, keep a simple wardrobe, and patiently accumulate assets that will give you freedom for the next 4-7 decades.
  20. I use my money to make more money. You use your money to look like you have a lot of money. We are not the same.
  21. By not paying off your credit card in full, you are essentially taking out a loan at about 18%
  22. Time in the market is more important than timing the market
  23. If I knew what the market will do tomorrow, next month, or next year, I’d be richer than Bill Gates, and twice as handsome.
  24. Accumulate money, not stuff
  25. It’s not about the money, it’s about the freedom
  26. Too many people spend money they don’t have, to buy things they don’t need, to impress people they don’t like
  27. It doesn’t matter how much you make. What matters is how much you spend
  28. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. – Chinese proverb
  29. Personal finance is 10% knowledge (what you know) and 90% behavior (what you do)
  30. If the stock market is like a casino, by investing in the S&P 500 you’re playing as the house – given enough time, you’ll always win
  31. Having a bunch of “look at me” cars or houses or watches or any of that other bullshit tends to make people envious. They’re not really proud of you or happy for your success, they’re envious. You don’t want to set yourself up for jealousy. In Jewish and Arabic culture, there’s the concept of the evil eye. You don’t want the evil eye – Paul Orfea, billionaire & former CEO of Kinko’s
  32. Who you choose as your spouse is a financial decision as well as an emotional one.  Choose wisely
  33. Prioritize having a 3 month emergency fund.  Unexpected expenses will arise – don’t get caught with your pants down
  34. After the emergency fund, prioritize paying off high interest debt.  You’re not going to out-invest a 20% interest rate that you have on a credit card
  35. Have a budget.  A good basic framework is 50/30/20 (50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings and investments)
  36. College is a business decision. Make sure the return is worth the investment
  37. Prioritize your health – exercise and eat healthy.  A healthy person has a million wishes.  A sick person only has one
  38. Saving $5 on coffee isn’t going to make you rich.  Saving money on bigger decisions, the ones that end in zeros like your home or your vehicle, will go much further
  39. Live below your means.  64% of people live paycheck to paycheck but you don’t have to be one of them
  40. Learn from the ones that did it before you – read books, listen to podcasts.  More learning, less Netflix
  41. Automate your finances.  Bills, savings, this is going to make your life a lot easier
  42. Avoid get rich quick schemes.  Easy come, easy go.  Multi level marketing or high risk ventures are likely not going to get you rich.
  43. It’s not your salary that makes you rich, it’s your spending habits.” – Charles A. Jaffe
  44. Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. – Warren Buffett
  45. The greatest wealth is to live content with little. – Plato
  46. It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for. – Robert Kiyosaki
  47. The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient. – Warren Buffett
  48. The secret to becoming financially free is using your 9-5 paycheck to buy assets that pay you more income. Eventually, your assets will cover your expenses, and you will be financially free – Jaspreet Singh
  49. Focus on the things that you can control and don’t obsess over the things you can’t
  50. Trying to get rich quick is guaranteed to keep you broke. Think in terms of years and decades, not days or weeks
  51. Get rich slowly
  52. You can’t change the past, but you can use the present to change the future
  53. Never sell*
  54. Investing money when you’re young sucks. So does working when you’re old. The choice is yours
  55. Winning with money isn’t complicated. Just keep it SIMPLE. Live on less than you make and don’t owe people money. – Dave Ramsey
  56. There are only three things that determine how much money you may have in a future nest egg: time, rate of return, and contributions (how much you save). Savings is the only one of those 3 that you have direct control over
  57. Be frugal with things that don’t matter to you so you can spend lavishly on things that do
  58. Live a life with sacrifices now so you can live a life of freedom later
  59. Act your wage
  60. Money won’t buy you happiness but it can make problems go away that make you unhappy
  61. A nice car and a big house are the old status symbols. The ultimate flex is freedom: time freedom, location freedom, and financial freedom
  62. Travel light in life. Stuff will weigh you down.
  63. Control the controlables. Don’t worry about all the other things in life you can’t control
  64. Business rules: 1) on time is late 2) go above and beyond – do more than asked of you. Become indispensable 3) never ask for money. Be indispensable and you’ll get paid
  65. Building wealth is a marathon, not a sprint
  66. Spending is like a gas. It will expand to fill any limit placed on it
  67. Never borrow to invest
  68. If you’re in your 20s, save as if your life depended on it
  69. Same deal if you’re 50 with nothing saved
  70. When spending money, always go for the cheapest acceptable option
  71. It’s ok to start small. In fact, I encourage it
  72. The truly wealthy have no need to impress others with their stuff
  73. You can’t control the wind, but you can control how you adjust your sails

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