Most of the following quotes are not from our generation. However, the messages are clear and still hold true today. If you want to get ahead in today’s financial society, or even just stay afloat, read these quotes and think about them.
“A penny saved is a penny earned.” – Benjamin Franklin
If you have saved it then it is yours. When you spend it you no longer have it.
“If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.” – Benjamin Franklin
What is Ben saying here? Don’t we need to work very hard to make a lot of money so we can have a chance at becoming wealthy? The point is, don’t spend everything you earn. Limit your expenses. Consider saving. Do you really need a new car? Do you really need another pair of shoes? Do you need to stop at the fashionable coffee shop every morning?
If we can change our spending habits we could all have more money saved in the bank!
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound[s] ought and six, result misery.” – Charles Dickens
and
“The art of living easily as to money is to pitch your scale of living one degree below your means.” – Sir Henry Taylor
I know. Who talks like that? The point is to live within your means. If you make $70,000 in a year and you have some left over, you should be happy; you saved some of what you made. If, however, your expenses for the year were $75,000, you are in the negative $5,000, not pleasant.
Today this problem is compounded enormously because of the availability of credit. I may only make $5,000 a month, but with three credit cards I could easily amass $15,000 or more in debt in the same month. Yes, I could do this all by myself. Now I am $10,000 in the hole for the month and interest will accumulate because I can’t pay this debt off. Oh woe is me!
“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” – Will Smith
Where did that one come from? Someone in the twenty first century said something that made sense. Even better, the speaker is an actor. Who would have thought???
Let’s take Mr. Smith’s statement a little further. Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want [or NEED], to impress people they don’t like [to create an image that is so important].
Please offer comments. I had fun with this and plan to add more Money Quotes in the future.
J. Jeff Jackson
Ohio Bankruptcy Attorney
JJeffJackson's Blog 