Always
- Always turn your mistakes in hard-earned lessons to remember forever.
- Always seek advice from wise people who have walked in your path and are way ahead of you.
- Always listen to your parents. They probably care more about you than yourself and will always have accumulated a lot more life experience than yourself.
- Always seek a third opinion from various types of experts in a given field.
- Always ask the pharmacist for the generic drug and save lots of money. Generic drugs are identical to the branded drug, except for its marketing label.
- Always save at least 10% of your income for tomorrow and a rainy day. Be assured they will both come.
- Always pay your taxes and bills in full and on time, or 1 week early to increase your credit score.
- Always say, “no thanks, not today” for unsolicited offers.
- Always take some time to check your heart with your head before committing to something, especially those decisions that are irreversible. Your head generally knows better, no matter how good it feels at the moment.
- Always be aware of your total available cash balance.
- Never count on a verbal agreement as legally binding. If it’s not in writing, it’s not binding. Get it in writing!
- Be prepared for life’s unexpected headwinds. Always keep at least 6 months expenses worth of cash available in a local credit union or bank for an emergency. Life happens to all of us; it’ll happen to you.
- Always be yourself; no one else has that responsibility but you.
- Always use your time wisely; It’s the one commodity that’s truly finite in this world.
- Always do what you can yourself; no one knows your particular needs better than yourself.
- Always invest heavily in eternal things, appreciating things and durable things that last.
- Always consider buying depreciating things after they have become used by the fool who bought them new. Just think of used items as experienced!
- Always seek truth over affirming political claims of what you believe to be true. Always be willing to abandon false beliefs for proven truths, knowing that the truth will set you free.
- Always practice, be prepared and remain hopeful! Tomorrow brings new and unforeseeable opportunities.
- Always live life with the awareness that one day you will have to account for it to God.
Never
- Never borrow from your future to pay today’s bills and never borrow from your IRA, unless it’s a true life/death situation. The tax penalty for doing this is about 40%! Today will be past in less than 24 hours, but your future will always be fast approaching.
- Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Be assured that tomorrow will renew your to-do and honey-do lists.
- Never buy on impulse or fall for marketing tactics like 0% financing, sale prices that “may end tomorrow,” etc. Take time to compare prices and value before buying.
- Never co-sign a loan for a friend unless you’re willing to lose that friend, your money and credit worthiness.
- Never respond to an unsolicited phone call asking for a donation over the phone.
- Never go to a fish market for beef, and never go to a bank or an insurance company for an investment account or product! Bank and insurance products are not investment products, despite what the salesperson calls it! They have extremely high fees (hidden and visible) and make more money for the salesman than for you. Bank products are for saving and insurance products are to transfer risk from yourself to them.
- Never spend more money than you earn. Limit spending to 80-90% of your income.
- Never buy things that you don’t know their total cost, and if you can’t afford it, never buy it, and if the total cost is hidden, run from it!
- Never pay a contractor 100% up front to work on a project. At most, pay 30% or 50% up front to give them an incentive to return and complete the job to your satisfaction.
- Never sell your chickens to buy eggs, unless you’re a quack.
- Never demand a right for which you’re not willing to accept its commensurate required responsibility.
- After parking your car, never leave your car’s key fob indoors, within about 16-20 feet of the car. Thieves can still unlock the doors, start the car and drive away as though they had the fob in their pocket! After they steal the car, when they turn off the ignition, they will need to install a new fob. Check your auto’s owner’s manual to learn your fob’s working range.
- Never store chocolates in your pocket, and never hoard or invest heavily in things that cannot be preserved.
- Never give a toddler a loaded pistol and never bequeath an irresponsible, adult child a large sum of money.
- Never give up!
General Financial Principles to Live By:
- If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
- Invest in appreciating assets, not depreciating assets.
- Only buy insurance you know you truly need, not what an insurance sales agents tells you that you need.
- Clearly distinguish between your needs and your wants. Focus your efforts on meeting your needs before your wants.
- Create a long-term financial plan and follow it strictly.
- Compare the prices of competing products and service before buying.
- Wait to buy expensive items when they’re on sale. Holidays are great sale days!
- Negotiate prices by knowing your financial standing and the marketplace.
- Never buy when the sales agent tells you that you must buy right now to get their current discount price. They are afraid you will see a better deal if you wait.
- Buy excellent-condition, used and refurbished items from thrift stores, Craigslist, Facebook Community sites, etc.
- Minimize expensive, temporary, entertaining experiences that leave you with nothing but a memory.
- Estimate the return of investment period for expensive items before buying them.
- If you cannot afford it, don’t buy it.
- If the thought of paying for something stresses you out, don’t buy it.
- Don’t make long-term financial contractual commitments, except for a home, unless you have a crystal ball and know with certainty that you will not lose your job, become ill, have a disabling accident, or need the money for something else!
- Give at least 10% of you income to your local church or charity.
- Accept a financial loss as a learning experience and resolve never do it again.
- Always factor 2% inflation and potential loss of job into long-term contracts.
- Look at the deal from the other parties’ perspective before signing any long-term contract.
- Before signing any long-term contract, sleep on the decision. Tomorrow you will see the consequences more clearly.
- If you’ve ever had a debt, and years later, a debt collector contacts you about it, and politely asks you to make a minimal $1 payment on it in good faith, DON’T DO IT! It will reset the date of the loans expiration, reactivating your loan, and will send you to court!