The Most Important Personal Finance Rules Never Change
We talk a lot about personal finance . And while there are always new ways to think about your budget, you can always quickly identify the most important rules: they are the ones that don’t change.
As the personal finance blog Budgets Are Sexy notes, the basics of budgeting and saving money don’t change over time. While the best types of investments may change over time and new tools may emerge, the basics remain the same: Spend less than you earn. Be patient and think long term. Remember compound interest. These things do not change depending on the season:
You may recall my book on frugality, which I borrowed in 1875:
“Thrift does not require superior courage, superior intelligence, or superhero virtue. It only requires common sense and the ability to resist selfish pleasures. In fact, frugality is just common sense in day-to-day work. It doesn’t require zeal. determination, but only a little patient self-denial. The beginning is his reception! The more frugality is practiced, the easier it becomes, and the sooner it compensates for the sacrifices it has made to self-denial. “
Sounds like “spend less than you earn?” Or “frugality”? Or what about “fruit classic” – a term coined by my dear friends Prudence and Laurie? The fact is that money worked then as it does now. There are no secrets, or get-rich-quick schemes, or any magical potions that we LOVE to be true. Only new ways of expressing ideas about finance in the hope that they will drown and finally bring about this epiphany.
It’s okay to read personal finance tips and learn everything you can about how to improve your budget. After all, most of the advice is centered around the psychology of creating new habits, ditching old ones, and understanding how money works over time. There is very little new about how to save money.
7 Things I’ve Learned in 7 Years of Blogging | Budgets are sexy