Len Penzo's ABC's of money.

I've taken a liking to this blog. I found THIS and couldn't agree more! {Okay the only thing I disagree with is K. I think that 3 months is a good start, But 6 months is better and that's what I am going to go by.

{These are Len's ABC's not mine.} My thoughts are in green.

Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditure, nineteen pounds; result, happiness. Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditure, twenty-one pounds; result, misery. –- Charles Dickens in his book David Copperfield*
Buy when everyone else is selling and hold until everyone else is buying. That’s not just a catchy slogan. It’s the very essence of successful investing. –-J.P. Getty
Content makes poor men rich. Discontent makes rich men poor. — Benjamin Franklin
Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are. — James W. Frick
Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. — Norman Vincent Peale
For a happy marriage, wise is the husband who understands that what’s hers is hers and what’s yours is hers. — Len Penzo
Good habits result from resisting temptation. — an ancient proverb
He is richest who is content with least. — Socrates
If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem. — J.P. Getty
Just remember: Any man who has $10,000 left when he dies is a failure. — Errol Flynn
Keep an emergency fund of at least three month’s living expenses. — common financial wisdom
Lend your money and lose your friend.– English proverb
Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. — Benjamin Franklin
Never spend your money before you have it. -– Thomas Jefferson
October: This is one of the particularly dangerous months to invest in stocks. Other dangerous months are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February. — Mark Twain
Plenty of people despise money, but few know how to give it away. — Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld
Quit using credit cards for making any purchases unless you intend to pay off the balance in full at the end of every month. — common financial wisdom
Rich people plan for four generations. Poor people plan for Saturday night. — Gloria Steinem
Solvency is entirely a matter of temperament and not of income. — Logan Pearsall Smith
The art of living easily as to money is to pitch your scale of living one degree below your means. –- Sir Henry Taylor
Understand that there is no dignity quite so impressive, and no independence quite so important, as living within your means. — Calvin Coolidge
Volatility in your retirement portfolio can be minimized via diversification. — common financial wisdom
Wants may be easily satisfied either by producing much or desiring little. -– Marshall Sahlins
Xerox stock price on April 17 of selected years (adjusted to account for any splits and/or dividends): 1970 – $14.15; 1999 – $55.13; 2009 – $5.92. The moral of this story is that even buy-and-hold investors need to know when it’s time to sell. — Len Penzo
You’ll be much better off financially if you strive to be anonymously rich rather than deceptively poor. — Len Penzo
Zillow should never be considered an accurate gauge of your home’s value. — Len Penzo

You know what's crazy... Most financial "Golden rules" are common sense... The test comes when we can actually enforce the self control to live the way we know we should. I'm not perfect. But I am to the point that I know what I want {In short, House paid off in 15 years, and enough money in savings to retire when I'm 45.} And I know what I need to do to get there, AND I have the self control to tell myself NO when I want something. Yes, I'd love that $130 shiny pearl colored Brahmin wallet... But I sure as heck have enough self control to NOT buy it. I wouldn't have to buy it on credit, my emergency fund would still be in tact, and I would still be able to buy my groceries. "Technically" I could afford it. The point is that I have come to the place where I can afford those things if I wanted them, Because I haven't bought everything I've wanted in the past. I'm not saying I'm perfect. But I try hard. And I have done my best to teach my kids that saving money is important and that we don't buy everything we want. There is always room for improvement. But I think I realized that "This" {frugal} Is who I have become {I was a terrible spender before} While we were on vacation. We could have lost ourselves in the moments of vacation and spent on things we wanted, overpriced snorkeling trips, overpriced spa visits, ETC. We had a fabulous vacation and even better is that we still have the money that would have been spent on those things in the bank. It's a much much better feeling. Now I'm not saying that we have a boring terrible life and that we never do those things. We do, We just do it frugally and have learned to manage the emotions that go with spending. I'd say that I am now a logical buyer and not an emotional buyer. It's taken time, But it's well worth it. This is coming from a girl who used to NEVER look at price tags, and spent money on whatever I wanted. {That was one contributing factor to the "financial disaster or '08} If I can make this 180, You can too. You can't get frustrated that you made a financial mistake this week and throw in the towel, hang in there. Its a LONG, hard, but well worth it, journey.