Quotes on Finance
"Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim to ability will keep the question of waste before him constantly. The scope of thrift is limitless."
Thomas Edison, Finance
“Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people that they don't like.”
Will Rogers, Finance
“Buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff.”
Will Rogers, Finance
“Earning a lot of money is not the key to prosperity. How you handle it is.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Someone who never has fun with money misses the point.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“I tell everyone never to take more than a fifteen-year fixed-rate loan, and never have a payment of over 25 percent of your take-home pay. That is the most you should ever borrow.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Don’t buy things you can’t afford, with money you don’t have, to impress people you don’t like.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance, Goals
“Doing a budget means learning an ancient and powerful word: no.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Act your wage.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“A typical millionaire lives in a middle-class home, drives a two-year-old or older paid-for car, and buys blue jeans at Wal-Mart.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance, Wealth
“Savings without a mission is garbage.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Don’t medicate dysfunction with spending. No amount of stuff will get rid of guilt.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance, Wealth, Life
“If you help enough people, you don’t have to worry about money.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“When getting help with money, whether it is insurance, real estate or investments you should always look for a person with the heart of a teacher, not the heart of a salesman.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“We learned early on that if we help enough people, the money will come.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“You will either learn to manage money, or the lack of it will manage you.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Financial peace isn’t the acquisition of stuff. It’s learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can’t win until you do this.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“If I loan money to a friend or relative, the relationship will be strained or destroyed. The only relationship that would be enhanced is the kind resulting from one party being the master and the other party a servant.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Money is 80% behavior, 20% head knowledge. It’s what you do, not what you know.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance, Intelligence/Wisdom
“There are no shortcuts when it comes to getting out of debt.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“The German root word for ‘debt’ is the same as for ‘guilt.’”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Debt gives you the ability to look like you’re winning when you’re not.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Debt is dumb. Cash is king.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“A lower interest rate doesn’t make a debt go away.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“When I do something stupid with money and lose it, I call that Stupid Tax. I have paid so much Stupid Tax that I am expert.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“The first step in taking control of your money is to stop borrowing money. Start using cash today.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“If you invest $464 in a good mutual fund every month from age thirty to age seventy, you’ll end up with more than $5 million.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“The HSA (Health Savings Account) is a great way to save on premiums. The high deductible creates a much lower premium, and this plan allows you to save for medical expenses in a tax-free savings account.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Debt is not a tool; it is a method to make banks wealthy, not you. The borrower truly is slave to the lender.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“The number one problem that causes student loan debt? Parents that suck.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Knock out a small debt first so you get a quick win. Momentum is key.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“You can’t work three hours a week and make $100,000.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance, Work
“I believe that through knowledge and discipline, financial peace is possible for all of us.”
Dave Ramsey, Intelligence/Wisdom, Finance
“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“I like the way I’ve built wealth better than the way you haven’t.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Your money needs to work for you, not lie around you.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Work is a surefire money-making scheme.”
Dave Ramsey, Work, Finance
“Your priorities, passions, goals, and fears are shown clearly in the flow of your money.”
Dave Ramsey, Goals, Finance
“Rich isn’t an amount of money, it’s a mindset about how you live. If you believe you can win, you can.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Money is not good or evil. It has no morals or intentions on its own. Money reflects the character of the user.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Money is like a beautiful thoroughbred horse—very powerful and always in action. But unless this horse is trained when very young, it will be an out-of-control and dangerous animal when it grows to maturity.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Someone who never invests money will never have any.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“We have a retirement crisis in America today not from a lack of money, but from a lack of vision.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance, Goals
“The average millionaire can’t tell you who got thrown off the island last night.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“The paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance, Wealth
“Good things that cannot be calculated or quantified are set in motion in your life and in your finances when you give.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance, Life
“There’s a great place to go when you’re broke—to work!”
Dave Ramsey, Finance, Work
“I would not pre-pay. I would invest instead and let the investments cover it.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“No one got rich on a government program. Do not choose to be a common man. You can be uncommon.”
Dave Ramsey, Government, Finance, Life
“Save 3-6 months of expenses in a Rainy Day fund. Know why? Cause it is going to rain, and you aren’t the exception.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Broke people giving financial advice is like a shop teacher with missing fingers.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Work—get paid; don’t work—don’t get paid. Everybody is on commission.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Get rich quick doesn’t work. Crock pot mentality always defeats microwave mentality!”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“MYTH: Car payments are a way of life; you’ll always have one. TRUTH: Staying away from car payments by driving reliable used cars is what the average millionaire does; that is how he or she became a millionaire.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Disability insurance protects you and your family if you are unable to work by providing income which will help pay your bills and take care of your family. It’s just as important as life insurance.”
Dave Ramsey, Finance
“Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest?”
Milton Friedman, Government, Finance
“Inflation is taxation without legislation.”
Milton Friedman, Government, Finance
"One can best prepare themselves for the economic future by investing in your own education. If you study hard and learn at a young age, you will be in the best circumstances to secure your future."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Read 500 pages like this every day. That's how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Intelligence/Wisdom
"The most important investment you can make is in yourself."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"When trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the managers who reap outsized profits, not the clients."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"It's been an ideal period for investors: A climate of fear is their best friend. Those who invest only when commentators are upbeat end up paying a heavy price for meaningless reassurance."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"The best chance to deploy capital is when things are going down."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"This does not bother Charlie [Munger] and me. Indeed, we enjoy such price declines if we have funds available to increase our positions."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"The years ahead will occasionally deliver major market declines -- even panics -- that will affect virtually all stocks. No one can tell you when these traumas will occur."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Predicting rain doesn't count, building the ark does."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Life
"Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Life
"So smile when you read a headline that says 'Investors lose as market falls.' Edit it in your mind to 'Disinvestors lose as market falls—but investors gain.' Though writers often forget this truism, there is a buyer for every seller and what hurts one necessarily helps the other."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn't. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Courage
"The investor of today does not profit from yesterday’s growth."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"If past history was all that is needed to play the game of money, the richest people would be librarians."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Half of all coin-flippers will win their first toss; none of those winners has an expectation of profit if he continues to play the game."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Keep things simple and don't swing for the fences. When promised quick profits, respond with a quick 'no.'"
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Speculation is most dangerous when it looks easiest."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"After 25 years of buying and supervising a great variety of businesses, Charlie [Munger] and I have not learned how to solve difficult business problems. What we have learned is to avoid them."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"The most common cause of low prices is pessimism—sometimes pervasive, sometimes specific to a company or industry. We want to do business in such an environment, not because we like pessimism but because we like the prices it produces. It’s optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can't buy what is popular and do well."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble...We want to buy them when they're on the operating table."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Whether we're talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Widespread fear is your friend as an investor because it serves up bargain purchases."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"I won't" say if my candidate doesn't win, and probably half the time they haven't, I'm going to take my ball and go home."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"American business -- and consequently a basket of stocks -- is virtually certain to be worth far more in the years ahead."
Warren Buffet, Business, Finance
"Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you are doing."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Intelligence/Wisdom
"You only have to be able to evaluate companies within your circle of competence. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"It's better to have a partial interest in the Hope diamond than to own all of a rhinestone."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Buy a stock the way you would buy a house. Understand and like it such that you'd be content to own it in the absence of any market."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"There is nothing wrong with a 'know nothing' investor who realizes it. The problem is when you are a 'know nothing' investor but you think you know something."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Intelligence/Wisdom
"What counts for most people in investing vs saving is not how much they know, but rather how realistically they define what they don't know."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Intelligence/Wisdom
"You don't need to be a rocket scientist. Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with 130 IQ."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Intelligence/Wisdom
"The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don't have to swing at everything -- you can wait for your pitch."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Success in investing doesn't correlate with IQ ... what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing."
Warren Buffet, Finance, Success
"The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.'"
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Do not take yearly results too seriously. Instead, focus on four or five-year averages."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"An investor should act as though he had a lifetime decision card with just twenty punches on it."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Our favorite holding period is forever."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"If you aren't thinking about owning a stock for 10 years, don't even think about owning it for 10 minutes."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Calling someone who trades actively in the market an investor is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a romantic."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Successful investing takes time, discipline, and patience. No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: You can't" produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"It is a terrible mistake for investors with long-term horizons -- among them pension funds, college endowments, and savings-minded individuals -- to measure their investment' risk' by their portfolio's ratio of bonds to stocks."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"All there is to investing is picking good stocks at good times and staying with them as long as they remain good companies."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"If a business does well, the stock eventually follows."
Warren Buffet, Business, Finance
"It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price, than a fair company at a wonderful price."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"On the margin of safety, which means, don't try and drive a 9,800-pound truck over a bridge that says it's, you know, capacity: 10,000 pounds. But go down the road a little bit and find one that says, capacity: 15,000 pounds."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"The three most important words in investing are margin of safety."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"If returns are going to be 7 or 8 percent and you're paying 1 percent for fees, that makes an enormous difference in how much money you're going to have in retirement."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Never invest in a business you cannot understand."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"For the investor, a too-high purchase price for the stock of an excellent company can undo the effects of a subsequent decade of favorable business developments."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Beware the investment activity that produces applause; the great moves are usually greeted by yawns."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Remember that the stock market is a manic depressive."
Warren Buffet, Finance
"Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1."