Guy Spier Quotes

The first rule of personal finance is that it's not personal and it's not financial. It's about your ability to make ten changes and not get too depressed over it.

Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character.

Rather go to bed with out dinner than to rise in debt.

Of course, the human part of you wants to take as much money as you see, but all money isn't good money.

I was never stupid with my money, because I grew up without it. So when I started to make some, I was like, 'Okay, first rule of thumb, I'm not buying it unless I've got the money to buy it,' so I have no debt.

You must respect people, and you must respect money. My father said to me: 'When you respect money, money will respect you.'

Automating some of your finances can be incredibly convenient and is a great way to save time, but automating everything makes it too easy to go on autopilot and forget to pay attention to your personal finances.

I've discovered that I've never had much respect for money, and that has meant that money has ended up ruling me a little bit more than it should have. So I'm trying to learn - at this late stage in life! - to actually control that.

When the Fugees were big, we made a whole lot of money, and what happened was that I saved my money and never spent it.

I know that you've got to watch how you spend all the dollars. That's not the easiest thing to do. That's not what people think is the most fun thing to do, but it's the right thing to do.

I'm more of a debit card person, and I live in the 'now'. I don't like credit cards anymore. I try to live with whatever I can afford and don't try to put myself in an awkward position. I've done that before.

What's the point of creating a budget if it's not possible to follow through?

I don't take money seriously, so I can't keep any.

Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should buy it.

Money is my military, each dollar a soldier. I never send my money into battle unprepared and undefended. I send it to conquer and take currency prisoner and bring it back to me.

You've got to tell your money what to do or it will leave.

Some couples go over their budgets very carefully every month. Others just go over them.

If you can't pay for a thing, don't buy it. If you can't get paid for it, don't sell it. Do this, and you will have calm and drowsy nights, with all of the good business you have now and none of the bad. If you have time, don't wait for time.

My Mum brought me up to believe that if you look after the pennies then the pounds look after themselves, and I could never do it.

I don't believe in spending money lavishly, now that I'm making money.

I don't know how to overcome this perception that I'm extravagant.

Any idiot can make money. Keeping money, very few can do.

After two decades of personal finance reporting, I've heard every excuse in the book for not saving money. That said, none of them really hold up - at least over the long term.

I grew up in Harlem Grant projects, and I didn't have a whole lot then. I've always been good about only getting what I need, not what I want. Just because someone else has something, I don't feel the need to.

I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living.