One thing that irks me is when a professor tells the class that it is expected that you spend 3 hours outside of class studying for every hour you’re in the class. I’ve heard this from my calculus class years ago to my introduction to psychology class. What bothers me is that they ignore that everyone is different. Some people are great at history, another is great in math, so they would likely spend more time on their weak areas and less on things that come easily. Other students may be working full time or have a family to support. They can’t spend 40hrs outside of class. I’m fortunate that those professors were in the minority, though there were still too many for my taste.
A lot financial advice can sound a bit like professor who believe that a standard applies to all circumstances. Saving 10% of your gross income is great advice, but if you make minimum wage and have kids to feed, it doesn’t apply.
It also applies to this blog. I just write from my personal perspective. I’m not financial expert and do not claim to be one. If you’re looking at this blog or any other for that matter to get you answers for your personal situation, then you could be apply advice that has no merit with you. It like diagnosing yourself for a disease from the web. It can be bad for your health.
If you want to learn more about money management basics and enjoy hearing it from a personal view, then please continue reading this blog and the others on my blogroll. I love hearing other people’s ideas and if you have a story regarding a post written, then leave a comment. Bouncing ideas off of one another is a great way to seeing how situation a bit more clearly.
With that long winded rant done, I would say that there are a few universal truths in finance. One piece of advice that should be followed for 99.9% of the time (leave room for some crazy event):
Spend less than you earn.
Whatever your situation, if you spend less than you earn, you’re helping yourself, whether it’s paying off debt or saving that extra money.
What piece of financial advice do you think applies to almost everybody? What advice is not applicable to good number of people?
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Photo Credit: Paul Worthington
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I think that’s a great piece of money advice–because no matter how much you earn, you’ll never be rich if you spend more than you make. For some people it might not be an option (possibly) but for most I’d say it’s where to start.
P.S. That whole 3:1 thing bothered me too. It totally didn’t apply to some classes.
Who came up with the 3:1 ratio?! Seriously, do I need that for my bowling class as well?
“Spend less than you earn.” If people could master that, everything else would fall into place.
Best Wishes,
D4L
Thanks D4L! It’s the one piece of advice that works well for me.
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