Good Financial Advice Really Isn't Hard to Come By

Good financial advice is all around us. Why don't we practice it more often? What are we missing?

My great-grandmother, God rest her soul, lived through the Great Depression. When I was growing up whenever I found a penny or a nickel she would say to me, "a penny saved is a penny earned". According to this phrases site the expression goes back at least to the 1600s in the form "a penny spared is twice got". It's useful advice even after 300 years. If you don't waste your money you don't need to replace it as quickly.

Like 90% of the other people on this planet I sometimes wish I earned just a little bit more money. What I would do if I could make another $5-10,000. And yet every time I get a raise or take a new job, I do make more money. So why is it so hard to save more money than I saved before?

It's like driving up and down hills. When you get a boost in income you start to roll downhill. Things are easier for a while and you catch up on your bills a little bit faster. But life creeps in and becomes slightly more expensive. I don't know if it's inflation or if I just give in to temptation and start buying more expensive things. My wife says I'm a real penny-pincher on a good day. I'm just plain cheap on other days.

We gradually replace things we don't really need. We have a 50-inch TV set now. I'm pretty sure only a few years ago we had a 40-inch set. When we got married we had a 32-inch TV. How much did that extra 18 inches of screen space cost us? I guess it's worth it but when I take inventory of the stuff in our lives I don't see many things that we owned 10 years ago.

We're not saving the pennies as much as I used to think we did.

Another financial adage I've only heard in recent years is blunt, simple, and elegant: spend less than you make.

If you have to borrow money, pay the lowest possible interest. If you have to pay high interest then pay it only to yourself.

Life brings us a lot of good financial advice. Why don't we follow it more often? When I think back to my childhood, I remember a succession of piggy banks. I was always stuffing pennies into something. And yet I never kept my money for long. And every year I asked my dad for a larger and larger allowance.

If I had my childhood to live over I think I would do many things differently. But I would still want all the happy moments I remember. Can we have things both ways?

Personal finance is important for two reasons: first, practicing good personal finance keeps you off the street. We should all have food to eat, rooves over our heads, and adequate health care. Second, we need to prepare for an unknown future. We may become ill or our retirement may depend on how much we save.

But there is something missing in that advice. Is life worth living if you're not satisfied with what you have? Saving money is a trade-off with buying things you want now. I know I'm satisfied foregoing a few purchases for the sake of saving and investing money. I'm not saying life isn't frustrating. But I feel as though we have some control over our financial decisions.

If you're not happy with the things you have then make a plan to replace them with things that really will make your life more satisfying. Material things don't make us happy. Owning a lot of stuff doesn't enrichen you. People may spend too much money on things because they feel insecure. What I mean is that if you're still watching a 32-inch TV and sitting close to it because the screen is so small then maybe now is the time to find a good 50-inch screen on sale.

You don't have to give up everything that makes life a little easier just to save some money. Find creative ways to both save and enjoy life.