This article originally appeared on Money.
Most procrastinating high school and college literature students know that when they’ve put off their reading assignments to the point where they no longer have the time to actually read the book, they can always rely on Cliffs Notes.
Some kids are hooked on Cliffs Notes like a bad drug. Heck, I’ll bet well over half of you used them when you were in school.
Don’t deny it; I know you did.
Not me, though. Okay. Maybe I did a few times — but only as a study guide after reading the books in their entirety.
Well … most of the time.
Anyway, for those of you who want a quick and easy read on the basics of good personal finance, I’ve put together a series of quotes and general wisdom regarding money and personal finance that are the official Len Penzo dot Com version of Cliffs Notes.
In fact, you can call this my A-B-Cs of good personal finance.
Best of all, after reading these little nuggets of financial wisdom, you may not become an instant expert on the subject—but you should have enough knowledge to at least get a passing grade.
Here we go:
A nnual 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*
B uy 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
C ontent makes poor men rich. Discontent makes rich men poor. — Benjamin Franklin
D on’t tell me what your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are. — James W. Frick
E mpty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. — Norman Vincent Peale
F or a happy marriage, wise is the husband who understands that what’s hers is hers and what’s yours is hers. — Len Penzo
G ood habits result from resisting temptation. — an ancient proverb
H e is richest who is content with least. — Socrates
I f 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
J ust remember: Any man who has $10,000 left when he dies is a failure. — Errol Flynn
K eep an emergency fund of at least three month’s living expenses. — common financial wisdom
L end your money and lose your friend.– English proverb
M oney never made a man happy yet, nor will it. — Benjamin Franklin
N ever spend your money before you have it. — Thomas Jefferson
O ctober: 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
P lenty of people despise money, but few know how to give it away. — Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld
Q uit 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
R ich people plan for four generations. Poor people plan for Saturday night. — Gloria Steinem
S olvency is entirely a matter of temperament and not of income. — Logan Pearsall Smith
T he art of living easily as to money is to pitch your scale of living one degree below your means. — Sir Henry Taylor
U nderstand that there is no dignity quite so impressive, and no independence quite so important, as living within your means. — Calvin Coolidge
V olatility in your retirement portfolio can be minimized via diversification, including precious metals. — common financial wisdom
W ants may be easily satisfied either by producing much or desiring little. — Marshall Sahlins
X erox 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
Y ou’ll be much better off financially if you strive to be anonymously rich rather than deceptively poor. — Len Penzo
Z illow should never be considered an accurate gauge of your home’s value. — Len Penzo
So there you have it: My Cliff’s Notes version of Personal Finance for Dummies. By the way, did you notice the predominant theme among the majority of those quotes? Here’s a hint: It’s the first commandment of my Ten Commandments of Personal Finance.
In the meantime, keep studying these notes—I guarantee they’re your quickest path to success in Personal Finance 101.
Now go get your ‘A’.
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* From what I learned after reading Cliffs Notes