Mary, While I can certainly appreciate your opinion it doesn't make sense to me. "I was taught,..." This might sound like an odd question but were you also taught, "go to school and get a good education so you can get a good job"??? "Live with less and be content..." I can also appreciate that as well. But I would rather it be by choice than by situation. Consider this for a second. If you have a job, your employer dictates: - where you live - what kind of car you drive - not only where you can travel but for how long - where you can send your kids to school... just to name a few things. How can they do this? Because they dictate how much money you make. The only option you have to take control of these factors is to "learn" how to make more money. And if there's one thing you can take to the bank, its that your employer isn't going to teach you that. They already have you right where they want you. On their puppet strings. One thing we must not forget. We may have a job today, but that can be taken away from us in a heartbeat! Then where do we stand? Just something to think about.....

Thanks for the invite and the info, Cheri! Yours in Vibrant Health & Prosperity, Dave

Hi Winston, I'm going to pick on the reply you made to Mary, if you don't mind. If you do, sorry in advance. You asked.. were you also taught, go to school and get a good education so you can get a good job The way you asked made it read like a rhetorical question. Sounds like a lot of good advise to me. I guess it's a question of what you read between the words. Reading your post I get the impression you are against working for someone else but that doesn't make sense to me. Can you elaborate on the view that employers dictate? I have read all the threads on this topic and for the most part I disagree with the view presented by the author. No offense to the messenger. :-) One thing I have learned about working for someone else is that your employer only needs to pay you enough for you to stay. The employer does not make you stay, you always have an option to leave. Jack

Hi Jack! I don't mind at all that you replied to my post. I only hope I can due justice in my response. As you know its one thing to have something in your mind. It can be quite another to put it on paper! :-) -- Sounds like a lot of good advise to me. I don't think it is really. Most people (80-85%) whom I have known over the past 10-15 years who have spent literally tens of thousands of dollars on their education came out of school to end up working in fields that are totally unrelated to their training. To me that doesn't make sense. What it boils down to in my mind is our education system. I think its old and outdated and not properly preparing the youth today for the life ahead of them. -- Can you elaborate on the view that employers dictate? The point I was getting at is that because they can limit your income to a large degree, they limit the options you have available to you. For example, show me one person that works at McDonalds (okay a bit extreme but I hope you get the point) that owns a brand new Lamborgine Contache (not sure of the spelling there). Not saying it couldn't happen but odds are, they will never own one because they cannot afford the monthly payments. I better keep this short! Don't want to bore everyone to death! LOL :-)

Hi, everyone. I see you've been debating while I was away from the forum for a while...that's good! I'm finding it interesting that Rule 3 was so loathsome to some of you that you have rejected Rules 1 and 2, which were pretty standard advice...i.e., save for the future and the unexpected and stop spending frivolously. Now, allowing for "save" to mean also "invest", because the author did mention have your money work for you, can anyone disagree with those two points? If so, please elaborate, and let's discuss it. A couple of us interpreted Rule 3 a little differently than most apparently did. If our minds are made up on that subject, there's probably little to talk about, but feel free to add anything new. I get the feeling that some have posted in reaction to the original post without reading the discussion that has taken place since. Rule 4 again divides us, this time between those who see employment for someone else as financial security and those who see it as anything but. While respecting the opinions of the traditional crowd, I have to say that it hasn't been true for us. My husband has had two long-term jobs disappear when the companies he worked for went out of business. Two years ago the company he now works for was so close to doing the same thing that only drastic pay cuts could save it. The day he had to tell me that his pay was being cut by 15% was the day I vowed we would never again be under anyone else's control. I've spent the last two years working to put us in a financial position to make good on that vow. Funny thing is, he's one of the traditional crowd. Even though he was the earner whose fate was in someone else's hands, for the most part he didn't feel the impact, because I'm the one who takes care of personal finances. The slide in our standard of living took place very gradually, because I am a very good manager. But there has definitely been a slide. Now that I can see the end of the debt tunnel, I won't go back in there, lol. So, I haven't been able to persuade him to quit his job, but I'm working on it. The next thing his employer does to displease him will be the last thing, if I have any say in it. Unfortunately, Jack, the choice you mention between staying with an employer who doesn't pay enough and leaving isn't always a tenable choice. In my husband's industry, and at his age, there are no such options unless we are indeed financially independent. He doesn't relish a challenge like I do, and doesn't feel he wants to start a new career. We are not alone. There are tens of thousands of baby boomers in the US alone who bought that 'go to school, get a good education so you can get a good job' line. And who are now wondering what happened. The pensions have disappeared in criminal actions, the promises were broken, our safety net (Social Security) has gaping holes in it, we're up to our ears in debt (both personal and as a country) and who is responsible? We are waking up and realizing that we are the only ones responsible for ourselves--not our employers and not our government. Us. So, I must disagree with you, Jack. For many if not most of us, it was terrible advice. We should have been spending the last thirty or so years working on our own businesses...we'd be a lot closer to financial security. But I always say "It's never too late!" I believe that, and I'm not a whiner. Let me just take a quick step back to refer to Rule 3...if it hadn't been for people teaching me what I didn't know about money, my husband and I would still be part of the problem, not part of the solution. Our families couldn't do it, our friends couldn't do it, we had to find new mentors. Now we are in a position to mentor the family and friends. For those of our family who aren't able to do what we have, we will soon be in a position to help them financially when they need it. It isn't about greed, it's about security. Whew, I feel much better now. Feel free to disagree with me all you want, lol. I hope we'll still be friends. :-) Cheri PS, sorry for the long post. I hope you're still awake!