Quotes About Spending

Unfortunately, most Americans think that they are emulating the rich by immediately consuming any upward swing in their cash flow. But the millionaire-next-door

Interestingly, within the high-income population, I find that there is a negative correlation between one's grade point average and the amount one spends on motor vehicles. Those with the very highest grades tend to spend less on motor vehicles. This by no means suggests that people you see driving $100,000 cars all flunked out of college!

Most people will never become wealthy in one generation if they are married to people who are wasteful. A couple cannot accumulate wealth if one of its members is a hyperconsumer. This is especially true when one or both are trying to build a successful business.

Si quieres comportarte como una persona deslumbrantemente rica, alístate para gastar como mínimo el doble o el triple de lo que el típico millonario paga.

Webster's defines frugal as "behavior characterized by or reflecting economy in the use of resources." The opposite of frugal is wasteful. We define wasteful as a lifestyle marked by lavish spending and hyperconsumption. Being frugal is the cornerstone of wealth-building.

Happy people tend to live well below their means. I have found this to be the case in all of the studies I have conducted.

This millionaire's brand of watch is a Timex; her husband's is a Seiko (number one among millionaires). The couple buys their clothes at Dillard's, J.C. Penney, and TJ Maxx. They have purchased only two motor vehicles in the past 10 years: both Fords.

How many highly paid ball players have a level of wealth in this range? We believe only a tiny fraction. Why? Because most have a lavish lifestyle—and they can support such a lifestyle as long as they are earning a very high income.

Wealth is not the same as income. If you make a good income each year and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier. You are just living high. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend. How

But the lavish lifestyle sells TV time and newspapers. All too often young people are indoctrinated with the belief that "those who have money spend lavishly" and "if you don't show it, you don't have it.

What happens when you tell the average American adult that he needs to reduce his spending in order to build wealth for the future?

The affluent, especially the self-made affluent, are frugal and price-sensitive concerning many consumer products and services. But they are not nearly as price-sensitive when it comes to purchasing investment advice and services, accounting services, tax advice, legal services, medical and dental care for themselves and family members, educational products, and homes.

Why are so few people in America affluent? Even most households with six-figure annual incomes are not affluent. These people have a different orientation than does Johnny Lucas. They believe in spending tomorrow's cash today. They are debt-prone and are on earn-and-consume treadmills. To many of them, those who do not display abundant material possessions are not successful. To them, nondisplay-oriented people like Johnny Lucas are their inferiors. Johnny

Their consumer behavior had an impact on their son. They constantly sent him a message: One earns to spend. When you need to spend more, you need to earn more. L

My surveys indicate that there is a significant correlation between income and satisfaction with life. In other words, earning more money may make you somewhat happier, but spending that money (particularly on cars) won't. If we make the appropriate statistical adjustments for income differences in life satisfaction, then we find that the average satisfaction among Toyota drivers [vs BMW] is higher. p173

A self-made millionaire stated it best when he told us: I can't get my wife to spend any money! Most people will never become wealthy in one generation if they are married to people who are wasteful.

You know, Bob, the real patriots out there are people who earn big incomes—$100,000, $200,000, and $1 million or more a year—and spend it all. Congress should mint a new medal for this type of patriotism, Bob. It would be called the Congressional Medal of Taxation and Consumption. And as long as these patriots keep training their kids to be medal winners, we are in good shape.

The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

Back then, the rule of thumb was that housing costs—whether rents or mortgage payments—should not take more than one-fourth of a person's income. In 1901, housing costs took 23 percent of the average American family's spending. By 2003, it took 33 percent of a far larger amount of spending.

We have by far the most expensive health system in the world. We spend 50 percent more per person than the next most costly nation. Americans spend more on health care than housing or food.

You have to spend a lot to make a lot. It's not like I'm sitting on top of a pile of money.

I have long believed taxpayers make better use of their money than the government ever could.

We didn't actually overspend our budget. The allocation simply fell short of our expenditure.

I think women as well as men are concerned about jobs and the economy and spending and, and other issues. They're concerned that when their kids graduate from college they have an economy and they have a future in this country and they, they have the same opportunity that we've had and our grandparents have had.