Have You Come Across Any Hard and Fast Rules of Personal Finance?

I’m glad you asked. What follows are some financial principles/rules to live by.

1. The rule of holes: If you’re in one, stop digging. This shouldn’t require much explanation. How much good could you accomplish if you just stopped doing something bad?
    
2. Hope is not a strategy. It takes much more than hope to improve your financial situation. You’re also going to need support, information, tools, motivation, and about 27 other requisite niceties. In short, positive impact comes only from action. Behaviors must be precisely targeted, discarded, and/or developed. Big changes must be made, and you must initiate them.
    
3. It will not get done unless you do it. The first step toward financial freedom is recognition—recognition of your current situation, obstacles and capabilities. If you’ve been relying on others to get you where you want to go then stop. If you think a hefty inheritance or winning the lottery will come along and bail you out someday, it won’t. If you have been blaming others for the negative positions you might find yourself in, then stop. No one will execute your personal interests better than you. Take control of your life. Stomp the gas. Be the driving force.
    
4. When it comes down to reasons to do something versus excuses not to do it, there will always be more excuses. Humans can be a negatively-charged lot. Consider that society has trained the majority of people out there to think in terms of “Well, I can’t do this because…,” and their minds revert to this whenever they’re confronted with a task or goal that seems even a little bit formidable. So, starting now, direct your thought processes into a U-turn. Start be saying, “I will do this because… Those five words are how big accomplishments get off the ground.
    
5. You cannot save $1000 until you save $500. You cannot save $500 until you save $10. Even the greatest accomplishments start out small. If you’re looking ahead and getting frustrated because all you can see is how daunting your tasks/goals are, then break them down. Divide your work into steps. Make then smaller, more manageable. But keep them big enough to still be tangible and fulfilling once they’re accomplished. Anything can be accomplished if it is done a little bit at a time.
    
6. You can’t out-earn stupidity. Money problems-when they happen-aren’t caused by the money you make (or lack of it). They’re caused by the way you spend the money you make. So the next time you hear someone blame their financial situation on :low Wages” you’ll know better. They’re making excuses. Responsibility begins with the person. Where it ends is a matter of effort.
    
7. Doubt is expensive. Remember Benjamin Franklin? Thomas Edison? The Wright Brothers? Bill Gates? Exactly. History remembers the “doers”, not the doubters.
    
8. Debt is four-letter word. One absolute truth: Debt is a stranglehold on your family’s financial future. So, if you have it—well, other than mortgage debt—get it paid off. Do this as fast as you can. You owe it to no one more than yourself. Lose debt; gain freedom.
    
9. Expenses will rise in proportion to your income. It’s the mantra of the Discouraged Consumer, usually heard at bill paying time: “If only I made more money.” But without a change in mindset and strict financial discipline, the “more money” that occurs every so often via a raise in pay, or an inheritance windfall, or whatever, will always be accompanied by a proportionate rise in expenditures. Thus the saying: “All I want is to make ends meet—but someone keeps moving the other end.” More money does not solve the problem; financial intelligence does.
    
10. Know the difference between assets and liabilities. Acquire assets. The majority of people go through life without truly understanding the difference between assets and liabilities. The rich got where they are by purchasing assets. Low and middle-class people got where they are (and stay there) buy buying liabilities.