Wouldn't You Rather Be Rich?

This is the name of a great book that my Dad bought for me years ago. The information is timeless, though.

Here are a few tidbits you might be surprised to know or might not have ever heard before:

1. Out of every 100 people in the US who reach age 65, only 2 are able to stop working and still continue to enjoy the same standard of living as before.

2. Probably the greatest obstruction to financial independence is personal debt.

3. Setting up a budget is easy. Sticking to a budget is not easy. If you want to live the easy life, you'll stick to the budget.

4. If you don't save money NOW, you won't have ANYTHING to live on down the road. This can be for retirement (potentially many years away for some of us) or it can be for tomorrow (like if the breadwinner in your family dies prematurely or you have a house fire or you or someone in your family has a major medical condition or any of a dozen other serious financial situations.) Oh, and in a Dave Ramsey video (financial peace), he said that 7 out of every 10 families will encounter a MAJOR financial setback in any given 10 year period. Scary, yes? You have to have money in the bank in order to withstand such financial setbacks.

And this one is free from me...

Check your credit report at least every 2 years. Bogus information is rampant and you can clean it up before it becomes a problem for you (like when you want more credit).