Michelle Singletary Quotes & Sayings

You are rich if you have enough to meet your most basic needs. You are rich if you have access to clean water, food, shelter, love, a roof over your head.You have to count your blessings to see that you are richer than you think. — Michelle Singletary

I use my financial values to set my limitations. I have three children I want to put through college debt free. So that means I can't spend wildly or with disregard. — Michelle Singletary

The key to making sure your credit stays good is paying the bill on time. If you are paying the balance off even if there is something on the card in recent purchases, you are good. — Michelle Singletary

To get started, track your expenses for a couple of months. Then you should be able to start filling in your estimated debits and deposits for the next few months. Once you get it rolling for a while, you will be able to see your budget for the upcoming months reflected in the estimated totals. You can even notice year-to-year trends, like bonuses, tax bills, etc. that come up routinely and it will help you budget accordingly. — Michelle Singletary

My husband and I are pretty good at leaving money alone until we need it for what we've saved it for. — Michelle Singletary

Money may not be able to buy you love, but conflicts about it can certainly bankrupt your relationship. — Michelle Singletary

A foreclosure does not define you financially. — Michelle Singletary

When you give people who are being financially responsible money, you are enabling them to continue a bad habit. So you are actually helping by saying, "Love you but no." — Michelle Singletary

The rich are depressed because they realize their money can't buy them out of their issues. — Michelle Singletary

My first piece of career advice is find your gifting. Find the thing that you are skilled at and figure out if you can make a living doing it. — Michelle Singletary

The number of those 19 to 25 with private insurance increased from 51 to 55.8 percent, and the percentage of uninsured fell from 33.9 percent in 2010 to 28.8 percent during the first half of 2011. — Michelle Singletary

We know intellectually that money can't buy happiness yet we spend and go into debt as if it does. — Michelle Singletary

I love teaching people how to handle their money and I've built a brand on that skill. — Michelle Singletary

I usually find that my gut doesn't steer me wrong when it comes to my money! — Michelle Singletary

You still need to save but being debt-free in retirement is and should be a goal. — Michelle Singletary

There's nothing wrong with having a 9-to-5 job, but figure out a way to have another stream of income. — Michelle Singletary

You are NOT a financial failure if you rent. You are getting something for your money. A roof over your head. — Michelle Singletary

To sum it up: Discipline + Self-denial = Cents for the Kingdom! — Michelle Singletary

We have to protect ourselves by doing our own homework. — Michelle Singletary

I'm driving my old car until I'm on a first name basis with the low tow truck drivers! — Michelle Singletary

Don't let people scare you from a career that may not net you a six figure salary. If you want to be a teacher, teach. But knowing that your salary may only reach a certain level, do all that you can to become the best money manager you can be. — Michelle Singletary

You don't need to waste money on a fancy program or app to do a basic budget. I've been using a simple Excel spreadsheet since 2005 to track my monthly budget. — Michelle Singletary

If we aren't careful, our children will come down with 'affluenza,' a disease that causes them to confuse wants and needs. We need to teach our children what my grandmother taught me: Think twice about spending money you don't have on things you don't need to impress people you don't like anyway. — Michelle Singletary

If you'll have enough saved and nobody has to take on debt and you want to retire, shoot go for it. — Michelle Singletary

The schools can't cover all the values that go along with how you handle your money. For example, a financial literacy class might not teach me to hate debt the way my grandmother, Big Mama did. — Michelle Singletary

I'm not a fan of debt consolidation. In my experience, many people "clear" credit cards and other debt to get the one payment and never change what they need to change to prevent getting into debt again. — Michelle Singletary

Remember life insurance is intended as income replacement to help dependents and or/spouse pay for things that your income would have covered. When you get to the point that you're dependents (Your kids mostly) aren't dependent on your income, you could reduce the amount of life insurance you are carrying. — Michelle Singletary

You made a decision given your life circumstances and you have to be ok with that. Regrets that can't be change is just torturing yourself. — Michelle Singletary

Having a separate fund for the things in life that happen, helps keep the emergency fund in tact in case you lose your job or income. — Michelle Singletary

Once you finish paying for college you could reduce your life insurance. — Michelle Singletary

You'll feel better when you get all that debt off your back. — Michelle Singletary

Having kids doesn't mean they would have taken care o you. — Michelle Singletary

Priorities lead to prosperity. — Michelle Singletary

I like the idea of having a paperless society.But to be paperless means you have to be so careful with your identity. — Michelle Singletary

Set up rules for when you will "give" not lend money. Never lend. My people know that I'll help with college. I'll help if they lose they job thu no fault of their own. — Michelle Singletary

Save what you can toward the emergency and life happens fund. But don't worry yourself sick at the slow growth. The point is it's growing even it's just one dollar at at time. — Michelle Singletary

The sad thing is many people learn how to manage money after they've made a lot of financial mistakes, some that take decades to fix. — Michelle Singletary

I've decided to keep working until my last kid is thu college. — Michelle Singletary

Kids can and are a blessing. But plenty of people without kids live and die just as happy. — Michelle Singletary

I've found that when you can quickly knock out debt you get motivated because you see progress. Then you attack the other debt so fast that even if it's at a higher interest rate, you don't end up paying much more because you've gotten rid of it. — Michelle Singletary

Money may not buy love, but fighting about it will bankrupt your relationship. — Michelle Singletary