When making financial decisions as to whether you want to buy something, look no further than the guidance of your death bed.  Assuming that we’re all lucky enough to be lucid on our death bed, then we will most likely be at the peak of our wisdom.  With the rational ability to look back at our life decisions to see which were important and which were not.

 Would we be happy with buying our home and raising our family in a secure environment?   I would think so.  Would we be happy that we had to work for many many more years because we drove very expensive cars our whole life?  No, I think that trade off would be folly.  Would we remember the times that we spent around the family table discussing our day with our family, rather than a noisy overpriced restaurant?  What about that trip I took with my wife to see The Great Wall of China?  Yes, I would think that was a worthwhile expenditure.  The $2,000 shopping spree that went along with it?  Not so much!  In retrospect, will watching 3 seasons of the Amish Mafia really prove to be a wise decision?  Cut the cable!   

When you view your purchases through the prism of your peak wisdom, your priorities change.  Time and human experiences take precedence over material possessions.  Working at a job you hate, so that you can spend more money on things that don’t matter, is kinda like paying somebody to kick you in the balls.    

If you're interested in learning 70% of everything that you need to know about personal finance in less than 4 hours, than look no further than the book "The Richest Man in Babylon".  

Within these 72 pages you will learn how to get out of debt, build wealth, and invest that wealth wisely.  After that it's just the nuances of the modern financial world.  These are timeless principles of finance that could have been used from the time that civilization first started to the time that it will eventually end.  

These are the principles that great societies pass down from one generation to another.  Thrift, debt free living, and wealth accumulation don't go out of style.  This author clearly and concisely lays out each step that you need to take in order to achieve these goals.  

This is a very popular book and could probably be found at your local library, but as always I'm all about FREE!  So here it is if you want to read it for free.  If you can't read it all right now, just read one chapter each night or in the morning before work.  IT'LL CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR ONLY 4 HOURS OF YOUR TIME! 

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/the_richest_man_in_babylon.pdf

Did you know that you can make multiple credit card payments through out the month?  You don't need to just make that one payment at the end of the month.  You can send them weekly or biweekly payments depending upon when you get paid.