I was randomly browsing through different financial literacy quotes for other posts and decided that hey, why not put the best ones together.
And why does financial literacy matter, anyway?
Well, not only is financial literacy an essential part of personal finance, but having financial knowledge helps you manage money correctly and ensures a solid financial future for you and your family.
Here are 21+ financial literacy quotes to inspire and also help you make sound financial decisions!
“The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient.” – Warren Buffett
Of all the financial quotes out there, I would choose this one to frame and put on my wall.
If there’s one thing that can make or break your financial success, it’s patience.
Statistically speaking, the almighty buy-and-hold strategy is more likely to get you a secure financial future than constant back-and-forth trading.
When you constantly trade stocks, you not only pay a lot of unnecessary expenses, but you need to also be right. A lot. And that’s the part where most traders will not succeed.
“If you’re saving, you’re succeeding.” – Steve Burkholder
The ability to save is the cornerstone of financial well-being. To be able to save requires successful budgeting, discipline, and overall money management skills.
It means you’ve made some sound financial decisions, and that you have enough income to support your lifestyle and prepare for the future.
When it comes to personal finances, that’s usually enough.
You don’t have to know a whole lot about personal finance or investing, but if you’re able to save money, you’ll do just fine.
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin
More often than not, the best investment you can make is to invest in yourself and become financially literate.
It’s not often you hear a person saying “Damn, I wish I didn’t spend so much time learning new things”.
Especially when it comes to personal finances and investing, it literally does pay to know more. Just learning the very basic financial literacy will get you ahead of most people.
“A person either disciplines his finances or his finances disciplines him.” – Orrin Woodward
There are tons of different blogs and websites that focus on people who’ve paid off their debts and become financially successful.
What’s common for them is the fact that they had to be disciplined by their ruined finances to become disciplined with their money.
Luckily, it’s not mandatory to get in over your head in debt to become smart about money.
The best way to deal with money issues is to prevent them altogether, and that’s what being financially disciplined does.
“Financial literacy begins the process of earning more for what you know and less for what you do.” – Linsey Mills
Investing and personal finance is a business of information. Knowledge pays.
Financially literate people can create wealth and manage money in a way that their investments start to compound and grow exponentially.
So, in a way, with proper financial education, you can literally think your way to wealth.
“Spending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money.” – Morgan Housel
Using money to impress people is probably one of the dumbest reasons to spend money.
In the end, people don’t really care about what other people have, they’re mostly interested in the things they have themselves.
If people like you because of the things you have, they’re probably not the best kind of people to hang around with anyway.
I believe that for the most part, people either admire or respect you because of the things you do, not because of the things you have.
“To get rich, you have to be making money while you’re asleep.” – David Bailey
Imagine you could make money every second of every day regardless of what you’re actually doing or how you’re feeling.
Well, with passive income, you can. Compounding passive income streams is the key to achieving financial independence, creating real wealth, and reaching financial success.
The core idea of passive income is to separate your input from the output you get. In other words, to get more by doing less.
“Financial problems are not fixed with money, but with financial education.” – Anonymous
Ah, yes. My favourite philosopher of all time: Anonymous.
In all seriousness, if you’re financially illiterate and have no idea how to handle your finances, no amount of money will ever be enough.
It truly is more valuable to know how to create and maintain wealth than merely being gifted at spending money.
And, as always, becoming financially literate is the most effective way to prevent money-related trouble.
“Money is everywhere, it affects all of us, and confuses most of us.” – Morgan Housel
Whether you want it or not, money does affect your life. What you can choose is whether you let it confuse you or not.
Most of us aren’t taught financial literacy in schools or at home, for that matter, which is why we need to be in charge of our financial education.
Our financial system is quite complicated to get a grasp on, but merely understanding the basics is usually enough to avoid the biggest money-related mistakes.
Nowadays, there are a lot of ways to become financially literate and ensure your financial well-being.
”Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.” – Paul Samuelson
Confusing investing with gambling is a common misconception for those who’ve never invested before.
Then again, some people use the stock market to get their kicks by speculating with different investment vehicles, which is essentially gambling.
It’s hard to achieve financial peace if you’re constantly risking your money in different speculative investments.
As a rule of thumb, the more you gamble, the less likely you’ll succeed.
”In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” – Robert Arnott
As Morgan Housel put in his magnificent book, The Psychology of Money, the price investor pays for his profits is volatility.
Watching your portfolio go down is never a pleasant task, which can make stock investing quite uncomfortable for some, and downright unbearable for others.
Unfortunately, the truth is you can’t expect decent returns without a certain amount of risk.
Achieving financial independence, let alone financial freedom requires an adequate return for your capital.
”Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch
One of the key points in my summary of One Up On Wall Street was that as an investor, you should always know what you’re putting your money in.
Imagine you bought a stock you know absolutely nothing about. At that point, you’re basically gambling with your money, and have no way of knowing what you can expect from your investment.
Knowing what you own is one of the most efficient ways of reducing your firm-specific risk level.
”When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.” – Oscar Wilde
Wilde is never to be taken too seriously, but he’s not wrong about the fact that our priorities tend to change throughout our lives.
Usually, though, young people aren’t as concerned about money as they are in the later stages of life.
While you may feel that money doesn’t play a role in your life when you’re in your twenties, you may appreciate it much more when you’re in your forties.
So, money doesn’t really need to be the most important thing in life, but it’s best not to neglect it completely either. You never know what you might need later in your life.
”How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case.” – Robert G. Allen
One of the biggest reasons why you should invest is the fact that if you keep your money in your savings account, it will eventually be eroded by inflation.
Even if you’d get a decent interest on your money, the real return will almost always be either next to nothing or negative.
So, if you wish to become a millionaire by investing, you need to invest in something with a decent rate of return. Otherwise, one lifetime won’t be enough.
”It’s not your salary that makes you rich; it’s your spending habits.” – Charles A Jaffe
Technically, it is your salary that makes you rich, and your spending habits that make you wealthy, but you get the point.
Basically, all financial planning quotes could be reduced to this one.
The thing about income and expenses is that if your expenses exceed your income by even a single dollar, you will eventually be bankrupt.
If you wish to become financially independent, you need to make sure you control your spending habits.
It’s your income that offers you the path to wealth, but it’s your spending habits that ensure you get there.
”You only have so many hours in a day, let others make the money for you!” – Nick Haase
When you invest in a company, you’re owning a piece of a business that employs people who work for your benefit.
Another way to do this is to start your own company, hire people to work for you, and use their time as your leverage. Unfortunately, not all of us are willing or capable of doing so.
Luckily, there’s an easier way: investing.
So, if you wish to leverage your time without starting your own company, investing is the way to go.
”Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people that they don’t like.” – Will Rogers
This is pretty much the idea behind one of the greatest personal finance movies of all time – Fight Club.
Trying to impress others with your spending is a never-ending struggle.
In the end, there are very few things we truly need to live a good and satisfying life.
Things that make life worth living rarely come from things, and financial peace eventually comes from being content with less.
While it may feel harmless to use credit to buy nice things, I believe that overspending is the most common sign of financial illiteracy.
”Money can’t buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable while you’re being miserable.” – Clare Boothe Luce
I remember when I was a child and my mom told me that money doesn’t really make you happy, but it’s a lot better to cry in a Mercedes than under a bridge.
As it happens, I never bought a Mercedes and probably never will, but I do think she was on to something.
What some people get wrong is that being happy or wealthy is not a zero-sum game. You can most definitely be both and are actually more likely to have one if you have the other.
“You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.” —Dave Ramsey
The irony of money is the fact that the more you have it, the less you have to think about it.
The image that wealthy people only think about money is therefore a bit misleading. Sure, they may think about money quite often, but they’re not burdening thoughts.
When you’re out of money, money starts to control your life more and more. When you have plenty of money, it has no control over you.
“It’s easy to say you don’t care about money when you have plenty of it.” – Ransom Riggs
One of the weirder things some wealthy people say is that money doesn’t really matter to them.
Well, either they’re lying, or they’ve always had plenty of it.
Money shouldn’t indeed be the only important thing in your life. Financial well-being, on the other hand, should be among your top priorities simply because it makes life so much easier when you don’t have to constantly worry about money.
“If you cannot control your emotions, you cannot control your money.” – Warren Buffett
The most important thing in long-term investing is to be able to control your emotions.
Becoming a successful investor requires tremendous amounts of patience and discipline.
If I had to choose between being good with numbers or being mentally disciplined, I’d choose the latter every time.
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” – Jim Rohn
Luckily, there’s one way of getting more time with your money. No, I don’t mean literally buying time. That’s obviously a difficult thing to do.
What I’m talking about is using money to work less and spend more time doing things you actually like.
You don’t get more time than you’re given, but you can get more out of it with money.
So, in a way, money does give you the power to buy more time.
