The Lack of Money is The Root of All Evil
©Money Magic, Inc. 01/27/01
Saturday Daybreak KATV, Chn. 7
Mary Ann Campbell, CFP

 

The Lack of Money is The Root of All Evil
By Andrew Leckey, Prentice Hall Press, $22.00 $17.60

 

Mark Twain’s Timeless Wisdom on Money and Wealth for Today’s Investor

Money and human nature are two concepts that have not changed fundamentally since Twain’s time. Author Andrew Leckey was inspired by Mark Twain’s take on money. He has applied Twain’s crackling wit and common-sense advice to pressing matters of money management for the 21^st century.

Were this pundit of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries still around to formulate a “common-sense” investment guide for the citizens of the twenty-first century, it might conceivably include points such as these:

1. Don’t take financial tips from know-nothings or crooks.

2. Whenever you fall, always get up again, and do so with honor.

3. Have plenty of stable investments, but also embrace technology. It is, after all, the future.

4. Beware of scams. They don’t change much over the years; only the victims are new.

5. Being broke has little to recommend it-ever.

6. When taking risks, keeping in mind that speculation could also be the death of you.

7. Be wary of easy credit. Its terms are not easy.

8. Understand that saving requires painful discipline. (Especially painful for you.)

9. Hunting for fortune can sometimes be just as gratifying as actually finding it.

10. Never be cowed by the wealth of others. What makes you think they’re any better than you.

11. Know the value of a dollar, ponder it, and hold onto that dollar tightly.

12. Never forget your financial roots. In fact, you could wind up back there again someday.

13. Accept that some folks will always think their money is somehow better than yours. Let them worry about that, not you.

14. Realize that, no matter how much money you acquire, you still can’t take it with you.

 

One gentle word of caution: The words of Twain were not designed for “stick-in-the muds.”

He was to the very end a billiard-playing, cigar-chomping, youthful thinker blessed with a very pointed and sometimes brutal sarcasm. Therefore, a sense of humor about both money and yourself is required for this book. Otherwise, you really won’t enjoy your gains from smart investing and money handling anyway.

So relax and ease into the Twain spirit.“I like a good story well told,” he once said in a speech. “That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”

Andrew Leckey’s “Successful Investing” column is nationally syndicated by the Chicago Tribune Company. He has been a financial anchor for CNBC and a television reporter for the syndicated “Quicken.com Money Reports.”