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Because we are not educated financially in school, it is important for us to learn and change our attitude when it comes to spending money. I've told and shared ways to save money and why it is important to people around me, most of them would just listen and forget what I have told them the next day and the rest would come back for more advices, is it really hard for us to change or they still don't know why is it important that saving our money now would benefit us in the future.

Here are the few advices I learned from MSN MONEY, and this article is by
Liz Pulliam Weston

If you're doing well financially, chances are you had help.

Someone, somewhere along the way passed along a nugget of financial wisdom that you took to heart. Maybe you absorbed the messages over time from some role model, such as a parent or grandparent. Or perhaps you just heard the right thing at the right time from a friend, an adviser or even a total stranger.

If you're not doing well financially, maybe you're finally ready to hear some advice that could make all the difference.

With that in mind, I asked experts and readers alike to share the best financial advice they ever received. The results were varied and enlightening.

Advice on saving

"No matter how much or how little you make, always save a little bit."

This is a variation of "Pay yourself first" that Your Money poster "kesslergk" heard from a grandfather. It's a reminder that whatever money comes into your life, you can (and should) be setting aside some of it.

If you don't think you can, read "Too broke to save? Never."

"Save hard for the first 10 years of your married life."

This is the advice Your Money poster "Talk2Me2"received from her mother (although to apply it to more people, I might amend it to, "Save hard for the first 10 years of your adult life" or "Keep living like a broke college student for as long as you can").

"Saving hard means having to make a lot of the right choices," Talk2Me2 wrote. "We researched every purchase, learned how to do lots of things ourselves (car repair, hair cutting, sewing, cooking, home maintenance, etc.) and we could not only save money but we also used these skills to make money. When you are young, doing with less isn't a struggle because you aren't used to the luxuries yet. We also had more time to bargain shop.

"Mom's advice certainly paid off. We still save money even when we don't try to because we are in the habit of trying to do things ourselves, doing without if we can't find it at the right price, researching, waiting to buy, etc. We made a game out of getting what we want for less money."

Advice on spending

"Know the difference between needs and wants."

Several posters also mentioned different versions of this advice, which is key to controlling your spending. When you can't distinguish between real needs and mere wants, you're constantly talking yourself into spending too much.

Poster "ARCHIEtheDRAGON" recalls his mother asking, "What do you need that for?" whenever he bought anything as a kid. Annoying? Maybe. But "now I hear her voice in my head whenever I am spending money. It keeps me from buying a lot of crap that I don't need."

"JennysMom" illustrated it this way: "You need food. You want prime rib. That example is perfect for the want vs. need debate in my head!"

Poster "Clara Bear" said she heard similar advice from her grandmother.

"Whenever I would complain about not having the newest coolest clothes or whatever when I was younger, my grandmother would always say, 'We have everything we need and most of what we want, too.' That would make me realize that even though we weren't the richest family in town, we really did have plenty. I still think about that today when I'm lusting over some ridiculously expensive item at the mall. It makes me remember that I have a place to live, plenty to eat and a great family as well as much of the stuff I want. I (usually) put the item back on the shelf and walk away satisfied with what I already have."

"Think of the true cost."

Anything you want to buy involves a number of costs. The price tag is just the start.

"I see something that would look great on my table," poster "Mamasita99" wrote. "I have to give up the cash for it that won't be able to work for me somewhere else. Then I have to think of all the time and energy I'll waste cleaning this item, keeping it out of my kids' hands, and packing it up and hauling it somewhere else when we move in a year. Most of the time, the true cost of the item is too high for me."

"Buy quality."

Sally Herigstad knows what it's like living on a tight budget. Before she became a certified public accountant and author, she was a stay-at-home mom who at one point fended off calls from collection agencies (an experience she recounts in her book, "Help! I Can't Pay My Bills: Surviving a Financial Crisis."

As Herigstad and her husband rebuilt their finances, though, she remembered her mother's advice to buy quality when it counts.

"My mom can stretch a dollar farther than anyone I know, but that doesn't mean she doesn't buy nice things. Mom taught us to buy high-quality things at stores that stand behind what they sell. That way, if anything wore out or quit working before its time, she knew she could take it back -- and she often did. You actually save money by buying things of higher quality that last than by getting cheap stuff you have to throw away in no time."

"If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall."

Poster "skywind" wrote that his grandfather often quoted this saying. It's another way of saying, "Live within your means," or, more elaborately, "Be careful of adding new expenses to the ones you've already got."

• Video on MSN Money: Budget your way to smarter spending
  

"So I'm always asking myself, am I putting out more than I'm taking in?" skywind wrote. "If I am, I know I need to turn that around, because it is unsustainable."

Advice on debt

"Don't pay interest on anything that loses value."

A bunch of posters cited variations on this theme of avoiding credit card debt and borrowing only to buy property or other assets that will appreciate.

Poster "dancinmama" was told by her parents "Never pay interest on anything but real estate." In 27 years, she and her husband have taken the advice to heart.

"We have never had a car loan or paid a penny of interest on credit cards. We have saved our money and invested our money. I have been a (stay-at-home mom) since 1986 so most of this time we did it on one income, under 6 figures, on the central coast of California (cost of living was not cheap). Our net worth is now in excess of $2 million."

Poster "Honey Bucket" and her fiancé are just starting out, but they're already living a variation on this advice, which is "save today for what you want tomorrow."

"We've both been saving for retirement, wedding and housing. The difference it will make is that we will be able to pay for things instead of borrowing or having (credit card) debt. Our lives together will be financially secure because of this!!!!"

"Don't co-sign a loan."

Co-signing puts your good credit in the hands of someone else -- who could trash it with a single late payment.

Poster "bookladyfdl" said her parents refused to co-sign a car loan for her after she graduated college, and today she's grateful.

"They lovingly explained that their credit report would show this loan, which could affect any loans they might need. They also explained to me that their rule of thumb was not to co-sign for any amounts they could not personally loan. If you can't afford to give it, you can't afford to pay the loan back, should you have to do so.

"This credo saved me early in my marriage. Without my knowledge, my husband agreed that we would co-sign on a loan his brother was taking out. The papers came and I discovered that we were co-signing on a large loan at 32% interest, and that the reason he was being forced to take it out was that his brother had defaulted on a credit card and this was the last step before court. . . . Out of love for his brother, my husband wanted to help out. However, I relied upon my parents' advice, put my foot down and refused to let either of us sign on the loan. Less than five years down the road, BIL and his new wife have a terrible financial situation, raiding 401(k) funds for car repairs, etc.

"If we'd have co-signed, I know we'd have been forced to pay off that loan to preserve our own credit. Not only would we not have been able to afford it, but it would have put an irreparable rift in family relations. Mom and Dad taught me that sometimes you have to take care of yourself and secure your future, even if it means friends or family members may have a more difficult time."

Advice on building wealth

"If you need more money, then go out and make more money."

There are limits to how far you can scrimp and save. Often the fastest way out of debt and into wealth is generating more income.

Poster "Avalon_2" learned this from parents whose educations stopped by the sixth grade.

"Neither (was) afraid of hard work and we never lacked for anything as I was growing up," Avalon_2 wrote. "They taught me that as long as there is health, anything else can be worked for. To them the word 'retirement' didn't exist. You work until you can't work anymore.

"I've worked 2 and 3 jobs at a time and often while going to school. To this day, I have a hard time not doing more than one thing at a time."

"You pay in advance for capacity."

Dr. Lois Frankel, a career coach and author of the New York Times best seller "Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office," heard this bit of advice from a small-business adviser at the University of Southern California.

"As the owner of what was at the time a small business . . . this meant I had to invest more than just hard work in the business to make it grow. I was trying to keep my overhead down and was doing everything myself and driving myself crazy. So when I could least afford it, I invested in hiring an assistant. (The adviser) was right -- this freed me up to do more marketing and sales calls which in turn led to landing more contracts. I've never forgotten this piece of advice and each time I've followed it it's resulted in another growth period for my company, Corporate Coaching International."

(Frankel is also the author of "Nice Girls Don't Get Rich" and the soon-to-be-released "See Jane Lead.")

"Own your own business -- including the building it's in."

David Bach learned this lesson as a money manager for Morgan Stanley before becoming the author of the New York Times best sellers "Start Late, Finish Rich" and "The Automatic Millionaire."

"My wealthiest clients were clients who owned their own business. The most important financial decision they made (that really made them rich) was they bought the building their business was in. In almost every case the building was ultimately worth more than the business at the end of their career.

"Today I own the building (commercial condo) that my company FinishRich Media is in. My building has appreciated more in two years than I earned on my first four bestselling books in royalties."

"Don't gamble more than you can afford to lose."

My colleague, MSN investment writer Jim Jubak, explains:

"When I was a kid, our big extended family would gather on Christmas Eve for a big dinner of fish and my grandmother's pierogi, followed by drinking, followed by singing off-key with my Uncle Eddie, followed by more drinking. The evening always ended with the oldest kid, yours truly, settled around a card table battling three adults in a game of 25-cents a hand pinochle. I almost always came out a big winner -- $4 or so -- mainly because by that time in the evening I was the only one who could accurately count the pips on the cards. One year, having puzzled it over in my head, I asked my Aunt Millie the logical question: Why do you play cards with me every year when you know you're going to lose? Swirling her vodka in her glass, she said to me: Because I never gamble more than I can afford to lose. And then she pinched my cheek.

"Hated the pinch. Appreciated the advice.

"Wall Street has developed lots of way more sophisticated methods for controlling risk. But I think my Aunt's has one very real virtue -- it keeps you focused on the real aim of the game, which isn't making money for its own sake, but to have enough of the stuff to get you where you want to go. It's helped me get over losses in bear markets and in individual stocks. And reminded me that I can occasionally take a flier, as long as the game in itself is fun and I'm not gambling more than I can afford to lose."

"Prince Charming isn't coming."

Barbara Stanny came from a wealthy family (her father was the "R" of the H&R Block tax preparation chain) and never learned much about handling money. After her first husband lost a good portion of her fortune and left her with a tax bill of more than $1 million, Stanny asked her dad to lend her the money to pay the IRS. He said no.

"That was the best thing he could've done," Stanny said. Though he never said these exact words, the message was loud and clear: 'Prince Charming isn't coming. To truly achieve financial security, your only protection is you.' That moment was the turning point for me. I not only got smart enough to manage my own money (in less time than I ever imagined possible), but I've written three books empowering women to do the same."

Our mind

A friend of mine received this email and shared it with me. An interesting topic I must say and I would like to share it with you guys right here! Here it is!

Develop a prosperity consciousness by Brian Tracy

 

The starting point of all riches is the development of a prosperity consciousness. You must become a financial success in your thinking long before you achieve it in your reality. Both poverty and riches are the result of a state of mind, and the most important single step you ever take on the road to wealth and financial independence is the decision to change your thinking to impress into your mind an unshakable belief that you can and will achieve your financial goals. This must happen before anything else happens.

 

Think and Grow Rich

While I was growing up, I was fascinated by stories of successful men and women and how they made and lost their fortunes, and then made them over again. I read about the importance of a prosperity consciousness in the book. Think and Grow Rich, By Napoleon Hill, several times. But I never fully understood what it meant until about five years ago. Then it hit me and I've never been quite the same since. Every aspect of my life has improved dramatically, especially in the area of accumulating wealth, since I finally understood what it meant by a prosperity consciousness.

 

Two Great Discoveries:

Here are two of the most exciting principles ever discovered in the long search by mankind for the secrets of health, happiness and great personal wealth.

 

All Causation Is Mental:

The first principle is this. All causation is mental. All causation is mental. That means everything that you are or ever will be will be as a result of how you use your mind. You are merely a mind with a body to carry it around with. The entire man made world that you see is simply an expression of thought. Your entire life is an expression of your own thinking. And since the quality of your thinking determines the quality of your life, if you improve the quality of your thinking, you must, you will inevitably improve the quality of your life.

 

The Law of Expectations:

The second principle is what we call the law of expectations. This law says that whatever you expect with confidence, positive or negative, becomes your reality. If you confidently expect to succeed, if you confidently expect to learn something from every experience, if you confidently expect to become wealthy as a result of applying your talents and abilities to your opportunities and you maintain that attitude of confident expectations long enough, it will become your reality. It will give you a positive optimistic cheerful attitude that will cause people to want to help you and will cause things to happen the way you them to happen.

 

Action Steps:

Here are two things you can do immediately to practice these principles in your day to day life:

First, start thinking today in a positive, optimistic, confident way about personal and financial success. Continually imagine what differences it would make in your life if you are were financially independent. This is the starting point of developing a prosperity consciousness.

Second, develop your own attitude of positive expectations. Look for the good in every situation. Look for the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty. Be positive and cheerful about everything that happens and you will be amazed at the difference it makes your life

How i started my very 1st 'business'

It started when I was 10 years old, studying in a primary school, I remember that my parents only gave me and my brother RM1 a day and they pay the canteen every month for my meals during our break, so the RM1 is used for ice cream or dessert! When I was young my parents always encourage me to save money and so they bought me a piggy bank by telling me what I could do with the money that I save in the future, so I decided to save that RM1 every day. My friend introduced this new hobby of his to me, it’s a trading card game called ‘Magic The Gathering’ pretty famous card game if u ask me during that time and I believe it’s still popular now. So I used all my savings and ‘Ang Pow’(Red packets received during Chinese New Year) savings for this new hobby of mine!

When I bought the my 1st starter pack (Consist of 60 cards), I learned about the game, got addicted and wanted to be stronger then my friend and his friends, so the only way to be better is to get better cards by buying more cards. I started buying Booster packs, booster packs consist of 1 rare, 4 uncommon and the rest are common cards. Let me explain here, Rare cards are the 1 which worth a fortune, some rare cards worth around RM1000 and some RM10. After finding out how much magic cards worth, I started buying booster packs not because I wanted to be stronger but because I want to earn some side income from Magic Cards. So I looked around the school and share about this new hobby my friend shared to me to increase my network.

I got lucky and I met this guy, he loves to collect Magic Cards, the sad thing is that his parents are really strict and he has never step out from his house by himself and he doesn’t know where to get them, so I shared to him and ask him if he is interested in my cards, I bought a magazine which shows the price of all the magic cards, here is the best part, prices in the magazines are in USD and the market for magic cards in Malaysia are lower than the prices showed in the magazine. I sold many cards over priced to him and I earned about RM2000 just from him. But in this business I didn’t just earned from him, he introduced some of his friends and made new friends in tournaments everything was fine till I was 13years old. I changed to a secondary school and all my friends changed from Magic card to Pokémon. So I started buying Pokémon booster packs for a year and I found that business sucks so much the cards didn’t worth as much as magic cards so I stopped.

So I played games after that because I switch from Sri Hartamas to Rawang. I had no friends in Rawang so the only ‘friends’ I had was my desktop and the internet. I started playing games intensively since I hated reading and I find that games are much more relaxing than any other thing in this world! My friend told me about this tournament at 2003 sponsored by MYGO (a gaming community in Malaysia), it was a 2v2 Warcraft III tournament at Sri Hartamas (forgotten the café’s name) it was my very 1st tournament and I got 1st place! I got really inspired in playing computer games from that day onwards so I started my gaming career path! I trained hard for upcoming tournaments then at 2004 there was this huge tournament called Electronic Sports World Cup at June/July, 3 games were played, Counter Strike, Warcraft III and Winning Eleven. I participated in the Warcraft III, the thing that caught my eye was that the 1st place get to represent Malaysia in France! I got 2nd place and they rewarded me RM3k worth of cash and prices. I was happy and didn’t expect to get 2nd place in the whole nation. Then the World Cyber Games came at August, there were 110++ participant, one of the biggest event I ever participated, a 3 day event at Mid Valley super tiring! In the end I got 3rd place! Cash and prices are RM3500 I think.
After that I decided to play Massive Multi Online Role Playing Game, joined a few friends of mine, at 1st I played the game for fun but I realize that I was in one of the best Clans in the server and they gave me items which only bosses drop them so they are very rare, then my friend changed to a Malaysian server and I followed him because it was a new server, I started my 1st online business here! Because I know how to play game, my friends and I joined his former clan and we made it the best clan in the server! By making the best I really mean the best, Items wise we had everything, level wise we were higher, we have many hardcore players that make the clan so successful we control most of the bosses in our server, bosses are the monsters which drop super rare items, since we control the server it is easy for us to manipulate the market economy. In the Massive Multi Online Role Playing Game there are people who work and this limit their time in the online world, so we took this opportunity to sell our time to them and they give us money in return for our services, we provide game currency for example 1,000,000 worth of gold in game for RM100, and rare items worth up to RM400 per item! I stopped the game because the company closed the game down because they couldn’t handle the hackers hacking the game.

Then I started playing Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, a Real time strategy game just like Warcraft III. The first tournament I joined was at FTZ Cyber Café at Subang Jaya and I got Top 8.
I heard from one of the staffs that NewEra is planning to host mini tournaments every month to boost their sales for this game so I decided to buy the original which allows me to play with anyone in the world to boost my experience in the game play, then I got 3rd place the 2nd tournament and I was very happy, the last tournament that I joined I got 1st place and I was a great accomplishment for me, I earned around RM2300 from this game.

Now at 21, I plan to do something serious which would benefit me and the people around me. A friend of mine introduced this business to me which I think is a good business to venture in because not many people in Malaysia knows how to manage their money and here I am creating awareness and giving them options on how or where to put your money in. I am currently working at Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad. I plan to open more businesses in the future when I have the capital in the near future. For me I believe that it’s hard for one to be rich if you are working for someone but by having an organization of your own there are many ways for tax relief and so on, and the income you receive is decided by you! Good luck to everyone in life!

What I am trying to share with u guys here is that opportunity comes by in every moment of our lives and we should learn to take those opportunity to our advantages, there are many ways to make money out there. I believe by making money we have to enjoy the things we do, as we enjoy we tend to be more productive and effective. Love creates passions for action.

-Calvin Seak

'Pay Yourself first'

I believe everyone of us have goals we would like to achieve in this lifetime, they say that “Life is not a rehearsal” and we only live our life once. Therefore we should not take life for granted, try not wasting your lives by wasting too much time doing unproductive things. I believe that there are some who have not set their goals because they do not know what they want out of life or fear they could not achieve it. So how do we achieve these goals/financial goals that we set? I used to think that by saving I could accumulate my wealth but sometimes when it comes to the end of each month and find my self broke! Then I make a promise to my self that I would save up the next month, but it never happened. So some months I can save some money and some I can't. Then I find saving is very difficult for me. So I looked around for another method and I found this very method which helped me a lot and that is why I want to share it with you guys out there reading this! One of the most powerful and effective ways for accumulating our wealth is by “Paying yourself first”. Instead of saving whatever is left at the end of the month, I ‘pay myself first' at the beginning of the month.

The first thing when I received my monthly payment I always pay 100% of what I get monthly to myself. You could put the money wherever you want whether it’s a saving account, fixed deposit, brokerage, mutual fund and the list goes on. For me I put it in my protection account which is also known as an investment-linked account. I get 8-11% a month of interest (not guaranteed) of the amount I save and at the same time gain financial protection (close to RM450, 000) towards my health or any unfortunate events that may happen in the future. One of the reason I save in insurance because I am an agent from Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad, and the next reason would be if something unfortunate happens to me in the future all my life saving would be used up who knows if I have enough to pay for the event.

If you are starting late then I advise you to pay yourself faster. In other words, you need to commit to having a greater chunk of money automatically taken out of your paycheck. Paying yourself first is easy for me because I have no commitment in life yet(house loans, car loans, taxes, bills and so on) because I am still a student living under the same roof as my parents and I thank them for that and god to have a good parents like them, not everyone is as lucky as me. My parents asked me to move out when I graduate and that is by June 2008, they wanted me to be more independent and experience the outside world, I told them that my dream was to buy a house (300k-350k) at the age of 24. They are still considering if I could stay. If you are already working and decided to pay your self first, list down your expenses, if you do not have the amount to pay for your bills after deducting the amount you paid to yourself, try spending within your means by downgrading your lifestyle. While accumulating the money that you want try learning how to invest and make your money work for you. I’ve bought 5 books related to investments last Saturday and read loads of motivational books which motivated me to write this too!

Think it sounds too hard? If so, you must answer this question for yourself: is the pain of giving up your "perks" greater than the pain of being in financial bondage? If it is, you need to resign yourself to remaining in the same financial situation for the rest of your life. In fact, if you are prone to using debt as a means of upgrading your lifestyle, the problem will probably grow worse with time.

Taking control of your finances creates a sense of empowerment that will reach into every area of your life. The freedom that comes from knowing that you and your family will be provided for regardless of what may come up cannot be expressed in words. It is something you will experience for yourself when you make the decision that being financially independent and secure is more important than impressing your neighbors with material goods.

I knew about this because I was watching a show by Oprah Winfrey, the title of the show caught my eye which was “Automatic Millionaire: How to Become One”. She was interviewing David Bach, he wrote books such as "Start Late, Finish Rich" and "The Automatic Millionaire." I was amused by the word ‘Millionaire’, then I listened carefully and he said that the 1^st secret is to ‘Pay yourself first’. I took some reference from about.com

-Calvin Seak