Michelle Singletary Quotations

I breast-fed all three of my children, because the milk is free. And I breast-fed them an average of two years.

Why are so many of us penny poor before our next paycheck comes? We're not good stewards of our money. ... It's crucial to save for what you say you value: a home, college and retirement.

Too many women think it's impolite to talk money while dating. Or they have something to hide (such as large credit card bills or a poor credit history).

The borrower is servant to the lender, Watch out, or MasterCard will become your master.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

We have to protect ourselves by doing our own homework.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

A foreclosure does not define you financially.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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."

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.

We all only have a certain amount of money and that means yes, we have to make choices and sometimes those choices mean we don't get what we want.

Always keep an eye out for other opportunities.

Sometimes your gut is right. And sometimes not.

Many debt collectors offer a lump sum option so ask. And if you get it, make sure it's in writing and you keep the payoff statement FOREVER.

If you haven't saved, your child may have to work. But do what you can to NEVER take out student or parent loans.

You shouldn't invest the money if you are looking to use it within five years. Too much risk.

There are other ways to motivate students than requiring them to take on debt or work long hours taking away from their studies. For example, we don't allow our kids to work during the school hours their freshman year. After that, they can work a little but not so much that it hurts their education.

My kids have to maintain good grades. They have to be involved in activities. They have to report to me how thing are going. I watch for any activity that would steer them wrong - drinking, drugs, etc. So their skin in the game is knowing the money won't be there if they don't do their part.

I just don't like people taking debt into retirement.

I use a "Debt Dash" approach to paying off debt. I recommend people focus on paying off the debt with the lowest balance first. So if the primary has less debt you would focus on that.

If we don't want the companies to cheat on us, we shouldn't be cheating on them.

I think you can save and spend to live for however long you live. You just have to be flexible if things don't go as plan.

We all fall - even me.

That's is life. You move and change according to things that happen to you and things that you make happen because of poor choices.

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.

Priorities lead to prosperity.

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.

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

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

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.