A faithfully kept program of savings and conservative investments can give you more money and a better life than that of your neighbors who spend everything they get. This is probably the oldest financial advice in the world, but there are some things you can't improve on.

You get the most out of what you need the least.

Everyone needs a small-town banker. Especially in a big town.

Lawyers are operators of the toll bridge across which anyone in search of justice has to pass.

Quinn's First Law of Investing is never to buy anything whose price you can't follow in the newspapers. An investment without a public marketplace attracts the fabulists the way picnics attract ants. Stock brokers and financial planners can tell you anything they want, because no one really knows what's true. The First Corollary to Quinn's First Law states that, even when the price is in the newspapers, you shouldn't buy anything too complex to explain to the average 12-year-old.

Auto insurance is a toll bridge, over which every honest driver has to pass.

Never try to time the bond market. Anyone who claims to know the future of interest rates is certifiable.