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Financial Expert Answers: Which Is Better For Getting Out Of Debt, Knowledge Or Experience?


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Mark Twain once said, “Good judgement is the result of experience, and experience the result of bad judgement.”

Then again, Mark Twain never had credit cards, student loans, and mortgages. If he did, he might have added, “and bad judgment can drive you into bankruptcy.”

We live in a more complicated time than Twain did. Getting into debt is an American pastime, and getting out of debt is the American dream. So how best to accomplish the latter? Which quality is more important: Knowledge or experience?

In other words, if you have experience with managing money, will that help you more than reading everything you can get your hands on about credit counseling, debt settlement, debt management, credit scores, and on and on?

I’m not sure.

When I don’t know something, I consult experts. Here’s what 10 leaders at the biggest and best personal finance websites told me when I posed the question: Do you think money/debt lessons are better learned through knowledge or experience?

1. Doctor of Credit

This site isn’t so much a doctor’s office for credit as it is a clinic on smart spending and saving. It sides with experience…

“When it comes to money — and especially debt — it’s always better to learn from somebody else’s past mistakes rather than having to repeat those same mistakes yourself. If you can learn to avoid debt (and high-interest avoidable debt such as credit cards) at a young age from other people’s experiences you’re able to better set yourself up for the future.”
– William Charles

2. SeedTime

SeedTime is one of the largest Christian-based personal finance resources out there, and it also chooses experience…

“I think it is BETTER learned through experience, since we would likely be able to avoid a lot of pain and heartache. But there is no denying that the lessons learned through experience tend to stick with us a little better. Personally, I try to learn as many lessons as I can by learning from others’ wisdom and mistakes and try to minimize the number of financial lessons that I learn from experience. However, when I find myself in a financial challenge, I see it for the opportunity that it is to grow and learn, and I do my best to absorb the lesson in a way that I will be able to carry it for years to come.”
– Bob Lotich

3. Quick and Dirty Tips

This site’s name doesn’t tell the full story, because it also offers thorough, long-term financial advice that can change your life. Quick and Dirty Tips wants the answer to be knowledge…

“Ideally, every personal finance concept or lesson would be learned through formal education. But few states require students to pass an intensive personal finance course to graduate. So most American students get a brief introduction to the topic — or no information at all — in high school or college. Unless we have a savvy parent or family member who is a good financial teacher or role model, our money lessons usually come from the school of hard knocks! Experience certainly can be a great teacher when it comes to our finances — if we make mistakes early in life and never repeat them.”
– Laura Adams, MBA

4. Credit Sesame

One of the best-known sites for getting a free estimate of your credit score, Credit Sesame splits the difference on my question…

“I think that it requires a bit of both. Having knowledge is the best first step to take, but ultimately you will learn the best lessons as your apply those skill sets over time. The market changes quickly, and financial lessons can be learned daily. You will have times where you are learning through experience, and sometimes you’ll be able to get ahead and learn from experts and educational material.”
– Adrian Nazari

5. Money Crashers

One of the oldest and most beloved personal finance websites cautiously chooses experience…

“You can definitely learn some great lessons about money and debt either from knowledge or personal experience, and the best way to set yourself up for a solid financial life is to use a combination of both. As far as which one is better, that would probably be through experience rather than knowledge — because experience gives a personalized aspect to the lesson, meaning that it’s probably more likely to stick because you actually went through it. But again, I would not rely on that strategy alone, as there are plenty of books and websites at your disposal that you can use to improve your financial literacy, whether it’s regarding debt, money, or anything else.”
– Gyutae Park

6. Student Loan Hero

The preeminent resource for student loan journalism, Student Loan Hero says knowledge rules…

“In my experience, money lessons are best learned through real-world experiences. Ideally, we wouldn’t learn this way since it is usually painful, but more often than not it’s our human nature to ignore things until too late. Personally, my student loan situation spiraled out of control and it forced me to address my financial issues.”
– Andrew Josuweit

7. Financial Mentor

Geared to business owners and investors, Financial Mentor explains why you need both knowledge and experience…

“Knowledge and experience both provide valuable learning, but in different ways. Direct experience provides deep learning at an emotional level. For example, when you run up your cards to the limit in six months, and then it takes five years of disciplined effort to pay them off, that will teach you something that no book can. Knowledge gained through self-study is more of an intellectual learning so it’s not as deep. However, it has the advantage of opening you to more advanced frameworks and developing your understanding far more efficiently than direct experience could ever achieve. Combining both has the greatest power.”
– Todd Tresidder

8. Making Sense of Cents

A personal site from Michelle, who applied the principles her site advocates — and paid off $38,000 in students loans in seven months. She seems to lean toward experience, but just a little…

“I think that money and debt lessons can be learned through both. My favorite way to learn is to read personal finance blogs, as you can see what has actually worked for some and what has actually not worked. Experience is great because hopefully, you can see where exactly you went wrong, but knowledge can be better because it can stop you from making an obvious mistake entirely.”
– Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

9. Money Peach

This excellent site is named after Chris Peach, who focuses like a laser beam on the value of budgeting. He sides with experience…

“When it comes to money, knowledge is a powerful thing. However, if you have ever failed with money before, then you know that experience was painful — and pain is always a greater motivator than knowledge.”
– Chris Peach 

10. My Wife Quit Her Job

One of the best-named sites ever, My Wife Quit Her Job is dedicated to aspiring entrepreneurs. This couple endorses experience over knowledge…

“I believe that money lessons are better reinforced through experience. It’s one thing to read about how to grow your pool of wealth, and another thing altogether to take action. In my experience, human nature often takes over, and nothing ever goes as planned. For me, I need to screw up a few times to learn my lesson.”
Steve Chou 

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In conclusion

Of course, none of this is meant to imply you should forgo either knowledge or experience in your own personal quest for financial freedom. However, everyone quoted above realizes Americans are pressed for time and cash, so if they have to start somewhere, go with experience. Just don’t end there.

Here are some other awesome answers to my question from other personal finance experts I respect…

The Simple Dollar

“I think financial lessons can work well in many forms. Parents can set a good example and model money behaviors their children may emulate one day, for example. You can also teach the old-fashioned way, by explaining money and debt lessons and using real-life examples to make your point. Still, I do think the best money lessons are learned through personal experience. I know that my parents avoided debt like the plague and lived very frugally my entire life. While I observed how they lived, I didn’t really understand why they made the decisions they did until I was an adult paying my own way. It’s one thing to have someone tell you to avoid debt because it’s cumbersome, but it’s an entirely different experience to get into debt yourself and feel the misery of those monthly payments. Personally, I am glad I had parents to teach me about money, but I am also grateful I learned some lessons the hard way.”
Holly Johnson

Super Money

“Learning about money needs to be both a passive and active process. Money management is essentially a skill to be developed and mastered over time. Consuming personal finance advice from a TV personality or other source is a great first step to establish a foundation of knowledge. But learning involves living through things to develop practical knowledge through personal experiences. It’s essential that you not only read about budgeting, but take action and create your own. If you have kids, provide them with the opportunity to manage a small budget and make mistakes. More importantly, help them contextualize money decisions. For example, when my kids receive birthday money I ask them if they want to buy some candy or a toy with it. They love that idea of course. But then I suggest the option of investing the money and letting it grow. They spend more time analyzing and reflecting on the options then you might expect and have managed to choose the more responsible one – so far. Delayed gratification is probably one of the most valuable skills we can teach our kids.”
– Miron Lulic

Budgets Are Sexy

“I think money lessons are better learned by simply caring enough about your future. Whether that’s the future of your finances, or your dreams, or the future of those you love around you. Everyone already knows how to save money and stay out of debt, but it’s putting that knowledge into action that’s the hard part! And if you don’t truly care enough to make it happen, unfortunately you’re going to have to keep learning lessons over and over again until you finally have that epiphany.”
– J. Money

Early Retirement Extreme

“Experience without knowledge is blind. Knowledge without experience is dangerous.”
– Jacob Lund Fisker

Money Done Right

“I believe that unlike many other life lessons, money lessons are better learned through knowledge. Financial wisdom is more or less objective and mathematical; it’s not like parenting or leadership or negotiation where there are ten thousand interpersonal variables whose waters you can only navigate if you’ve gone through them before. Unlike knowing exactly how to get your children to behave or your employees to respect you, knowing exactly where your next dollar should go is really quite straightforward if you’ve informed yourself and come up with a plan. In fact, experience can be misleading in financial matters. Take the recent cryptocurrency boom and bust, for example. Many people saw their Bitcoin and Ethereum balances skyrocket in just a few short months. Experience alone would have told that person to put every next dollar into cryptocurrency. The same could have been said for investing in real estate ten years ago or technology stocks twenty years ago. Knowledge, however, would have told that person to come up with a sound financial plan and implement it. There are unique scenarios, of course, but a sound financial plan for the everyday American comes down to a few simple rules: create a budget so you can stop leaking money, create an emergency fund, pay off high-interest debt, invest for future goals as appropriate for your age and risk tolerance first in tax-advantaged vehicles and then in taxable accounts, save for major purchases well in advance, and increase income when possible. The details can be gleaned on well-researched articles like those found on Debt.com or Money Done Right or several other reputable financial publications. Having the self-control, however, to execute on the knowledge one has gained is a separate matter. Sure, you can know that your next dollar should go toward paying off debt rather than splurging on the latest gadget or ordering another round on Friday night, but actually implementing this knowledge? This is a function of habit, and developing habits is something that can’t be learned in a book or article. That being said, if someone struggles with putting into practice the money lessons they’ve learned, there are plenty of tools these days to automate one’s financial habits. An easy way is to have your employer, if possible, automatically deposit a certain percentage of your paycheck into a savings account designated as your emergency fund or debt payoff fund with the remainder going to your normal checking account. After these early-stage goals are met, you can have your employer automatically contribute to your workplace retirement plan. Of course, these are just suggestions, and if you have specific questions about your individual situation, be sure to speak with a qualified, knowledgeable financial adviser to come up with a gameplan for your financial life.”
Logan Allec 

The Dollar Stretcher

“This is a trick question. Neither experience or knowledge will work without the other. Knowledge that’s not applied are just facts. Experience without knowledge often takes you down the wrong path. To successfully manage your finances you need knowledge that’s put into practice. So don’t ask which is more important. Ask where can I find the knowledge I need and then how do I put that knowledge into practice. That’s the key to a happy money future!”
– Gary Foreman 

ESI Money

“I think it’s better to learn them through knowledge and thus avoid the (often bad) experiences of dealing with money/debt. That said, most people don’t truly understand money basics and why they are valuable until they do the opposite and learn the hard way, thus making experience the most likely and frequent teacher.”
– ESI Money

PTMoney

“I think when it comes to learning money lessons, the experience is the thing that initiates the desire for education. So it all starts with being exposed to an experience, good or bad. You can then choose to educate yourself on how to do things in your best interest. Or you can simply stick your head in the sand.”
– Philip Taylor 

Riskology

“Most life lessons are better learned through experience (which leads to knowledge), but that usually means learning them the hard way. Not necessarily the best approach for a lesson that can negatively impact your life in many ways for a long time. I think the best approach to teaching people about debt is to 1) start as early as possible and never assume it’s too late no matter someone’s age and 2) teach using simulations with real consequences so that lessons can be learned in a controlled environment without as much risk involved.”
– Tyler Tervooren

The Practical Saver

“I have always believed that experiences provide the better lessons on money/debt. While I agree that knowledge can give us an overall view or insight on money/debt lessons, it is through (personal) experiences that we learn those that apply to our specific situations. No matter how great a money/debt lesson is if it doesn’t work on our situation, then, it may not do us any good. Inevitably, the lessons we learn from experiences make us unique and help us understand ourselves even better.”
– Allan Liwanag

Len Penzo

“As the old saying goes, “Experience is the best teacher.” That may be true for most things in life, but when it comes to money and debt, that old saw isn’t a hard and fast rule because the keys are so simple: Spend less than you earn — and remember that every dollar of debt you take on today, limits your future choices and financial flexibility. One does not need to learn that lesson “the hard way” to make it stick.”
Len Penzo

Fitnancials

“I believe money lessons are best taught through experience. Each and every money/debt experience can be unique to an individual, which may make a situation more of a learning experience than simply having the knowledge. The person going through the situation can even figure out what works best for their situation. I don’t think money/debt is a one size fits all!”
– Alexis S.

Saving Freak

“Money and debt lessons are better learned through early education. If we grow up learning the right way to do things they are second nature to us. Unfortunately after people reach a certain age, I feel the only way theses lessons stick is through experience.”
– Paul Moyer

Financial Best Life

“The people I know who are best with their finances learned it from a very early age through intentional financial education from their parents. While experience is always a great teacher, I think when it comes to money the earlier you can learn (and save and earn) the better.”
– Lauren Bowling

Money After Graduation

“Money lessons can be learned by knowledge or experience, but the ones learned through experience definitely stick longer. You don’t have to suffer to learn hard financial lessons, and you don’t have to have everything organized to know what money looks like done right. If you ever have the choice, try to learn the hard financial lessons from knowledge and the good ones through experience!”
– Bridget Casey

Dividend Diplomats

“While we have had our learned our fair share of investing lessons (good and bad) through experience, knowledge is still our favorite way to learn. We are fortunate that some of the best investors have taken the time to share there knowledge with the public. Whether you rent a book from your library, visit some great investing websites (shameless plug), listen to podcasts, or even attend live local meetups, there are a ton of great ways to learn the tricks of the trade before ever placing a dollar in the market! Lastly, before embarking on money/debt – understand what you are trying to accomplish and ask those who may be older/wiser than you, whom actually have done what you seek to do, what they would have done differently, what they would have avoided and/or other things they should have considered before making a money or debt decision.”
– Lanny and Bert

My Road to Wealth and Freedom

“I’d have to say that experience plays a greater role in our ability to learn in general. Unfortunately, I think that when it comes to financial lessons about money management and debt, most people learn these the hard way.”
– Brad (GenXInvestor)

Centsai

“Let’s face it, ideally, we’d all have perfect knowledge about debt and products related to it. That said, in my life, it’s been personal snafus that have taught me best. For example, in my 20’s I had to take a small cash advance on my credit card. I just assumed I would see that amount borrowed reflected in my statement. I was surprised when on top of the $100 I borrowed there was a $30 service fee. What was worse, I paid that off, but interest was still magically accruing on that initial $100 I borrowed. The following month I owed more interest. It taught me about being aware of the fine print.”
– Doria Lavagnino

Money Q&A

“I think that money and debt lessons are better learned through knowledge. Waiting to learn through experience is too late. You need to know what to do with your money and how to stay out of debt before you get into trouble. Learning about these topics after you’re already in trouble only leads to heartache, pain, and wasted opportunities for a better financial future.”
– Hank Coleman

Celebrating Financial Freedom

“I definitely believe that money/debt lessons are better learned through experience. It makes no difference how much knowledge you have, experience is the real teacher when it comes to money. For instance, I remember many years ago realizing that our car payments were killing our finances. My wife Angie and I were tired of being in debt for our vehicles, and wanted to find a way to permanently get rid of our car payments and pay cash for our cars. So I did the research and found out what it took to get rid of our car payments. It was a relatively simple concept, but we did nothing with that knowledge for 2 solid years. Just knowing what to do did absolutely nothing for us. Finally, over time, we sent in our last car payment and began putting money in the bank to save for the next car. Previously, we would have started looking for the next car to buy as soon as we paid off our vehicle, but not this time! We continued to save money and drove our paid for car until it finally died. By then, we had enough money to pay cash for a nice used car (we don’t buy new), and have paid cash for two other cars since then! The experience of turning our car payment situation around taught us a valuable lesson. It taught us that knowledge good, but taking action is what actually works. We would have never rid ourselves of car payments forever without the experience of paying cash for the first one after saving up for so long.”
Dr. Jason Cabler

Break the Twitch

“The most impactful lessons come from our own experiences, but gaining knowledge through reading and other financial education methods allows us to identify the things we need to learn. If we have a pattern of overspending, learning about the benefits of saving and compound interest can help identify the issue. Having the experience of overspending (and having to deal with the pain of potentially being in debt from it) is likely the greatest lesson in itself. The learning is in the balance between the two.”
– Anthony Ongaro

Money Nomad

“In business school, I did a thesis on the Action Research Methodology. With Action Research, you study a topic and then implement what you learn in the real world. Next, you study the results of your trial, improve your process, and try again. I believe that the most financially successful people pursue a similar process. There are many roads to riches, but not all of them will work with your personality, background, and experiences. Yes, doctors can become millionaires — but if you hate studying, this path won’t work for you. Meanwhile, there are many successful trucking businesses — but if you want to spend time with your family, starting a trucking business may not align with these values. When it comes to paying off debt, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of different methods to reduce your spending and pay off your bills. Many of these methods are equally helpful — you just need to find the method that resonates best with you. For anyone interested in improving their finances, careers, or just about any other element of their life, I highly recommend giving the Action Research Methodology a try. Do some research and then implement it in your own life. Review the results for what worked and what didn’t, and then build your next “experiment” to maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses Eventually you’ll find your perfect strategy.”
– Robert Erich

Foxy Monkey

“Money lessons can be learned through knowledge, but it’s only through experience that those feelings are deep-rooted. People learn a lot from studying personal finance books but they never forget how it feels to have debt-related stress. Same goes for investments. I studied the markets all day long but it was only when I lost 50% of my capital that I really tested myself. This is why I believe education is the best lifehack you can get. Invest in yourself and positive experiences will follow.”
Michael

UPFINA

“Learning from the experience of others.”
UPFINA Team

Family Money Plan

“I think there is no better educator than experience. Knowledge is good but so often it misses the emotional attachment that experience gives us. Think of it like learning about how to trade a stock. I can read and understand how people have made and lost money in the stock market. But it’s not until I put my own money at risk that I truly learn from the experience of watching my wealth change with the gyrations of the stock market. Conceptually I knew that it would go up and down, but it wasn’t until I had the experience of it that the understanding of it hits home. Because that’s when my emotions become involved and it’s a different game at that point. Ideally if we could all learn through knowledge it would be best, but my experience is that most of us need to go through the experience to understand all the aspects of that knowledge.”
Andrew Daniels

Mad Money Monster

“I believe that most lessons are best learned through experience. However, it also depends on the individual. I have noticed that some people are able to learn strictly through the experiences of others – those people are what I like to call coachable. Being coachable means you not only listen to the opinions and advice of the people around you, but you also incorporate those opinions and advice into your own thoughts and take action when applicable. Case in point, when I was a child I never believed I could attend college. My family didn’t have money to help me and I questioned my intellectual ability. After graduating high school, I became employed at a local factory where I met an engineer that told me I was absolutely smart enough and opened my eyes to community college. That conversation changed my entire life because I’m coachable. I secretly applied for admission to the community college, was accepted, and transferred a few years later to a 4-year school. In the end, I graduated with honors and little in the way of student loans. I even went on to obtain a free master’s degree courtesy of my employer. Although I’m coachable, I still made plenty of financial missteps that have cost me time and money along the way. Thankfully, I lived to tell the tale and have turned things around, financially. These days, I’m happily married with a daughter and in the midst of chasing financial independence. I’m hoping my story will inspire others to do the same.”
Lisa

Compounding Pennies

“While knowledge is great, I feel that experience far outweighs the knowledge. You really don’t fully understand things until you have lived it. For me, I thought people in credit card debt were just overspending. But it wasn’t until I got into debt that I realized many times there is an underlying issue that the person needs to overcome. The overspending is just a symptom of the root issue. The same can be said for budgeting. It looks simple to create a spreadsheet and follow it. But until you do it for a few months and get hit with surprise expenses and life events, you don’t truly understand how budgeting works.”
– Jon Dulin

Marriage Kids and Money

“From my personal experience, I believe experience wins over knowledge when it comes to my money. I can read the “best” book or listen to the “top rated” podcast on how to build wealth, but it’s not until I personally experiment that I truly understand. I liken it to college. Sure I learned a lot in college, but I didn’t fully “get it” until I had my first internship. Knowledge without action is pointless for me.”
– >Andy Hill

Saving With Spunk

“I think it depends on who you are. Some people can listen to information and then play out in their head how scenarios will evolve. But I think most people have to experience, or a least see firsthand, those scenarios before they can make decisions based on the information. Even though I would’ve loved to be taught about money growing up, it’s through experience that we gain the deepest understanding. I don’t think I’d make my finances as much of a priority now if I hadn’t had the experience of paying off $78k of debt.”
– Jen Smith

Femme Frugality

“Ideally, lessons surrounding debt are best learned through knowledge. While experience may be the greatest teacher, digging your way out from under a mountain of debt is an experience you don’t want to go through. If you can learn the basics and leverage only what you can truly afford, both you and your credit report will be better off long term.”
– Brynne Conroy

Beyond Debt

“Everything in life is completely understood through a personal experience. One might be able to comprehend the lessons of debt but once you personally experience the feelings of debt, then and only then will you truly understand.”
 Jai Catalano

Amanda Abella

“I would love to answer your question in my humble opinion I think that we humans sadly learn more by experience than by knowledge and ill give you an example from my own life to show you what I mean. I’ll give you two examples. So one, I’ve known about emergency funds since I was 22, right? But when I was around 25-26, I woke up one morning and I have Invisalign and I guess I was having a complication with my back gums, they got infected and I woke up one morning and it was the size of golf balls and I needed emergency surgery, like immediately. Well someone got a little lazy about her emergency fund over the years even though she knew she actually needed one. So that was a wake up call for me and I had to learn from experience so I had to slap that expense on a credit card, I had to negotiate with the periodontist, slap it on a credit card, and it sucked. But I learned my lesson. And the second one is for example often times especially in the business basis, you hear things like, “okay well if you invest , you will make more money”. That’s one of those things that’s just really hard to comprehend unless you’ve actually done it and seen it for yourself. Speaking from experience, in putting my money investing whether it’s an index funds or investing in my business or investing in my own personal development, it’s still scary every time I do it, even though I know that knowledge wise this is what I’m suppose to do and it’s going to make me more money and I’ll get a return on my investment. But after doing it multiple times, and seeing the results that I’m getting, now the lesson is actually landing, now I understand how this works because I’ve actually seen it in my own life. So I think knowledge is a good place to start, definitely not enough because human nature dictates that we learn from experience. So that’s when we integrate, that’s when things actually land. So I hope this was helpful if you have any questions shoot me an email, bye! Have a great rest of your day.”
Amanda Abella

Two Cup House

“I think that money lessons can be taught, but they’re better learned through experience. I don’t think it needs to be an expensive lesson, if taught early on in one’s life, but experiential learning will help the information “stick” in a way that’s more effective than lecture.”
– Claudia & Garrett

Debt Free Doctor

“Looking back on the many money/debt lessons I’ve learned in the past, the #1 way I learned was from experiences. My big experience came from going into over $250K in dental school loan debt + taking out an interest free loan on a home BEFORE starting a practice. This continues to motivate me today to remain DEBT-FREE as it was a BIG hole to dig out of.”
– Jeff Anzalone

MoneyMow

“Some money/debt lessons are better learned through experience than knowledge. I used to be in debt, but I learned an important lesson about not living above my means. Once you have tried being heavily in debt, nothing motivates you more or feels as good as being debt free. I don’t think I would be as motivated and good at saving today if I hadn’t been in debt previously and experienced the consequences on my own body. This being said, we should become much better at teaching people of all ages money/debt lessons. I believe we should teach kids much more about personal finance in school to make sure they don’t grow up and make bad money decisions early in their lives.”
– Carl MoneyMow

No Nonsense Landlord

“Money lessons are learned from knowledge, but are solidified from experience. Only after coming out of debt, or experiencing a decent change (up or down) in your net worth, does it become solidified. Everyone knows that savings is good, but few can achieve financial independence – until they have the focus that it takes. That undeterred focus on earning more and spending less, is what is necessary to achieve success in the quest to achieve financial independence. Once you have the ‘taste’ of increasing net worth, you desire more of it. You cannot learn that taste.”
– Eric Drenckhahn

Smart Woman Blog

“I think the lessons stick better when you have experience first-hand. When you’re feeling the pain for real and it’s up to you to fix it, to find solutions and make your situation better, you remember the lesson. That’s just life in general. And when it comes to debt, I don’t prescribe 100% to avoid it (after all, I have mortgages on my rental properties and I took out student loans that helped bump my financial situation for the better) but to learn how to manage it well. So experience of it can help you learn how to use it. Knowledge can only go so far without acting on it.”
– Jaymee Sison

Money Ahoy

“Ideally one would learn about these things before you are up to your eyeballs in debt. So, I would say it is better to learn about solid money principles before you experience the stress of being trapped in debt.”
– Derek Chamberlain

Jen Spends

“Experience is so important when it comes to learning about money, even if it’s pretend play. Parents need to give their kids hands-on practice early on and involve teens and young adults in the financial decisions that impact them. Like so many in the personal finance world, I learned about money the hard way. Be smart and learn from other people’s mistakes. If you have experience, share it. Real-world examples are a powerful way to personalize money and help people understand the traps they want to avoid to live a financially stable life.”
 Jennifer Roberts

Keep Thrifty

“There’s no one-size-fits-all answer here. Every person learns differently and for some, learning through knowledge may be enough. Others may need to experience a mistake or positive situation for things to stick. The key is to know what learning style works best for you and to open yourself up to learning opportunities!”
– Chris Durheim

Avocadough Toast

“Knowledge is just abstract information until you put it into practice. You can’t have true knowledge without experience. There are many well-known financial concepts such as, “earn more than you spend.” However, it’s not enough to simply know the concept. You need to analyze your spending, create a budget, and follow through with smart buying decisions. Only then will you have true knowledge. The bottom line is that you can read the best books, have the best teachers and go to the best schools in the world, but until you put that knowledge into action you are still largely ignorant. Experience is, and always will be, the best teacher.”
– Philip Cressler

Jessica Moorhouse

“Knowledge! You can 100% avoid debt and never experience being debt, and live happily ever after. One does not need to experience debt to understand how to be responsible with credit.”
Jessica Moorhouse 

Master Passive Income

“A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from other people’s mistakes. Learn from others who have already made mistakes and now will show you how to do everything the right way. So don’t learn from your experiences, but learn from others how to become Wealthy by investing your money with investments like real estate rental properties.”
– Dustin Heiner

Passive Canadian Income

“I think a mixture of both. We started taking control of our financial future after reading a couple books. There is no substitute for experience though, we are still learning things!”
Rob Taylor

The Frugal Farmer

“I know from personal experience that both knowledge and experience have helped me manage my money better. Knowledge is vital; how can you manage money well if you’ve never been taught? At the same time, experience can help you learn from past mistakes – if you’re willing to learn from them. So much of good money management is about being humble enough to admit you still have much to learn – and about choosing to discipline yourself to form better habits, whether that means earning more, spending less or simply educating yourself on good money habits.”
– Laurie Blank

Savings and Sangria

“Money and debt lessons are best learned through personal experience, but those experiences can come at a high price. If you’re relying solely on experiences instead of knowledge to learn your money lessons, you’re going to make some big mistakes along the way. And sure, mistakes are life’s best teachers. But you can save yourself so much trouble by learning from the mistakes of those who came before you. So I recommend that we all seek money and debt knowledge, then do our best to put that knowledge into practice as we engage in our own personal money experiences.”
– Michelle Clardie

Frugal Hackers

“Would you like to learn a lesson about falling down from the 30th floor of a building by knowledge or by experience?”
– Mr. Frugal Hacker

CJ The Money Guru

“Money and debt lessons are better learned through experiences. Knowledge is power and it definitely has its benefits. I can talk about money until I am blue in the face. But most people won’t learn the lessons until they actually go through it. If you make mistakes first hand, you will never forget them. Just don’t ever make the same mistake twice. Especially when it comes to your money.”
CJ

Money Nest

“Warren Buffet once said: ”it’s good to learn from your mistakes. it’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes’ and I agree wholeheartedly with him, however, whilst every lesson in life is better learned through knowledge than experiences, I do find it’s my experiences that I tend to draw from most when making a financial decision.”
– Samuel Jefferies

My Twenty Cents

“I believe that money/debt lessons can only be learned through experience. It’s so easy to tell someone “debt is bad” or “you need to save money for retirement,” but until that person has experienced the struggles of being in debt or working in a dissatisfying job to pay the bills, he will not truly understand the meaning of these words. All of my greatest money and debt lessons have been learned through managing my own personal finances and struggling with money/debt. I had studied budgeting in school but being able to apply it is another ballgame. Having the knowledge or basic background on money/debt is helpful, but having the first-hand experience is what teaches the lessons that actually stick and lead to personal development and key learnings.”
– Janet Su

Scaredy Cat Guide

“I tell people all the time, it is important to acquire knowledge. Read books and listen to podcasts, but in the end there is only so much you can learn. You need to take action and have the experience for certain lessons to really resonate. One of my favorite quotes: Experience is the best teacher!”
– Mitchell Jaworski

Passive Income Pursuit

“It’s always best to learn from others mistakes so you don’t repeat them especially when it comes to money. Unfortunately those lessons don’t seem to really stick until you make that mistake for yourself. For example, we’re currently paying off a car that we bought new, against our better judgement, rather than used because we were too impatient with the car buying process. Yes the car dealership is easier and you don’t have to search like you do for a used car, but the added expense of a new hefty car payment can easily lead to regret a few months down the line. The next car that we buy will definitely be used.”
JC 

Dividends Diversify

“From my perspective as a university teacher, most learning of any kind starts with doing something and benefiting from the experience the action of doing provides. By then combining that experience with knowledge from reputable sources, the learning process is expanded exponentially. I believe this method of learning applies to money/debt lessons in addition to other important life lessons.”
– Tom Dividends

Growing Dollars From Cents

“I think money/debt lessons are better learned through knowledge because it’s quite easy to gain access to information these days compared to years ago. A person shouldn’t have to wait to make a mistake to learn from it. Instead, they can use helpful sites even reputable Youtube videos to get the relevant information they need to learn more about money and debt.”
Cory 

Accelerated Fi

“I think money/debt lessons have to be learned through experience. Knowledge can only get you so far; applying that knowledge to real world experiences is what sticks with you and allows you to change your habits. It’s great to read and gain more knowledge but until you get experience applying what you’ve learned, it’s useless.”
Jim 

Wealth Architects

“Both knowledge and experience have an important role to play in learning lessons about managing our day-to-day financial affairs be it investments, credit cards, debt, insurance and more. Knowledge helps in making the right choices and avoiding the obvious pitfalls. It’s like studying a map to choose the most appropriate route, but the understanding is still at conceptual level. Experience exposes us to the ground realities and helps in grasping the practical features of everyday finance. It also reinforces the theoretical insights gained through knowledge. Thus, for a more complete and comprehensive understanding, both knowledge and experience go hand-in-hand.”
– Sanjay Matai

My Car Insurance 123

“Like anything else in life, it’s always ideal to research, learn and implement good money strategies and tactics before making mistakes. Generally, knowledge is a proactive approach whereas experience is reactive. Waiting to learn about money (debt, credit, investing, interest rates, etc.) until after you are thousands of dollars in debt is a bad approach. For one, you now have to use your excess income to make interest payments to pay off debt whereas before, that additional income could have contributed to an investment account and further grown your net worth. Like my parents always said, it’s better to learn from other’s mistakes so you don’t have to personally experience the same pitfalls. Unfortunately, it isn’t until some people reach a dire situation that they realize they need to invest the time and effort to change or understand. My advice to readers is to spend time upfront learning how to manage your money. As much as we don’t like to admit, the world revolves around money. It can either empower you to live freely and happily, or the lack of it can constantly stress you. Knowledge is power – grasping different financial concepts means no one can ever exploit you or cause you to fall victim to a bad financial transaction. Start with the basics (time value of money, compounding interest, spending less than you earn, differentiating between needs and wants, saving money by contributing to a tax-advantaged account, passive investing, etc.) and the rest you will learn along the way.”
Gary Dek

Dough Money Blog

“I believe the basics of how to handle money really well could be summarized very easily. Having seen the damage of not following a few basic principles, (living within your means, being cautious with borrowing, delayed gratification etc) in people lives I would go for knowledge every time. I’d rather learn the right course of action to take and avoid making damaging mistakes, and I’d rather help others to do that too, instead of waiting for them to go down the wrong way. Money and debt is too important a lesson to work out as you go along and the knowledge should be given to as many people, as early as possible. Other people have the experience, other people have made the mistakes. We should learn from them, rather than all have to experience it for ourselves.”
– Samuel Howard

Astute Finances

“Money lessons are best learned through experience. Taking out $100 in cash from the ATM on Monday and experiencing how quickly it can go away as you spend frivolously can resonate deeply with people. Struggling to get by on minimum wage will motivate individuals to gain the skills necessary to rise up. However, if you attempt to learn debt lessons through experience, the knowledge you might have gained will usually find a closed mind. The mind is closed due to the constrictive and suffocating nature of debt. Much like knowing that one should not play with poisonous snakes, one should use knowledge to learn to avoid the wrong kinds of debt.”
Astute Finances

Provisioned Ministries

“I can say this regarding your question: Experiencing debt and the removal of it is exhilarating and addictive. However, I would always choose, no matter the situation or subject matter, to learn from the mistakes of others. I envision a personal world where mistakes are avoided by heeding the advice of an older, or simply a more seasoned individual.”
– Kyle Foshee

Add Vodka

“Knowledge is best, I think. Without learning about a financial topic first, such as how to use your first credit card, then any mistakes you make will be “experience” that could put you in debt for awhile and hurt your credit score, for example. There’s plenty of time in life to gain experience and learn things, but educating yourself first and gaining knowledge can help you stay out of financial pitfalls. You’ll still have some anyway, but spending a few hours researching a financial decision you’re about to make should be a lot better than going in blind.”
– Aaron Crowe

Jackie Beck

“When it comes to money & debt, ideally we could just download everything we need to know and magically manage our money the “right” way. But life isn’t a collection of facts, so experience matters more. For example, we may know that having an emergency fund is a good idea, but that’s nothing compared to living through what it’s like to go through a huge emergency without one. You have to be able to connect your knowledge (or lack thereof) with experience before it really sinks in on a level that creates lasting change.”
Jackie Beck

Albert Fang

“Money and debt lessons are best learned through knowledge to avoid large financial pitfalls. However, it is hard to play by the book sometimes, which is where experience comes in. Experiences helps consumers to remember, be grounded and more appreciative of their money. In other words, sometimes there is value to learning a money or debt lesson through a bad experience because chances are you have learned your lesson the hard way and it won’t happen again.”
Albert Fang

Debt Discipline

“Experience, including failures I find, are always the best teaching examples when it comes to money. Having the background knowledge from formal education, books, and others is a great foundational resource, but you have to understand how it applies to your unique situation and behaviors in the real world. That can only be fine-tuned through practice.”
– Brian Brandow

Dear Debt

“In my case, I thank my debt in some ways as I don’t think I’d be as tenacious, as much of a go-getter and a hustler if I didn’t have debt. Since I had so much student loan debt, I felt compelled to pay it off ASAP. It taught me a discipline I don’t know I’d have if I didn’t have the debt.”
– Melanie Lockert

The Get Money Book

“I think money lessons are best learned through experience. Personal finance is just that – personal. It’s also behavioral and psychological more than it is mathematical. So while there’s some money advice that certainly applies to everyone, much of personal finance is learning to work with your own habits and behavior and, ultimately, to do what works for you.”
Kristin Wong

Inspire Your Success

“I definitely think the best money lessons are learned through experience. I’m an avid learner, always listening to podcasts or reading but my best lessons have always come from real life experience. You can read all about buying a home, paying off credit cards or saving, but once you’re doing it you learn much faster.”
– Michael Leonard

Pro Finance Blog

“Money lessons are often very painful and unaffordable. You should learn if from others mistake, understand the situation and enhance your knowledge to avoid the costly mistakes.”
– Tina Roth

Adam Chudy

“They are definitely better learned through knowledge otherwise we would be doomed to rack up debt, not save, and set ourselves back decades with bad decisions. I would prefer to learn through observation of others (good and bad) and reading from the many great authors out there.”
>Adam Chudy

Smile and Conquer

“Learning through experience may be more impactful, but it’s not the best way to do things when it comes to your money, especially in regards to debt. It’s always better to never have been in debt! I would recommend learning basic money management and how to stay out of debt before you get started. Use others experiences to teach you the pros and cons instead of having to sacrifice your own money or credit score. You may gain a lot of knowledge by experiencing debt firsthand, but there’s no reason to put yourself through that just for the learning aspect.”
Sarah

Color Me Frugal

“I would love to say that I think that money lessons are best learned through knowledge. However, in my personal experience (and I think in many peoples’ experiences) that has just not been the case! For me, the best lessons learned have been the ones that I have learned the hard way. Some of the most painful financial lessons (usually, where I lost money in some way) that I have learned have been the best experiences in terms of changing my behavior going forward. I think that is a common thread in many people, at least the ones I encounter! Fortunately or unfortunately, experience is often the best teacher.”
Dee S. 

Edwin Dollars

“You don’t need to experience something in order to learn from it. The idea that you need to experience debt to learn from it is silly. You don’t have to experience jail to not be a criminal. It’s so much better to never experience debt in the first place. Just hearing the stories of others and the challenges they faced is enough of a lesson.”
Edwin

Chronicles of a Father With Cents

“I believe that money/debt lessons are better learned through knowledge so you be would more proactive on how you handle money. With that knowledge I think you less likely to be in a bad financial situation. Going through my debt lessons through experience, although I learned a lot from that I think it would better served to have that money knowledge beforehand.”
– Father With Cents

Budget Like a Lady

“I believe the best money/debt lessons are learned through experience. Not all money lessons need to be learned the hard way, but our money knowledge is tested by going through the tough experiences. If it wasn’t for my student loan debt of over $60,000 I would never have realized how crippling debt can be. It was so easy to get student loans that the thought of having to pay the money back never occurred to me. After my student loan grace period ended I remember the first time seeing my pile of student loan statements, the minimum amounts that were due, and feeling defeated thinking I will never dig myself out of this whole. At that moment I realized I never want to deal with this much debt again and my journey to debt freedom began that day.”
– Nicole Butler 

M&Money

“There’s a big debate over what’s better in life: knowledge or experience. My take on it is a bit more complex than simply choosing a side. When it comes to money especially, I feel like both knowledge and experience are important. Having knowledge is necessary to get you off on the right foot, avoid high interest rates as much as possible, and sort of create a game plan that will guide you in the right direction. However, experience matters a lot too. The experience is what finally confirms that your prior knowledge was mostly true and, if you received it on time, you may end up making fewer mistakes.”
– Martin

The Astute Advisor

“In a perfect world, we would do what is best for our finances based on what we’ve learned from parental advice, self-help books, or personal finance courses. Doing so would help avoid some serious financial missteps. However, there is a lot to be said for experience. My university’s motto was “learn by doing” and that has always stuck with me. Experience, whether good or bad, will provide valuable lessons learned first-hand that can be more impactful that simply being told what to do and not to do.”
David N. Waldrop, CFP

Dames In Debt

“We’d love to say financial lessons are better learned through reading books because that would be so much easier, but the unfortunate reality is that nothing teaches you just how smart/bad/utterly stupid your decisions are like real-life experience.”
– Jessica & Kathryn

Rental Mindset

“I believe experience is the best way to learn. The power of compounding consumer debt is the same as the benefit of compounding interest. Numbers on paper don’t do it justice, you have to experience it yourself!”
– Brian Skinner

Gracefully Expat

“I think the most impactful lessons are learned through experience, so we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves for past money ‘mistakes.’ It’s all a learning process, and that mistake could be just the thing to help you take your personal finances to the next level. However, a few areas where you should strive to get expert knowledge are things like taxes and debt consolidation; it’s well worth it to get good advice, and avoid learning by costly mistakes in those areas!”
Grace Taylor

Becoming Life Smart

“Both knowledge and experience are equally important when it comes to money and debt. Knowledge lays the foundation and experience builds on that to hardwire the lessons. Just like a new college graduate, the knowledge is there but the real-world application of that information is what truly matters. However, experience without education leads to many wrong turns. It’s important to learn the basics of personal finance before bad habits become deeply ingrained. There is a real need for money education at a young age so that once kids become adults, they can apply that information in the real world and gain valuable experience. Without that knowledge, many people end up living paycheck-to-paycheck without knowing how to break the cycle.”
Veneta

The Smart Fi

“While it is possible to learn money skills, my most valuable life lessons were learned through experiences. For example, in 2000, I thought I was the best stock picker in the world. I had racked up some big stock market gains. Then the dot.com crash came and I wiped me out. I lost nearly $8,000 dollars. That lesson stung for a while. Now, I mostly invest in low-cost index funds. I have always said, “I have learned more from my failures than from my successes.” For better or worse, I am an amalgamation of my past experiences.”
– Shawn Richard

Earn More Live Freely

“I think that it depends on the person’s personality. For some people, they might first learn about money/debt through books or from parents, but they never really learned the lesson until they’ve made the money mistakes that cost them dearly. So, for them, money/debt lessons are better learned through experience. On the other hand, there are people who would go and learn everything they can through books and seminars to prevent themselves from making any money/debt mistakes at all. They believe prevention is better than cure.”
Gladice

Financial Residency

“Knowledge is a precursor to experimentation. The more knowledge you have, the more experiences you can create which will allow you to learn new things. Educating yourself about money and managing debt will allow you to use your money to create more valuable life experiences. When people don’t know better, they can’t do better. Building a solid financial foundation is key to achieving one’s goals. Experience will be earned over time but having the knowledge will help prevent some of the easy mistakes that people make early on in their financial lives.”
– Ryan Inman

Top Money Hacks

“It’s a mixture of both experience and theoretical knowledge that teaches us how to tread the fine line of financial responsibility. The role of formal education in imparting knowledge about treating money with respect is underutilized these days. Money lessons are usually learned at home up until the individual is old enough to attend a class about it at college or old enough to learn from his/her mistakes. Parents (and guardians) teach by example. If they practice and preach the basic principles of responsible finance, their children have a huge advantage. My parents never took out loans, always paid their credit card bills on time, were frugal and not brand conscious. I’ve got similar traits, at least, I like to think so. So I’m all set for life then? Perhaps not. The apple sometimes falls far from the tree, and that can have desirable consequences if the apple had seen the tree make poor money choices all its life. Plus, just because someone’s had good mentors, doesn’t guarantee a life full of great financial achievements. Mistakes happen, sometimes it’s not really anybody’s fault and that’s just life. There’s a silver lining though – these mistakes are excellent sources of knowledge, sometimes even better than bookish knowledge because people are never going to forget the one time they got broke or had to borrow money to eat dinner. These mistakes may eventually take the form of stories that get passed between family and friends, and sometimes through generations. All this makes for some good “learning from other people’s experience” material. I know a family that lost all their assets after an investment went south. They had put too many eggs in one basket out of good faith, and it didn’t work out. Slowly, they rebuilt their lives. In the same vein are stories of people who have gone bankrupt because of medical debt or college debt, which I find particularly disheartening because these are basic human rights (access to healthcare and education) that they cannot afford to enjoy. Such accounts of other people’s experiences serve to cement everything our parents, teachers, books and blogs taught us. Therefore, money lessons are learned through knowledge but remembered through experience.”
– Fehmeen Jeffrey

Do It Invest

“I read this a few times during the years and it summarizes wonderfully my point: “When a person with experience and no money meets another rich and inexperienced person, one gains experience and another one money.” Unfortunately – and especially during the last decade – most people have to learn how to cope with debt via (not always positive) experiences – rather than via knowledge/ education. For many reasons (impatience, information overload, shrewd lenders marketing etc.) we all are forced to reckon our debt levels sooner or later in an unplanned manner. Therefore, hands on the deck for experience.”
– Radu Haraga

Margin of Saving

“Money/debt lessons are definitely better learned through knowledge. When you’re in debt, you’re borrowing money from others. You might as learn from others too to get out!”
– Margin of Saving

A Financial Savvy Doc

“Some people are blessed with the skill of being able to learn from the mistakes of others… but for most of us, we need to learn from our own mistakes. You’ll never truly know what it feels like to be debt free by reading about it in someone else’s life. You can’t understand the discipline that is required to live on a budget until you attempt it yourself. I believe in this proverb very strongly “Tell me, I’ll forget. Show me, I’ll remember. Involve me, I’ll understand”. I think people need to have their own good and bad experiences to truly learn money/debt lessons.”
Matt Cross

Money Saved Is Money Earned

“Hands down, it’s better to learn money and debt lessons through knowledge. Of course, strong experiences leave a lasting impression and may make more of an impact, but without prior knowledge they will have a larger hill to climb. While knowledge of money and debt may not prevent an individual from making poor decisions, they will at least have the tools to effectively deal with those choices.”
– Tawnya and Sebastian

Mawer Money

“Both knowledge and experience are vitally important. Money lessons should be initially taught through knowledge and then reinforced by experience. If you only learn through experience, you will make too many mistakes while learning and this will set you back in your financial goals. It is important to be proactive and not reactive in managing your financial affairs.”
– Greg Mawer

Million In 10

“The knowledge about money/debt can be summed up in one sentence: “Spend less than you what you bring in and let the difference work for you or help you get out of debt”. It sounds so simple that, only by applying this knowledge, and experiencing the results first-hand, you’ll see the truth in it.”
– MrMi10

Earn It Save It

“Money lessons are better learned through knowledge and here’s why. The money mistakes we make are often due to lack of knowledge. Couple that with the time it takes to recover from common financial blunders – – – getting smart about money in the first place is the obvious choice.”
– Tracy Scott

Brandon Renfro

“Money and debt lessons can be hard learned. I think these lessons come easier and are more deeply absorbed when they are both experienced as well as understood from a knowledge base. Financial issues are often emotional. The stress of carrying too much debt or the worry of investment volatility is FELT. We often don’t know how a situation like paying off a mortgage will affect us emotionally until we actually do it. However, taking the time to learn about something like paying off a mortgage may provide the motivation to take action. I think of these types of issues a two-step process. First, study the topic. Then, decide the best course of action and act. The knowledge and experience will both be helpful in shaping the way think.”
Brandon Renfro

Shift Upwards

“Money/debt lessons are best learned through experience. Of course, the more knowledge you’re armed with will only help you make better decisions in the heat of the moment. My biggest money lessons were taught by making mistakes and learning from them. I bought a house when I was in my mid-20’s, and I had no idea what I was doing. I ended up losing a significant amount of money, even though I sold the house for $10k more than I bought it for. When I sat down and totaled up how much I put into the house, and compared that to what I sold it for, the numbers were startling. I used this as motivation to go back and reflect on the mistakes I made, and to ensure I fully understood all components of buying and owning a home. I won’t make the same mistakes again. Likewise, when I taught myself how to invest, I came to understand how it works and I saw how powerful the stock market is. As I started seeing gains and dividends, my motivation to keep investing only got stronger. But there were years where I didn’t invest at all, even though I knew owning a piece of the stock market was important for financial success. It wasn’t until I saw it working in front of my eyes, with my own money, that I became energized to keep doing it.”
– Andrew Fichter

Side Jam Biz

“Ideally, you should have a little bit of both — some education on how to handle money and debt, plus some actual real-life experience. Because you can read books, you can listen to lectures, but until you are putting these concepts into action, you’ll never know the full impact of what debt can do to a person. For example, I had this great teacher in high school — Mr. Whitmer. He taught Economics, which included a lesson on credit cards and debt. I remember him warning of the perils of credit card use and making minimum payments. He said the majority of us would fall victim to debt, even though he stressed how important this lesson was. I was determined to prove him wrong. And yet, a mere 10 years later, I fell into that very trap. While having the upfront knowledge was useful, it didn’t stop me from making mistakes. And I guess that’s what makes us all human. So for me, experience has been the best way to learn my lesson about money and debt.”
Robin

OMG My Money

“I lived through some of the worst money mistakes early in my career (mid to late 20s) including defaulting on my student loans and not contributing to any company retirement accounts. You name that financial mistake and I can tell you all about it. In my opinion, money and debt lessons are better learned through knowledge first and then putting that knowledge into action. Be aware of overthinking and over-researching. Action is the key because action leads to experience. My mistakes could easily have been prevented had I proactively gained that knowledge first. I have lost years and years in the pursuit of financial freedom so please arm yourselves with knowledge, take action, and learn.”
OMM

Capturing Cents

“I think money/debt lessons are best learned through knowledge. If you are taught the rights and the wrongs at an early age, you will be set up to make good decisions going forward. It sort of follows the saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Spend the time to educate yourself so you won’t fall into trouble in the future.”
Capturing Cents

Whats In Stock Today

“I think money management comes down to some basic knowledge and common-sense and then testing out your knowledge through saving or investing. It is sort of like the chicken and egg debate. I’m a big fan of learning through experiences and the earlier you start experimenting with money matters the better and the more prepared you will be later on. Making mistakes is overrated and in my experience you are much more likely to remember what you learn from lessons than from a book or classroom.”
– Ali C

Debt Free Happens

“My wife and I have found that money/debt lessons are better learned through experience as it can be a powerful motivator for success. With debt, you learn what it is like to have the payments, the resulting limitations and pressure to pay it off. The experience makes it real. Once debt free, you will never want to go back so you behave differently with your money. Your experience is what motivates you to continue acquiring the knowledge to pursue your money goals.”
– Kevin and Erin Jones

I Dream of Fire

“There’s nothing like personal experience to burn a money lesson in your mind. Even so, some people make the same money mistakes over and over again. They should know better, but they can’t seem to stop themselves. I think financial mistakes are often just as much about mindset as they are about math. When people are more clear about what they really want, and then find reputable sources of information to help them achieve those goals, there are fewer avenues to make big financial mistakes. Clarity limits the number of options, and the ones that make the most sense naturally rise to the top. If you want to make better financial decisions, get clear on what you want and read up on the tried and true ways to get that into your life. You’ll learn to make better decisions because of it.”
– Scott Sherman

30 And 0

“Money/Debt lessons are better learned through knowledge the majority of the time. If we learn through experience we are being reactive. Information gained from this experience comes with the added negatives of that lesson. Learning about student loan debt while dealing with its crushing weight is hard. I now have to deal with budgeting, loan interest, and any number of stressful topics. I am tasked with learning while also being tasked with trying to not let a wave of debt capsize my financial ship! On the other hand if I learn about student loan debt and its dangers before taking out a single loan I can be proactive. I can plan what kind of loans I want to take out or how much. The power of gaining this information allows me to chart a course for my finances. The power of knowledge is that it is often gathered from other people’s experiences. There is no need for us to experience these money lessons first hand to gain that same level of information. To quote grandparents everywhere “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Information prevents dealing with financial woes and experience is a bitter pill to swallow for a cure. Plan ahead by arming yourself with the information and learn from other’s experiences!”
– Rocky Finance

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