Andrew Tobias > Quotes

“In both cases, it is the prejudice, not the condition, that does the harm. It may be, as some would have it, that blacks are inherently inferior to whites or that homosexuals are all, by definition, sick. So what? Even if either condition truly is inherently undesirable, no manner of social pressure will turn blacks into whites or gays into straights. Social pressure will only exaggerate the handicap. It is still the prejudice, more than the condition, that does the harm.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Best Little Boy in the World: The 25th Anniversary Edition of the Classic Memoir

“I was terribly intolerant, but they were terribly threatening to me. They were everything I was afraid of becoming.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Best Little Boy in the World: The 25th Anniversary Edition of the Classic Memoir

“The overall ideas are so simple that any child can easily grasp them. Spend less than you have. Save the difference. Watch it grow. How complex is that?”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“magicformulainvesting.com.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Do the math. Whenever you spend money on an incidental, think of it this way: It’s not a $5 Starbucks, it’s a $2,000 mocha grande—which is to say five times a week = $25 times 52 weeks = $1,300, which is all you have left, after withholding, from a $2,000 paycheck.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Get Plex. Free TV, movies, and more at plex.tv.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Buy no car. If you’re a city-dweller (or live on campus), check to see whether zipcar.com could work for you. You pay $9 a month to “borrow” cars—and pickup trucks—for an hourly rate, starting at $12.50, that includes gas and insurance. Compared with the fortune you could easily spend on parking, insurance, maintenance, and—of course—car payments, even liberal use of Zipcar could save big bucks.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Buy a used car. It could be really depressing to have to do this. But when it’s your decision, to reach your goals, that’s another story. And it will save you thousands of dollars. That “new-car smell” is the most expensive fragrance in the world.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“A Penny Saved Is Two Pennies Earned”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Those dates are not expiration dates . . . as the frozen creamed spinach dated October 27, 2007, that I consumed with no ill effects in late 2015 attests.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“It is better to give than to lend,” said British war correspondent Philip Gibbs, “and it costs about the same.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“A very basic thing to know about your money is that, over the really long run, people who buy equities—stocks—will almost surely make a lot more money (if they’re at all sensible in how they do it) than people who make “safer” investments.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need

“But wait! Lisa B of Atlanta suggests “the 48-hour rule.” She writes: “My husband and I have lived the principles in your book as long as we’ve been married. We’ve never lived cheap. Just smart. No unnecessary debt. Live below the paycheck. Don’t pay interest, receive interest. The 48-hour rule before purchases means if we find something we like, like a sweater or a pair of boots, we wait 48 hours before we buy it. If we still want it, go get it. Most of the time, I don’t even remember what it was that I considered buying.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Get free tech support. Before you pay Microsoft, try tech guy.org.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“The decision to develop a saving rather than a smoking habit makes a huge difference. One way, she puts $2,000 a year into Newports and, at age 65, has cancer. The other way, she puts it into a mutual fund that compounds at 7.5% a year and, at 65, has $1 million.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Angie’s List—now Angi.com—can help with any home project, from repairs and maintenance to landscaping and remodeling, to putting in a pool or solar panels. Pricegrabber.com can help with comparison shopping. Retailmenot.com will tell you whether there are promotional coupons to use at checkout. As does PayPal’s “Honey” browser extension (joinhoney.com). Terrific cheap clothes? Uniqlo.com.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Read—and possibly dispute—your medical bills. I know; I know. But they could contain costly mistakes. If you need help, the Patient Advocate Foundation (patientadvocate.org) can review your medical bills for free . . . and possibly help you bargain them down or resolve disputes.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“investment”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Shop for your MRI or new knee. Visit newchoicehealth.com to possibly save big—and check out medretreat.com to learn about “medical tourism.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Betterbidding.com pits priceline.com and hot wire.com against each other on a single screen, with some added features and savings as well.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Tap water. Listen: unless yours is unsafe to drink, I don’t ever want to catch you buying bottled water again. What an easy way to save money—and avoid dumping plastic into the ocean, which is where tens of billions of those bottles ultimately float. Just get a single plastic container and refill it from the tap. If need be, get a water-filtration pitcher (brita.com), too. It’s not a 75-cent bottle of water twice a day, it’s $547 a year. For water!”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Get what you pay for with “the world’s first robot lawyer.” “Expedia just refunded all the money for my Virgin Atlantic business class ticket to Germany,” writes a friend, “without my having to spend a single minute haggling. (Expedia is notorious for trying to stick you with ‘airline credits.’) It’s all thanks to donotpay.com. First I thought its promises were too good to be true. But I checked them out, signed up—$36/year—and it worked!”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Bank accounts can have a “pay on death” designation that gives you exclusive control of the account during your lifetime but only requires presentation of a death certificate to be transferred to your intended without probate. Just ask the bank for the proper form: it normally costs nothing to make this designation (the bank may refer to the pay-on-death designation as a Totten Trust). ♦​Brokerage and mutual fund accounts can, in most states, have a “transfer on death” designation that has a similar effect (at this writing, only Louisiana and Texas fail to allow it). Though many brokers charge a nominal fee to add this designation, some will waive the fee if you ask—so ask. ♦​In states that recognize them (28 at last count in 2021), Transfer On Death Deeds (TOD Deeds) allow real estate to transfer directly to your heirs at death.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“diamond-essence.com”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Use the Internet. (Well, duh!) In the first edition of this book, I suggested everyone get a copy of the Sears catalog—not necessarily to shop from, but as a handy guide to what everything cost. That iconic catalog is long gone, and now, to buy—or sell—anything, new or used, there’s ebay.com and craigslist.com and, of course, Amazon.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Thus for many investors, despite the allure of the game, index funds really do remain the smart way to play.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Cut your cell phone bill. If you need a cell mainly for emergencies, short chats, and texting, buy a Tracfone (tracfone.com). No contracts. If you’re a heavier user, Walmart’s straighttalk.com may save you money—as I write, $55/month for unlimited service.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“(See specific suggestions in the “Selected Mutual Funds” appendix.) If you do, you will outperform at least 90% of all your friends and neighbors—including many who work much harder at this than you.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“Or as a friend of mine once said: “It’s just as easy to live well when you’re poor as when you’re rich—but when you’re poor, it’s much cheaper.”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition

“the best deal (immediateannuities.com is a good place to start)”
― Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Revised Edition: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need: Revised Edition