Learn from Celebrities: Live in Your Means

We often look at celebrities and other high earners and think that they must have so much money that they could never exceed their incomes. However, this is not the case. Free Money Finance has an interesting list of celebrities that made tons of money and then blew it because they failed to abide by the #1 rule of personal finance: Spend Less Than You Earn.

Here are some of the celebrities listed by Free Money Finance:

1. Michael Jackson
2. Mike Tyson
3. Nicolas Cage
4. Kim Basinger
5. Gary Coleman
6. Corey Haim

And, of course, I can think of a few more off the top of my head, including Elton John, Britney Spears and Lawrence Taylor. These starts have all had money problems. And Kevin Bacon has fallen on tough times, since he had put his trust in Bernie Maddoff.

So, even if you don’t spend more than you earn, it is still important to be careful of who you trust, and try to avoid giving any one person too much control over your financial future. But, in the end, true wealth is built little by little, with prudent decisions, and by living within your means, rather than spending everything — and then some — on a lavish lifestyle.

Image source: Missbritttney via Wikimedia Commons