Cash Course

The following are quotes from chapter 6: Machines and Men The full chapter can be read here . Now a business, in my way of thinking, is not a machine. It is a collection of people who are brought together to do work and not to write letters to one another. ​It is not necessary for people to love each other in order to work together. Too much good fellowship may indeed be a very bad thing, for it may lead to one man trying to cover up the faults of another. That is bad for both men. The work and the work alone controls us. That is one of the reasons why we have no titles. Most men can swing a job, but they are floored by a title. The effect of a title is very peculiar. It has been used too much as a sign of emancipation from work. It is almost equivalent to a badge bearing the legend: "This man has nothing to do but regard himself as important and all others as inferior." ​Titles in business have been greatly overdone and business has suffered. ​As I have said, w...

The following are quotes from chapter 5 (Getting Into Production) of Henry Ford's autobiography "My Life and Work".  I found these nuggets of information to be valuable in helping me make my own decisions about finances, money and running a business.  The full text of the chapter can be read at CashCourse.com . It is self-evident that a majority of the people in the world are not mentally--even if they are physically--capable of making a good living. ​​...it is not the employer who pays wages. He only handles the money. It is the product that pays the wages and it is the management that arranges the production so that the product may pay the wages. ​...while to-day we have skilled mechanics in plenty, they do not produce automobiles--they make it easy for others to produce them. The undirected worker spends more of his time walking about for materials and tools than he does in working; he gets small pay because pedestrianism is not a highly paid line. ​​We ...

The temptation to stop and hang on to what one has is quite natural. I can entirely sympathize with the desire to quit a life of activity and retire to a life of ease. ​ "When one of my cars breaks down I know I am to blame." ​The salesmen, before I had announced the policy, were spurred by the great sales to think that even greater sales might be had if only we had more models. It is strange how, just as soon as an article becomes successful, somebody starts to think that it would be more successful if only it were different. ​"Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black." ​The selling people could not of course see the advantages that a single model would bring about in production. Chapter 4 can be read in its entirety at CashCourse.info . Robinhood.com

My Life and Work Henry Ford 1922 Quotes From Chapter 1: The Beginning One idea at a time is about as much as any one can handle. ​ In those days we did not have the toys of to-day; what we had were home made. My toys were all tools--they still are! And every fragment of machinery was a treasure.​ ​There is an immense amount to be learned simply by tinkering with things. It is not possible to learn from books how everything is made--and a real mechanic ought to know how nearly everything is made. ​I felt perfectly certain that horses, considering all the bother of attending them and the expense of feeding, did not earn their keep. ​That is the way with wise people--they are so wise and practical that they always know to a dot just why something cannot be done; they always know the limitations. That is why I never employ an expert in full bloom. If ever I wanted to kill opposition by unfair means I would endow the opposition with experts. They would have so much good advi...

My Life and Work Henry Ford 1922 Quotes From the Introduction Power and machinery, money and goods, are useful only as they set us free to live. They are but means to an end. For instance, I do not consider the machines which bear my name simply as machines. If that was all there was to it I would do something else. I take them as concrete evidence of the working out of a theory of business... If I merely want money the present system is all right; it gives money in plenty to me. But I am thinking of service. Almost any one can think up an idea. The thing that counts is developing it into a practical product. I take it for granted that we must work. We learn from Russia that it is the minority and not the majority who determine destructive action. Freedom is the right to work a decent length of time and to get a decent living for doing so; to be able to arrange the little personal details of one's own life. The primary functions are agriculture, manufacture, and ...

Over the years I have gone from being broke and heavily in debt to now being completely financial independent.  I have a house, garage, and car that are all completely paid for.  I have been able to save up a significant sum of money towards my retirement.  Although there have been several factors influencing the decisions that have led to financial fluency in my life, one that I believe is highly important is the books that I have read.  I have had the opportunity to glean many important anecdotes and other information that have been lifesavers on my road to financial freedom.  I believe that these books would be of great assistance to many others. Because I realize that many may not have the time or capacity to read all these books, I will set forth on this blog to lay out all the little bits of wisdom that have presented themselves to me over the years as I have read the numerous books at my disposal.  As I read, I like to hi-lite the various nuggets...