Truism (for the avoidance of debt #3)

Your debit card will never lead you into debt (if it have set a zero overdraft facility).

 

Personal thought - Always use your debit card in preference to you credit card as it will help you manage your spending of your real money, as long as ig has a zero amount overdraft facility that you can set. When it's gone it's gone and your debit card will keep you from debt, unlike your credit card.

This video explains the pitfall of using a debit card overdraft facility.

Truism (about war)

It is harder to end a war than start one.

Putin fucked himself and harmed Russia but is Trump not far behind?

And Black Sabbath have a song for them

Putin is talking nuclear and trying to fine Google more money than in the world.

Invaders must take care

Update July 12th 2025: A year after writing this item,  the war with Ukraine continues, the Russian state and Putin prevail and deadlock seems likely for as long as there is money to flow or debts to be accepted; though both economies will be wrecked Russia may recover more slowly as it is larger and has fewer friends. Putin obviously thinks this is his war to win, as he continues to bombard Ukraine in spite of Trump's pompous claims about brining this to a close. Putin is giving Trump the finger continually.

Update January 3rd 2026: "Peacekeeper" Trump can't have Greenland yet?) so he had a go at Venezuela and in doing so is redefining the use of authoritarian powers across the globe.

Truism (to preserve a perspective on race)

Racism and tribalism are both faces of the same coin.

Imagine a world without this tribe

Personal thought - I prefer the term tribalism to racism as the "natural" response to each other is recognition and respect until incursion of tribal lands and mores occurs. Imagine there were no white people at all in the world, racism would still exist: Blacks vs Asians, Tutsi vs Hutus - you get my drift.

Remove racism from our language to substitute tribalism and we all get closer to the historical root of hatred of some by others?

Truism (or may be not)

 RULE: "I before E, except after C" - Tell that to a scientist!

Personal thought - Rules cover most situations but there are always exceptions to what was conceived.

Truism (for the avoidance of debt #2)

 Treat your credit card as your best friend.

 

Personal thought - We all like to have friends, with whom you can go through thick and thin and your credit card can be one such friend.

Ask a friend to lend you £50  and you should feel honour bound to pay them back within the week. If you do your friendship would continue. Asking for £100 would be ok later because you are friends and your history of paying back is good.

So, treat your credit card as you would a best friend and all will be well - no fall-outs and no debt interest.

I suppose the philosophy is to payback before borrowing more whilst utilising the convenience of your credit card, your best friend.

Facebook

Though I have access to Facebook I do not have an ID, nor do I contribute to it, but occasionally I come across something that resonates as a truism with me.

Start with this pithy comment about life's expectations.

Talking of expectations, try this one. To some my comment would be, "work is not as bad as this really - I'm joking - it really is!

Sexism is rife we are told, but with her tongue firmly in her cheek, it can be entertaining

Truism - (about taxation)

Taxation is the the paymaster of society.

We don't like it but we need some

Personal thought - This truism is a dynamic balancing act between total societal conformance or insurrection leading to anarchy. In large(r) populations people want "services" but don't like paying for them. Taxation facilitates services but it is the scale and apparent effectiveness  of taxation that vexes society; too little leads to trouble(s) and too much leads to trouble(s).

The most despised forms of taxation  are those that are manifestly unfair or disproportionately loaded upon tax payers. Let me just say the mega-rich are getting richer as everyone else gets poorer and the national debt is becoming ever deeper because money is wasted or not actually being acquired from those mega-rich individuals or businesses that persistently find ways to not pay any tax at all.

Truism (to preserve sanity or perspective)

If you can neither control or influence a situation, don't worry about it.

Personal thought - For those of us who occasionally think the world will fall in on them, such is the maelstrom embracing the world and its once stable countries, I give you another  piece of  good advice inspired by dad, implying that it may be better to live in ignorance with your sanity then take onboard what are basically other people's woes. 

A friend said that to put your head in the sand, Ostrich-like, is to invite someone to take your ass, but I'd still rather hang on to my head.

N.B. This truism is similar to this one.

Truism (for golfers)

Drive for show, putt for dough!

This lasting truism by the South African golf professional,  Bobby Loche,  succinctly distils every "pros" aspiration.

Bobby Locke in his heyday

Truism (about Train Drivers?)

Striking train drivers and some on similar salaries are greedy.

You're angry? - You're passengers hate you!

Personal thought - UK train drivers are paid plenty of money and yet never stop expressing how entitled they feel. They are literally sitting comfortably for a skilled (though routine) job, and should get off their feathered arses and take another job if not happy with their current one. They think that by repeatedly guerrilla-targeting important travel times (hols, Xmas, sports, festivals, etc) they will somehow give more gravitas to their demand(s), but all they do is harden the feelings of the public (paying in many ways), toward them. As if to confirm this last point (in both ways), they are striking again, on a National holiday. Perhaps the Government's Department Of Transport and their plans to nationalise this industry will improve our opinion of it, but I doubt it!

Believe it or not, there is a projected shortfall of trained drivers coming, probably explaining why they are so keen to raise their final salary now and thus their pension. To cover this the government proposed teenagers to be allowed to drive trains and then altered rules, thereby allowing 18 year olds to drive trains (a very good salary at 18!)

Whilst I'm here, too many people overvalue their "contributions" to society and should always remember they have the freedom to leave one job to take another. They could even try a different "career", for when AI kicks in many will be redundant; think on you nurses, G.P's, doctors, consultants, solicitors, lawyers, diagnosticians, teachers......,  (Anyone in a knowledge retrieval type job.)

Truism (for leaders)

Followers can be the most destructive component of a leader’s influence.

Personal thought - The principles and ideologies of many leaders are ultimately denigrated or returned to a lower order of influence following the actions of followers transposed into zealots.

Zealots, extremists, fanatics - all alienate supporters, devotees, believers and members alike and true leaders have to be mindful of the diminution of their "public" franchise and the potency of their word(s).

There are many words written about the greatness of leaders, but not so much about their struggles with their own followers, whose visions/motives/ideology evolve and undermine those of their leader.

One simple example could be a leader doesn't like the colour green, so after various pathways of mutation, their zealots start shooting people with green eyes and painting foliage brown.

Truism (for the avoidance of debt #1)

If it's not in your pocket do not spend it.

(Advice from my father for the avoidance of debt)

Someone who doesn't believe

Truism (about Receivers?)

Receivers are called receivers because they receive any residual value in a company; they hollow out companies by financial filibustering that only concludes with the cessation of the flow of residual funds to themselves. Their job is that of a vulture: To asset-strip the warm body of a company and hand back worthless dry bones of dashed hope to the investors. Good job eh?

Personal thought - This truism may not really be a "truism" but I'd bet it is fairly close and experienced by many, many other investors. I was scammed out of thousands by a notorious pair of investment scammers and the government appointed receivers were totally ineffectual. You may read what a receiver should do and should be (in the UK at least), by clicking here.

Truism (to recognise the power of love)

Love is a fearsome master

Personal thought - For anyone (un)lucky enough to experience the earliest of the stages of love, especially when unrequited, the debilitating and destabilising side-effects that multiply into a full-blown crush must be recognised and tempered, for love may indeed become a fearsome master, taking from a person any rationality and sense enough to not over-step what is acceptable between people.

When the longing is so strong that to merely be near "your love" is a life driver, stronger and stranger than anything felt before (usually strongest for the first desirous love), only then will you understand the fearsome master and its controlling strength.

Truism (to preserve credibility)

If you can neither control or influence a situation, keep your gob shut.

Personal thought - Another piece of advice passed to me by dad, warning me not to meddle in things just for the sake of joining-in.; something that is now THE cornerstone of online discourse via (un)social media.

Truism (for saving money #2)

A good form of saving is the avoidance of tax.

 

Personal thought - This realisation came to me when bank interest was as low as I can remember (in 50 years) and I needed more of what I earned to stay with me. 

Tax avoidance, as opposed to tax evasion (illegal) is where I am now and I tell you this from the perspective of being a UK resident. 

The biggest dent in take-home money is taxation of all "taxable money*" that comes to yourself and whose amount exceeds a nominal poverty-level "personal allowance", dictated in law by the state. For the majority of people this tax is 20% and upward. This is money taken by the state that you should aim to keep, to help you and your dependants.

Tax avoidance is a career for many professional advisors but many other advice sources are free; to either of these you should turn for  research for your own circumstances.

For me and my partner, our monthly income is fixed and savings are not funding our retirement as they should, but we have a solution.

I found my wife's pension would never exceed her personal allowance and that, as spouses, she could transfer that part of her unused personal allowance to me, i.e. £2000 of my earnings suddenly became non-taxable, making me/us better off by the amount of tax I formerly paid when that £2000 of my income attracted taxation. (£400/year)

Our life savings were devaluing with inflation and terrible interest rates didn't help, so we moved all of those savings into 2 equally apportioned Premium Bond holdings, such that any winnings (tax-free) would either buy more Premium Bonds, or be paid to our current account. Returns were tax free and poor, but better than virtually nothing from the banks; it's like gambling with your savings without any likelihood of losing it, but it minimises exposure to tax on money we earn/win.

As bank interest rates began to rise (currently 4%) we realised our Premium Bonds were not achieving this so we thought we would move our life savings back to a bank, but being aware that only the first £1000 of bank interest is given free of tax, equating to £24000 max per person, we placed some money in an ISA (because it's returns are tax free) and now monitor and balance our life savings (in the bank or as Premium Bonds),  in order to never pay tax on any of their returns. 

We are trying to avoiding tax on our life savings as best we know.

* Taxable money is money that comes to you, by whatever route, that is deemed taxable by the state and is above that deemed to be non-taxable (tax-free).  E.G. ISA's, Bank interest below £1000/person, profit from the sale of your primary dwelling, bank loans, etc. To see what tax you might pay (in the UK) take a look here.

Truism (for saving money #1)

The best form of saving is the avoidance of debt.

Personal thought - This was passed to me by dad, warning me that interest paid on a debt actually buys you nothing - you wasted that money that you worked for!

Someone who doesn't believe

Truism (regarding personal debt)

Debt is like cheap jewellery as it glitters for a while but no-one wants it from around your neck.

Personal thought - This is another from my dad's compendium of advice (to me)  about living a good life. 

Truism (for social survival)

Lying greases the wheels of society but you don't want to smell of it. 

(Seemingly now the Russian political mantra)

Personal thought - To tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is not necessarily conducive to social survival. Ask any whistleblower, unsatisfied sexual partner, politician, news reporter ....

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Truism (for the freedom to make decisions)

It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Personal thought - Some people will hold you back if they don't understand you, or worse still they do understand you and can't stand the thought of their own subjugation - so screw 'em for fearing the need for them to make or sanction a decision and do what you think is right.