Most people I've found are either optimists or pessimists. They're either full blown di-art optimists who get washed out when the economic cycle turns. And they never take advantage of the progress and productivity that happens over time. If you can just avoid disaster and be patient, you don't need to make many smart decisions for your optimism to actually pay off.
There are only a handful of financial rules, ideas, and observations that really move the needle -- and explain the majority of what you need to know to do better with your money.
I could have narrowed this down to 10, but I had fun with this thought experiment, so here are my top 30 rules of the money game.