A revocable living trust allows your heirs to avoid probate entirely and keeps you in complete control of your finances while you're alive. You can always make changes to what's in the trust and to how you'd ultimately like it managed or disbursed.

I want to be clear here: It does not matter what you say in your will or trust; the beneficiary document attached to your IRA accounts and your life insurance policy overrides what you say elsewhere. If you want to change the beneficiary, you must change the beneficiary document.

Prenups are so unromantic - a sign of distrust, not love. Time for a reality check, my friends. First, drawing up a prenuptial agreement together is a sign of incredible trust and financial openness - you're fooling yourself if you think you can achieve complete intimacy without it.

The key to making money is to stay invested.

Your goal should be to pay off your credit card bills in full at the end of each month and set aside money toward your emergency savings.

To make the most of your money, I recommend sticking with mutual funds that don't charge a commission when you buy or sell.

The foundation of a financial fresh start actually has nothing to do with money or specific financial dos and don'ts.

The foundation of a financial fresh start actually has nothing to do with money or specific financial dos and don'ts. The first, and most difficult, step is to absolve yourself and your spouse or partner of any guilt.

Learn to recognize true wealth. Money itself will not make you financially free. That comes as a result of only that powerful state of mind which tells us that we are worth far more than our money.

Many people are in the dark when it comes to money, and I'm going to turn on the lights.

Money is such an amazing teacher: What you choose to do with your money shows whether you are truly powerful or powerless.

In all realms of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfill your potential... it's no different in the financial realm.

A wise woman knows how to summon her courage and do what is right, rather than what is easy.

Courage is not always about action. It takes courage to do nothing rather than do something that you do not believe in or understand.

Owning a home is a keystone of wealth - both financial affluence and emotional security.

It's easy to underestimate the real cost of home ownership.

While a reverse mortgage can indeed be a viable way to generate income, it is very important to understand that after you take out a reverse mortgage, you will still be responsible for paying the property tax, the insurance premium, and all the maintenance costs for your home.

If a child, a spouse, a life partner, or a parent depends on you and your income, you need life insurance.

I take friendship very seriously.

But theater, because of its nature, both text, images, multimedia effects, has a wider base of communication with an audience. That's why I call it the most social of the various art forms.

I grew up in an atmosphere where words were an integral part of culture.

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

My understanding of the creative process is simply that all cultures and all concerns meet at a certain point, the human point in which everything is related to one another. That has been my creative experience. I never know who's influencing me at any time.

Trading and religion have always been aligned together in the history of the world, and especially on the African continent.

And gradually they're beginning to recognize the fact that there's nothing more secure than a democratic, accountable, and participatory form of government. But it's sunk in only theoretically, it has not yet sunk in completely in practical terms.

There's no way to escape the culture that has evolved, from which we ourselves have evolved. Naturally, we stress it, break it up, reassemble it to suit our own needs. But it is there - a source of vital strength.

Each time I think I've created time for myself, along comes a throwback to disrupt my private space.

No writer has a right to make that much money. Indeed, without diabolical assistance, no writer can.

My horizon on humanity is enlarged by reading the writers of poems, seeing a painting, listening to some music, some opera, which has nothing at all to do with a volatile human condition or struggle or whatever. It enriches me as a human being.

I began writing early - very, very early... I was already writing short stories for the radio and selling poems to poetry and art festivals; I was involved in school plays; I wrote essays, so there was no definite moment when I said, 'Now I'm a writer.' I've always been a writer.

I like my peace and quiet whenever I can grab it.

And I believe that the best learning process of any kind of craft is just to look at the work of others.

Given the scale of trauma caused by the genocide, Rwanda has indicated that however thin the hope of a community can be, a hero always emerges. Although no one can dare claim that it is now a perfect state, and that no more work is needed, Rwanda has risen from the ashes as a model or truth and reconciliation.

Under a dictatorship, a nation ceases to exist. All that remains is a fiefdom, a planet of slaves regimented by aliens from outer space.

There is something really horrific for any human being who feels he is being consumed by other people. I'm talking about a writer's critics, who don't address what you've written, but want to probe into your existence and magnify the trivia of your life without any sense of humor, without any sense of context.

I've learned from my dealings with Johnny Carson that no matter what kind of friendship you think you have with people you're working with, when the chips are down, it's all about business.

The ideal beauty is a fugitive which is never found.

The first time I see a jogger smiling, I'll consider it.

People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.

Don't tell your kids you had an easy birth or they won't respect you. For years I used to wake up my daughter and say, 'Melissa you ripped me to shreds. Now go back to sleep.'.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God's gift, that's why we call it the present.

If God wanted us to bend over he'd put diamonds on the floor.

Thank God we're living in a country where the sky's the limit, the stores are open late and you can shop in bed thanks to television.

My mother loved entertaining, and I've followed suit, so we have big celebrations for New Year, Passover, Thanksgiving and birthdays.

Trust me, there's not one night a week I'm not in a theater somewhere. I adore theater, and I go out with friends, so I do have some nights off.

Don't follow any advice, no matter how good, until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think in your mind that the counsel is wise.

Comedy is learning to be funny, and you learn to be funny in small rooms with young audiences.

Part of my act is meant to shake you up. It looks like I'm being funny, but I'm reminding you of other things. Life is tough, darling. Life is hard. And we better laugh at everything; otherwise, we're going down the tube.

Life goes by fast. Enjoy it. Calm down. It's all funny. Next. Everyone gets so upset about the wrong things.

I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again.