How to save money -- for real this time

I was reading this article on some blog and realized that I should really post FOTA's guide to money management. Here it is:

Spend less than you earn.

There you go, there's how you save boatloads of money.

But for the dense fools who need more tips on how to do this, here you go:

1. Get a charge card, not a credit card. Credit cards are for rubes. Charge cards say "I'm going to pay this off in the next 30 days, because I know what the hell I'm doing." As far as I know, there's only one charge card around that's worth a damn, and that's American Express. A plain old green card will do. There is no spending limit. They're the best customer service around. And for god sakes, they just leave you alone instead of calling and spamming you all the time.
   
2. Track your spending using Quicken or Money. With these new fangled online banking sites, it's about as easy as it could ever possibly be to balance your checkbook. Just do it, once a week, once a month, whatever.
   
3. Savings accounts are mostly a waste of time. People brag about getting 4% a year? I aim to make 20%+ a year in my investments (see below). Your savings are much better put into investments. Keep $5K in savings, maximum. If the economy goes so sour that your investment account would be worth nothing, don't worry, your savings would be worth nothing either. It's called hyperinflation. For your investment account, set up with a tax-free municipal money market fund. You get interest and don't pay taxes on it.
   
4. 401(k). Now why 20-somethings max out their 401(k) is beyond me. Here's the problem: 401(k)s are only tax-deferred only for as long as the Federal government says so. So if they change the law 15 years from now, you're SOL. If they change the law that you have to pay more taxes on it when you take it out, you're SOL. Max it out once you have hundreds of thousands saved up elsewhere or a really sweet deal from your employer in terms of match. Otherwise, put a token amount in there.
   

Investments. I'll try to keep this brief.

1. Sell as soon as you think you've made enough profit and don't look back. It's better to make a profit than to lose that profit holding on for more.
   
2. Beware of low volume trading days where the stock climbs for no reason. If you're thinking about selling, that would probably be a good day to do it. Oftentimes these kinds of climbs are due to shorters.
   
3. Don't buy more stock after you've lost a lot of money on a non-growth stock. I've made this mistake a couple times and actually keep doing it. Your money would be better spent in a stock that has more potential upside than trying to wait for a bloated behemoth to move back upwards.
   
4. Do not -- repeat do not -- do not take capital gains into consideration when thinking of selling before a year. If you make a great gain and you think of selling, then sell and pay the taxes. It's better to pay more taxes than to lose money by trying to hold on too long.
   
5. For those of you with stock options at a company, never exercise your options before you're ready to sell. There are tax implications and risks in doing this and it's not worth it unless your options are worth $1m+. For $5K of options, just exercise and sell immediately.
   
6. Added onto that, never ever exercise options in a non-public company. I know many people who have and it's absolutely foolish to do.
   
7. Lastly, remember that the stock market is almost entirely speculative and has been for the better part of a decade. Hardly anyone pays dividends anymore. Fundamentals matter less than the perception of the stock. Just like money itself, a stock is only worth as much as it is perceived to be worth. It's worth looking at technicals, but at the end of the day, that seems to be the only thing that matters anymore.

Good luck to you all.