Never spend beyond your limits, they would say, and save up for rainy days.
Growing up, I was taught that saving was a virtue and borrowing was frowned upon. That led me to harbour deep suspicions of the financial industry, which thrives on debt and borrowing.
Professor Chen's book smashed these preconceived notions with his clear exposition of the role of finance and financial institutions in the modern society. Through tracing the rise of debt-ridden societies, he argued that debt had allowed them to borrow from their future selves, raising more capital in the present for opportune investments. Conversely, societies with rich reserves eventually withered or collapsed when crisis struck because there were no systems in place to spread the risk into the future.
Very glad to have picked this up over the holidays. Brought fundamental shifts to my take on what finance can do for society, and would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the role of financial institutions from past to present. Note that this is a collection of essays that Prof Chen wrote from a China 2008 viewpoint. Think he has a more updated version which might be worth checking out!