What kind of financial advice is that anyway? Well, actually, grasshopper, it's the simple and "to-the-point" kind, and it happens to be true, at least in my humble opinion. I'll explain.

There are some things which everyone already knows: like how the Chinese have a habit of saving and Americans have a habit of spending. But not everyone knows that the Chinese are now spending as well. Some are just waking up to this fact or they may have heard that the Chinese people want the same living standard as Americans do.

This is usually as far as it goes as most Americans believe this doesn't affect them. It affects us in that we Americans buy mostly from the Chinese and that's where our savings goes, and also, in that we can learn a great deal from their financial habits as opposed to ours.

Lets take savings for instance. China has a deeply ingrained attitude that saving is prudent, which it is. They have done this for long periods of time, for generations, so it is second nature to them. By contrast, Americans have forsaken savings when it was no longer prudent to save. The motivation to save was taken away by the financial engineering of government interests. You could get rich if you flipped houses on credit.

When it comes to spending, we Americans have that down pact. The trouble is, spending was done on credit. In other words, when there was no money to spend, they spent anyway. Any future savings is now spent on paying it back. What did we buy? Vacations, cars, second houses, more debt, things we wanted. By contrast again, the Chinese are now spending vast amounts of what they have saved and they are spending it on the right things. What did they buy? Businesses, mostly in the sectors of manufacturing, finance, natural resources, base and precious metals, all things they need.

So the lesson, and very sound financial advice, is this: Spend only after you have saved, not what you don't have. Spend your savings on the "right" things, such as businesses and things of value. This is what the Chinese are doing and they do it well. You would be wise to imitate them.