Carol often writes about things she learned from her dad. In this case, financial lessons. In her recent post on entrepreneur.com, “How an Electrician’s Lessons Could Have Saved Hollywood Stars Millions,” Carol begins:

“Celebrities are too often in the news for their financial perils. Despite making millions, poor fiscal management and oversight gets the best of them. In the past few weeks, headlines have included Alyssa Milano suing her business manager for $10 million after she accused him of sending her into financial ruin and Johnny Depp having to sell-off prized possessions after alleging that his managers caused him to lose of $40 million.

These celebrities could have avoided these issues if they would have just listened to an electrician. That’s right — the best financial advice I learned came from my very fiscally responsible father, Bernie, who didn’t graduate from college and spent his life as a tradesman but knew exactly what to do with a buck.

Here are his lessons so you can implement them into your lifestyle and make sure that you stay clear of financial misfortune.

It’s not what you make, it’s what you save. 

This was one of my dad’s favorite sayings and he said it often, often accompanied by “keep your nut low,” which meant that your overhead — like your mortgage, cars, food and other staples — can limit the amount of your financial flexibility, so keep that in check.

My dad lived this mantra, living with his mother until he got married at age 36 (and this was back in the late 50s to early 70s), so he could save every penny to have enough to start his life with fewer struggles once he got married.

He would impress upon me and my sister not only to not extend beyond our means, but to live significantly below them because, as he noted, if you make a lot of money and spend it all, you still end up broke.

This is an important lesson for celebrities like Alyssa and Johnny, who make a lot but spend too lavishly. It’s an important lesson for you, as well, to make sure you’re putting a meaningful part of each paycheck away so you aren’t living from one payday to the next.

You can delegate financial tasks, but you can’t abdicate your financial responsibility.

Managing financial affairs is not everyone’s strong suit (or at least not what many people consider fun). The more money you make, the more complicated it can be. So, while it makes sense to get help with the execution and the expertise of managing financial affairs, you need to remain responsible for the oversight.”

You can read the rest of the post here.