It seems as if inflation is starting a slow creep back into supermarkets and gas stations—something that hasn’t happened for quite a while. For families on a tight budget, it’s hard not to notice—especially when it comes to trying to put something extra aside as a long-term investment.

By way of partially alleviating that concern, it’s worthwhile reviving some elevating insights from past eras. They stem from a chorus of exceptionally qualified voices when it comes to sophistication in investing: namely, economists, millionaires, and billionaires.

These elevating insights can be heartening whenever householders write a monthly mortgage check that pays down the principal. That only seems like a monthly expense —and hard-earned dollars out the door. In reality, those dollars are on their way to a happier place: the long-term investment column. And there’s been major agreement among history’s titans of finance that it’s a pretty smart destination, too! For example:

“The major fortunes in America have been made in land.”

That’s investment advice that doesn’t beat around the bush. It’s all the more convincing when you consider its source: the first great American oil baron—John D. Rockefeller.

Here are a few more of the many encouraging dictums that appear through the ages:

“Land…is by far the greatest of monopolies…and it is the mother of all other forms of monopoly.”

—Winston Churchill, statesman.

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“Landlords grow rich in their sleep without working, risking, or economizing.”

—John Stuart Mill, political economist.

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“Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate.”

—Andrew Carnegie, industrialist.

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“The best deal investment you can make is to buy a primary residence that you’re the owner-occupier of.”

—John Paulson, billionaire hedge fund manager.

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“Buy real estate when other people want to sell. Hold what you buy!”

—John Jacob Astor, first American multi-millionaire.

If I may, we’d like to add one more timely piece of advice:

“For any and all your own Western Slope real estate matters, just call!”

—Ris & Carol Cowan, your Western Slope Colorado REALTORS®.