One millionaire’s advice on attaining wealth

These are quotes from an individual who did not make a lot of money, yet understood the basic principles of attaining wealth. Wealth is not accumulated by what you do, but it is accumulated by what you are. It is a state of mind where the natural consequence tends to be wealth as you define it. This is different for each individual, therefore I will not provide a static definition. Therefore, if you have goals to achieve a desired level of wealth, then the simple solution is to be that which you strive for. Once you become that, then you will ultimately bring all that you want into your life. Opportunities will begin to present themselves to you, you will come across financial information that are aligned to your goals, people will come into your life to help you…it is great how this works.

These are the quotes from one of our blogging relatives…FreeMoneyFinance

• “The real secret is to spend less than you earn. I don’t care how much you earn, you spend less than you earn. Spend less than you earn. This is true whether you’re on welfare or a millionaire.”
  The idea here is presented by most personal finance professionals; a very simple and fundamental formula. The opposite to this leads to leverage. Avoid leverage at all costs.
  
• “No smoking or alcohol consumption. This has nothing to do with morals and health – okay, maybe health – it’s all about the money.”
  This refers to expensive habits.
  
• “No-load mutual funds are the only way to go. To give anybody 3-4% of your money off the top is insane.”
  No-load mutual funds are funds where you do not have to pay the managers commission up front when purchasing. I agree, this is the way to go. There are many no-load mutual funds that are also low cost (very low expense ratio). See Vanguard to begin with.
  
• “Volunteer to help others.”
  Giving is always useful. I wrote an article a while ago on the benefits of charitable giving as it pertains to wealth. See Wealth and Charitable Giving.
  
• “I can buy whatever I want. Not need, but want. I just don’t want very much.”
  When you don’t want very much, you do not have a desire for a lot of material possessions. This allows you to retain a lot of your wealth. This is a great mindset to develop. Focus on what you need, not want. When you do so, everything becomes available to you, because you desire nothing.
  
• “Wealth is created by investing money, not by working longer and harder.”
  Invest now. There is no point to wait. Your money should be working for you; it should not only be the other way around. Each year you wait reduces the amount of money you can earn through the power of compounding over time.

8 Keys to Financial Success

1. You need to have great role models that influence your life.

There are many people that have had a positive influence on my life; I consider them all role models. However, the main individuals that have impacted my life today are my parents, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. David Hawkins and Warren Buffett. My parents taught me the benefits of hard work and education, Dr. Dyer and Dr. Hawkins both taught me that the most important part of life is one’s spiritual development and that we must be kind and loving to all of life, and Warren Buffett taught me the value of investing in businesses for the long term and philanthropy. I have chosen these individuals because their philosophies resonate on a very deep level with me and I think they are great at what they do, operating with the highest of integrity.

 

2. Learn as much as you can.

Education is very important and learning must never stop. Most successful people will tell you that they learn something new each and every day. This is why it is important to do what you love doing, otherwise, you would not care about learning more about it. Strive to become better at what you do and you are guaranteed success.

 

3. Marry the right person.

This is undoubtedly one of the most important decisions in your life. Be sure that you are marrying for the right reasons and that you understand the person and yourself. Marry someone that you are aligned with otherwise you may end up in a divorce which brings stress, financial despair and unhappiness. It is not easy to tell if it is the right person, but once you fully internalize it, you will not regret the experience no matter how things go.

 

4.  Be the best employee you can be.

Your primary job is where you generate the majority of your income, therefore it is crucial to be the best at this by improving your job skills. Your value will increase in your company along with your potential for future growth. When layoffs occur, you will not be one of the unfortunate ones to lose their jobs.

 

5. Start saving now.

As soon as you receive your first paycheck, start a savings plan and stick to it. Over time, the combination of the magic of compounding and your financial discipline will increase your net worth drastically. You should contribute to your 401k or 403b retirement plans and consider Roth IRAs and other investment vehicles as well. Pay yourself first…

 

6. Live frugally.

Live within your means. This is a fundamental principle to follow to achieve financial success.

 

7. Increase your knowledge of personal finance and investing.

In order to manage your finance, it is to learn as much as you can about investing and personal finance. Read as much books or blogs as you can; every bit of knowledge helps. You will realize how much more confidence you will gain as your knowledge increases.

 

8. Start a business

Most of the wealthy individuals in the United States today own their businesses. Not many inherited wealth as many of us may think. Consider starting a business based on something you are great at and passionate about. The rewards will follow.

 

If you have any other keys you would like to share, leave a comment. Can’t wait to hear them.

5 Habits of Millionaires Worthy of Emulating

These are five (5) common traits of millionaires that allow them to be successful:

1. They focus on saving and investing.
They don’t have the desire to spend money as soon as it is earned. Instead, they have an innate ability to delay immediate gratification for future gain. This has a huge benefit in that you focus on saving and investing money for the future, allowing your money to grow significantly over time. The magic of compounding then kicks in, and wealth is the natural condition that prevails. Many wealthy individuals live quite simply choosing financial independence over material ownership.

2. They are able to focus their efforts on a project and make it successful.
They have the ability to set their minds to a task and pursue it with an undeniable focus. It is recommended that goals are clearly defined, which makes it easier for one to focus. “Winners focus, losers spray.”

3. They are willing to sacrifice to make ideas successful.
They are willing to do whatever it takes to make their ideas successful, even if it involves a degree of sacrifice. People who earn millions are able to focus and persevere in the pursuit of their goals. It may require endless hours of reading, learning new things, working extra hours, starting a new business etc.

4. They take calculated risks.
They take risks that are more likely to pay off in the future. Strategic risks are needed to earn and grow money. The younger you are, the more risks you are able to take, since you have more than enough time to recover.

5. They are generous.
They understand that they are blessed to have a wealthy status and share what they have earned with society. Read this previous post on Wealth and Charitable Donations.

Warren Buffett once said that if you want to be a certain way, you should exhibit the qualities that you admire in other people. Therefore, if you want to attain wealth, you should exhibit qualities that are common in many of today’s successful millionaires. These characteristics are not a bad place to start.

10 Ways to Becoming a Millionaire

1. Reduce consumption and increase investments. This is the most fundamental equation in increasing net worth.

2. Create a budget and stick to it. It is important to know where you spend your money.

3. Increase your financial knowledge. Read as much as you can about personal finance. It will soon become habitual and you will automatically act in ways that are beneficial to your financial success.

4. Make contributions to your investment vehicles on a consistent basis. Keep focused and continuously put money into your investments. Dollar cost average + time can increase returns significantly.

5. Start a part-time business to increase income and take advantage of tax write-offs. Starting a business is a great way to achieve financial independence. Being frugal is great, but ultimately you have to increase your income to be wealthy; starting a business is a great way to do so.

6. Surround yourself with like-minded people who believe and support your goals. One of the best ways to achieve a particular goal is to put yourself around people who have already achieved it, or people who have similar goals. It helps keep the focus and the experienced may provide priceless advice when it comes to financial decisions they have made when they were at your level.

7. Find great CPAs and other trusted advisors. There comes a point where it is wise to seek financial advice. If you have a friend or mentor that has these qualifications, seek advisement from time to time. Make ample use of your network.

8. Set short and long term goals. Setting short term goals helps you see more readily attainable tangible results and keeps you on track to your long term goals.

9. Make a commitment to become a millionaire. There is nothing more important than the declaration of becoming a millionaire. Clearly stating that you want to become a millionaire actually increases the possibility of that actually occurring; all part of the Heisenberg Principle.

10. Start now. Time is your friend when it comes to investing. The earlier you start, the faster you can reach your goals. The power of compounding begins to work its magic.

Personal Finance in One Page – Part 3

Live Frugal

1. Maximize Every Dollar

Every time you spend money, you make a decision. Only you can decide what a dollar is worth and therefore make a value trade. The real key in maximizing your dollar is to raise your definition of what a dollar is worth.

Here is a list of a few tactics for reducing your spending and saving more money. See e-book for full list of 100. These are some of the main ones that stood out when I read through them. Great points to consider here.

i. Switch your bank accounts to a bank that respects you.

ii. Turn off the television.

iii. Master the thirty day rule. When you’re considering making an unnecessary purchase, wait thirty days and then ask yourself if you still want that item.

iv. Write a list before you go shopping and stick to it.

v. Invite friends over instead of going out.

vi. Give up expensive habits, like cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.

vii. Turn off lights before you leave.

viii. Install CFL or LED bulbs wherever it makes sense.

ix. Hide your credit cards.

x. Do a price comparison – and find a cheaper grocery store.

xi. Don’t spend money just to de-stress.

xii. Cancel unused club memberships.

xiii.  Do holiday shopping right after the holidays.

xiv. Try generic brands of items you buy regularly.

xv. Prepare some meals at home.

xvi. Go for reliability and fuel efficiency when buying a car.

xvii. Learn how to dress minimally.

xviii. Look for a cheaper place to live.

xix. Hit the library, hard.

xx. Find out about all the benefits of your job.

xxi. Read more.

xxii. Set up automatic debt repayment on your student loans.

xxiii. Exercise more.

xxiv. Always keep looking ahead.

xxv. Never give up.

 

2. Break Your Bad Habits

Spend some time looking at where you spend a lot of money and cut these routines out. Do you really need to buy a $5.00 cup of coffee every morning of the workweek. That adds up. Look at the things you do every day that requires you to spend a lot of money and make a decision whether or not they are necessary or could be replaced.

3. Master the 10 Second Rule

Whenever you pick up an item to add it to your cart, stop for 10 seconds and ask yourself why you are buying it and whether you actually need it or not. If you can’t find a good answer, put the item back. This helps with impulse buying.

4. Don’t Make Yourself Miserable

Don’t cut down on spending to the expense of the present. If you feel something is worthwhile, then do it. The main objective is to cut down on the unnecessary, not drive yourself crazy saving.

5. Don’t Forget the Big Picture

Because you have money, that does not mean that you should purchase an item. Consider your ultimate financial goal and determine what is a need to what is a fleeting desire.

 

Thank you for Trent of the Simple Dollar for allowing the free distribution of this e-book. For the entire e-book, click on link below. 

Everything you ever really needed to know about personal finance in one page, by Trent Hamm.

RELATED LINKS:

Personal Finance in One Page: Part 1
Personal Finance in One Page: Part 2
Personal Finance in One Page: Part 3
Personal Finance in One Page: Part 4
Personal Finance in One Page: Part 5

10 Habits to Create Wealth

This is a great post done by Christian PF. These are the 10 habits.

1. Make it your daily mission to find your true financial purpose.
Know exactly what you want to achieve financially. Is it financial independence, zero debt or a new home? Set goals, know what you are saving for, why you are saving and what meaning the end results would have.

2. Make new choices daily.
To create wealth requires a change of habit. More attention must be paid to each dollar; every dollar must be seen as valuable. It is not that you are being extremely frugal, but it is a mindset that must be created that embeds in your consciousness the value of money. Now the choices you make will automatically be influenced. For example, you will choose to make lunch at home to take to work instead of spending $10 a day dining out.

3. Associate with positive, like-minded individuals.
Minimize your exposure to negative people. It is amazing the effect they can have on you. Connect more with people who are positive and motivating. These people can make you believe that anything is achievable, and this is an important step in creating wealth; first believing that you can.

4. Educate yourself daily.
Attempt to learn more about finances. It may sound overwhelming or challenging, but it is really not. Any topic that you are not familiar with may seem intimidating. So all that is really needed is familiarity. Familiarize yourself with topics of personal finance and investing so that you will be knowledgeable about it. It does take time and effort. Subscribe to a personal finance or investing blog that you like and read it daily. Every little bit of knowledge helps. Trust me.

5. Practice self-control.
Do not act on impulse. With this new mindset in #2, every decision to purchase is evaluated based on need and priority. Yes, there are times where you treat yourself, but even those times are evaluated, because financial independence, by your own definition, is what your main priority is. So you develop the ability to defer gratification as independence is more important than getting the latest gadget that is released.

6. Hire a team of advisors.
The knowledge that you can get from these advisors is priceless. Right now, I am self-educated and do a lot of reading myself, but I do understand the importance of experience that a tax planner, or accountant may bring.

7. Develop the habit of analyzing your expected return on each investment you make.
For every investment you make, consider what your return is. Profit is highly dependent on the purchase price not the sale price. Pay a low enough price for an asset, and the high return would be automatic. The best investment you can make is in yourself, so dedicate a lot of time to self-improvement and self-development; the return on this investment will usually be ten-fold.

8. Don’t try to look wealthy, look to become wealthy.
This is an obvious point that is overlooked. I thank ChristianPF for mentioning this. Focus on your assets and not your liabilities. Assets create value for you. Liabilities, on the other hand, take value from you; that is, they require you to make payments. Liabilities are also items that you buy that do not add any value, but lose value over time as well. However, know that they can serve beneficial purposes; keep that in mind. For example, books bought to educate yourself on personal finance lose value over time, but do give you a lot of knowledge. Minimize your payments you make and increase the payments coming to you.

9. Give generously to others. Share your time, money, and assets.
Most wealthy individuals understand the importance of giving. Giving can be done in different capacities; giving of knowledge, time, money or resources. The realization that one has the capacity to help others achieve what they want is a great advance of consciousness. Dr. Wayne Dyer said that the best way to achieve what one wants in life is to give it to others. I totally agree with this. By giving it away to others, you would realize that you had it all along. I wrote a recent article on the importance of giving. It is one of my favorites. Check it out. Wealth and Charitable Donations

10. Most important, Always stay true to your principles.
Warren Buffett said that if something seems too good to be true, then it usually is. Always stick to what you understand and do not chase after get rich quick schemes. Once you stick to what you understand, you will be clear as to what the risks are and the surprises will be minimum. This becomes so very important when you start investing.

Inspired by a great post from ChristianPF.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TIP or WHAT OTHER TIPS DO YOU HAVE TO SHARE WITH US?

Wealth and Charitable donations

A recent conversation with a friend inspired me to write this. Many of us, at some point, would love to give back to charity for a variety of reasons.

i. It means that we are financially secure and in a position where we can give back. That alone says a lot.

ii. It allows us to feel good about the act as we know that we are helping others.

iii. We feel good about ourselves for doing so.

However, I think we really underestimate the importance of charitable giving. Why do I think it so important?

Success is a field that one creates

Many do not realize that material or financial success is the result of a state that is created. It is the result of an energy field of abundance that one generates. Contemplate on this for a moment; if you think that you lack something, there is no other way for that to be interpreted by the Universe; it recognizes that as lack. Therefore, if you say you do not have money to give, then that is precisely the experience you will have and continue to have. You merely have to think it and that will be your experience. We all know how powerful our thoughts are.

 

What you hold in mind tends to manifest

This idea may sound familiar to you; it is often referred to it as the law of attraction or the law of abundance. These laws are right; what you think about tends to manifest. For those who understand quantum mechanics and the Heisenberg Principle, it refers to the idea that once you think of something (once the concept is observed by the observer), you collapse the wave function, and now potentiality can become actuality. Essentially, once an idea is held in mind, you increase the possibility of it occurring. This can be a positive idea, or a negative idea.

A typical example is that of a negative person. It is usually the case that this person will have a negative view of the world that is seemingly justified by experience. What is unfortunate is the person does not realize that they are in essence creating their negative experience that just reinforces their thoughts, and it is not the experience that is the cause of the negative feelings. As soon as this realization occurs, the person will witness the experience changing as a result of having a different perception; a different way of seeing and thinking about things.

 

The rich get richer and the poor gets poorer

It is no coincidence that the poor get poorer and rich get richer. The poor tends to creates a field of energy that emanates poverty, debt, unemployment, lack and so forth. By the law of attraction, these experiences are drawn towards them and they end up in a never-ending cycle of lack. On the other hand, the wealthy and successful exhibit different qualities. They emanate energies that are aligned to abundance, opportunity, employment and so forth, and therefore attract those sort of experiences. This is why many charitable models or programs that choose to give money to poor neighborhoods are not successful because the existing energy field is not influenced. Similar behaviors are still exhibited when the impoverished are given money and the money will inevitably be wasted. However, if funds are instead directed to education, or provide facilities to them, they are soon able to rise out of it and help themselves. This has proven to be more successful.

 

Give now, don’t wait.

In order to create an energy field of abundance around you today, give today. If you think that you do not have enough to give now, then you are exhibiting lack of abundance and this is what your experience will be. Establish a mentality where giving is habitual and you will see how different your experience is. Give now, why wait? Giving in any capacity now says to the Universe that you already have abundance and you will therefore attract abundance. The only way to influence an energy field is to be the energy field.

Considerations when making charitable donations

1. Give to an organization or cause that you are passionate about. This makes the feeling much better. Once you feel better, you automatically generate a different energy.

2. Give any amount. Many believe that you have to give large amount to have an impact, but every little amount helps. Imagine if everyone gave a little, how much would that be? I donate to Kiva.org monthly and I love it. I read up on the stories of people starting businesses worldwide and help someone I really feel for. It is a great way to help others help themselves.

3. Give consistently in order to establish this as a habit. It becomes easier with time. The effects are enormous.

 

The 12 Secrets of Wealth

This article discusses some simple yet, great ideas on achieving financial independence. These could be considered secrets, but they aren’t really. Most of these points we all know of.

Here are a dozen of the non-secret "secrets".

1. Pay off your credit cards.

With credit card rates at 15% to 20% (or even more), there's just no risk-free investment that can provide you with as good a guaranteed return as you'll get by paying off your high-interest credit cards. (If you have multiple credit cards, pay off the one with the highest rate first.) Once you've paid off your credit cards, only charge what you can afford to pay off in full each month.

2. Live below your means.

Try to save at least 10% of your income. (20% would obviously be even better.) Regardless of how much money you make, if you don't live below your means, you'll never achieve financial independence (unless, that is, you hit the lottery or get a large inheritance, and I wouldn't recommend planning your financial well-being around either of these options).

3. Differentiate between needs and wants.

Fund your needs and try to minimize your spending on the "wants". (You'll want to discuss your goals, and how you plan to achieve them, with your spouse or partner. It's so much easier when you're both on the same page, working as a team to achieve your financial goals.)

4. Start to save and invest early.

Pay yourself first. The earlier you start, the more time you'll have to let the power of compounding go to work for you.

5. Establish an asset allocation plan that's appropriate for you.

Determine the percentage of your portfolio that you want in equities and the percentage you want in bonds, based on your needs and your risk tolerance. (In your planning, remember that over your investing career, you'll inevitably experience at least one bear market (perhaps more), during which you should be prepared to lose as much as 50% of your equity holdings. So, a portfolio that's 80% equities and 20% bonds could lose ~40% in a bear market. You need to set your asset allocation according to the amount of risk you're willing to take so that you don't panic and sell at the bottom of a bear market, after the damage has already been done.)

6. Invest in a diversified portfolio of low-cost mutual funds.

Choose the low cost funds needed to flesh out your asset allocation plan. (I'd recommend Vanguard, the low-cost leader.)

7. Contribute to your company retirement plan

(at least enough to get the company match). If your company doesn't have a match, and has poor investment choices with high costs, consider other available options.

8. Contribute additional money if you can.

If you qualify, fund a Roth or Traditional IRA.Then fund your taxable account.

9. Minimize taxes.

When you invest in a taxable account, place your tax-inefficient holdings (like bonds) in your tax-deferred accounts and tax-efficient funds (like Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index Fund) in your taxable account.

10. Save part of every raise.

When you get a raise, invest at least half of it. (Even being able to spend the other half of your raise is an increase in your spending, so you can certainly do it!)

11. Rebalance.

When you rebalance back to your desired asset allocation, you're controlling risk. (You're selling high and buying low, and that's the "secret" to successful investing.)

12. Stick to your plan

and watch your financial garden grow. (You do have a plan, don't you? See #5.)

ARTICLE CREDIT: Morningstar.com

http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?postId=2660897

Balance happiness today with the security of tomorrow

The inspiration for this piece comes from a story I read on Get Rich Slowly. The blog post talks about a couple who spent their entire lives saving money only to die without having had the chance to use it.

After reading many of the comments that the readers left, I got a sense as to what the community thought. I must say it varied; it is very intriguing to read. I recommend taking a look at it. The link will be posted below at the end of my reflection on it.

Brief Summary of Story
The husband of an elderly couple passed away and his wife found out through the accountant that she had approximately $4 million in savings; money that she was not aware of. She went on to say that she wanted to do so many things in her life; buy nice clothing etc., but was never able to because of financial reasons. So she then went out and started buying things she always wanted, only to die a week later than her husband.

Reflection
The overarching message in this story is to have BALANCE. Yes, from the perspective of personal finance, it is important to be frugal, and pay specific attention to expenditures, but it should not be at the sacrifice of your happiness. As the title of my blog posting says, we should balance happiness today with the security of tomorrow.

What do I mean
Well I believe it to be a wise choice to prepare for the future, but it should not be at the expense of the present moment. You only get to experience life now, so your present should be given highest priority. Consequently, there is a difference between doing that  and impulsive spending on things you think you want or need that will make you happy. One says that you should really take the time and invest in yourself; things that you really enjoy, you should do it, but it should be done wisely and everything should be taken into consideration; other activities, expenses, education, children, spouse etc. On the other hand, one could merely make impulsive purchases, buy unnecessary things without future considerations, be reckless with money and rack up a lot of debt, and do not save or invest. This normally does not create a condition for future wealth.

I do think that doing things that you love allows you to really connect to Divinity, that creates a condition of fulfillment.

Deeper meaning

“There is no correlation between money and happiness.”

It would otherwise be very difficult to find someone with very little money who is happy. Or, most people with a lot of money will have the highest level of happiness. You can see how idiotic those statements are. Another way to look at this is to really think about where your happiness comes from. Happiness is a state of perception. Dr. Wayne Dyer said it and he was right.

“Everything that I experience in my life is a result of my perception of what’s out there in the world.”

At a certain level you realize that happiness is a state within and is not achieved by striving for things on the outside. There is nothing out there that can bring happiness into your life. Change your perception and change your life; amazing things will happen.

Check out the article and the comments at Get Rich Slowly here >>>

Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps to Financial Success

As I have always mentioned, the intention of this blog is to provide you with solid information that will allow you to make sensible decisions when it comes to money and personal finance. After reading studying many books and reading many blogs, one starts to have a sense as to what is good information from what does not work. Even though money management is different for different people in different situations, certain information works very well in general. This blog posting on The Digerati Life provides a great and simple breakdown of Dave Ramsey's basic steps to financial success.

I have listed the steps briefly; click Dave Ramsey's book to purchase from Amazon. Highly Recommended.

DAVE RAMSEY'S BABY STEPS

1. Save up for a small emergency fund.
This is very important and is usually very liquid cash that you can access quickly in the case of an emergency.

2. Pay off your debts with the debt snowball strategy.
A very important step in being free of financial distress.

3. Grow (or extend) your emergency fund.
This should equate to approximately 3 - 6 months of your expenses.

4. Save and invest in your retirement.
Put money in your employers 401k or 403b; enough to get the matching. Next, open up an IRA; a traditional or a Roth IRA depending on whether or not you think you will be in a higher tax bracket closer to retirement (which means that you should have a Roth IRA now).

5. Save for your child's college fund.
Open up a 529 plan. Save for your child's college fund. Let's face it, it's not getting any cheaper. The earlier you start the better.

6. Pay off your home mortgage early.
Once you get to this step, you can contribute more to your mortgage.

7. Continue saving, build your wealth, invest and give.
This is a great position to be in; just focus on growing your net worth.

 

Click here to read further. >>>

10 Ways to Wealth by Warren Buffett

"Buy a business that's so good, any idiot can run it, because sooner or later, one will"

These ideas came from Warren Buffett's true autobiography, written by Alice Schroeder, The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life. If you know me, you are aware that I have the highest level of respect for Warren Buffett; as a businessman, investor and a person. His values and integrity are unlike no other in the business world and I consider myself to be blessed to have lived in a time where I could be a witness to someone of this status and character living the way he does. He is truly an inspiration.

Let's take a look at the 10 ways that are stated in his book.

1. Reinvest your profits - most of the returns in the market comes from dividend reinvestment.
2. Be willing to be different - be your own person and do not follow the crowd.
3. Never suck your thumb - do not wait for a lower price when a great opportunity is staring at you. Do not try to predict the market.
4. Spell out the deal before you start - know exactly what your expectations are before making an investment; one should be able to summarize any good investment in one paragraph.
5. Watch small expenses - be careful of commissions and fees.
6. Limit what you borrow - do not borrow on margin.
7. Be persistent - continue to learn and have faith in your decisions.
8. Know when to quit - do not become attached to your stocks; stocks do not know that you own them. Sell if business fundamentals have changed.
9. Assess the risks - know your risk tolerance.
10. Know what success really means - success is not about making money; know what it means to you.

I highly recommend this book and it should be read by all young investors and businessmen out there.

Also, if you are interested in understanding Warren Buffett's investment philosophy more, check out my other blog, Buffettucation

"I know people who have a lot of money," he says, "and they get testimonial dinners and hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. When you get to my age, you'll measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. That's the ultimate test of how you've lived your life."