7 Surprising Financial Tips From Billionaires

Being a billionaire is a financial accomplishment that few of us will ever achieve unless you just happen to win a particularly robust casino jackpot. But according to Forbes, there are still around 2,781 individuals whose finances have surpassed the billion dollar mark. These people have achieved unparalleled financial success in their fields, some of whom have done that through sheer luck or familial ties. But others worked hard to earn their wealth — some by traditional means and others by utilizing savvy and unorthodox methods. Here are seven surprising financial tips from billionaires.

Embrace Being Cheap

Chris Sacca is a self-made billionaire who made his vast wealth as an early investor in companies such as Uber and Instagram. One of his best pieces of advice is to embrace being a cheapskate in order to open up a wider array of opportunities later in life. In a 2017 interview, Sacca recommended to college students that being cheap now “means so much more freedom and choices later.” The idea is to responsibly invest what little money you have rather than blow it at a fancy bar or restaurant. By making these sacrifices as early as possible, those investments will compound into incredible wealth over time. So even if you’re not a college student, try to become a cheapskate as soon as you can, and your wealth will only grow from there.

Failure Is Helpful

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú didn’t get to where he is without enduring many setbacks. In a 2010 speech, he told an audience, “When we face our problems, they disappear. So learn from failure and let success be the silent incentive.” This is why you should never fear failure, which far too many people do. The more cautious you are, the less likely you are to take the risks necessary to succeed. Even when you fail, you can learn valuable life lessons that’ll help you going forward and be closer to perfect in the future.

Avoid the Stock Market

Mark Cuban is one of the richest men on the planet, but he didn’t become a billionaire by investing in the stock market. In fact, he derides the stock market as being one of the least valuable tools for earning wealth. Cuban once said, “The stock market is probably the worst investment vehicle out there… NEVER put your money in something where you don’t have an information advantage.” In a sense, that’s a very good point — there’s no reason to invest in something when your knowledge is no different from everyone else. All this is to say that putting your investments into the stock market makes it far harder to stand out from the pack and earn significantly more.

Live Simply

If you hit it big, you may be tempted to invest in a massive multi-million dollar home. But that wasn’t ever the case for billionaire Warren Buffett, who still lives in the same home in Omaha, Nebraska, that he bought in 1958 for $31,500 (roughly equivalent to about $342,000 today). The amount that Buffett has invested in his real estate is a small fraction of the total $135 billion fortune that he currently holds, but he still says that he “wouldn’t trade [the house] for anything.” Buffett’s choice to live small and simply is a great tool for growing your finances. You can still be happy inside a modest home and use your liquid cash for money-making investments.

Keep Your Day Job

Sara Blakely is the billionaire genius behind the company Spanx. She advises people looking to build wealth to hold onto their day jobs far longer than they may think. If you have an excellent idea that could earn millions, don’t quit your job just yet. Instead, continue earning a paycheck if that “million-dollar idea” doesn’t go as far as you hope. There will eventually come a time when it’s okay to quit your day job, assuming you hit it big, but that time is far further down the road than you may think.

Work Together, Not Alone

Business mogul Mike Bloomberg once said, “My advice is get rid of the words, ‘I and me,’ and switch to, ‘we and us.’” This speaks to how beneficial the collaborative mindset can be when achieving true success. Far too often, people focus on their own “genius idea” to the point where they stubbornly refuse to listen to others’ advice. But in reality, those collaborative relationships will help you get far, as it helps to be able to bounce ideas off one another. If you hit it big and are lucky enough to run a company someday, include your employees in that “us” mindset. They’re equally critical to the company’s success as anyone else, and you should always embrace their efforts.

Let Your Thoughts Wander

Sometimes the best idea isn’t the most traditional one, and it can take time to come up with a creative solution that leads to true success. Just ask Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who once said “Wandering is an essential counterbalance to efficiency. You need to employ both.” Bezos believes that curiosity is essential for coming up with ideas that’ll help set your business apart and achieve success in areas that others have overlooked. If you never allow time to let your mind wander, then you will just be using the old tired business practices everyone has relied on for decades.