Top Tips from Self-Made millionaires

MakeIt Money from CNBC interviewed self-made millionaires, who shared top ways to make this year your best financial year yet.  

1. “Be true to yourself (and the money will follow).” - Itzik Levy

Connect your goals with your personal values. (Click here for an exercise to determine your core values.) 

Itzik says, “This is more than a way of life — it’s the best way to build a successful business. Consumers respond to authenticity and are increasingly good at detecting false promises and brand personalities. Own your personality, reflect it in your brand and encourage your team and clients to bring their real selves to the table.”
 
2. “Only Spend a Percentage of Your Income.” - Lin Sun

You can still enjoy your life while managing your resources. Software can help with this like YNAB, EveryDollar, or even an Excel spreadsheet to manage your budget, Mint or Quicken to manage personal accounts, and QuickBooks or XERO to track business profit and loss, balance sheets, financial trends, and budgets. A regular review (monthly) of your finances (with significant other) is critical for visibility, transparency, and accountability.
 
3. “Create a financial tracking system.” - Dennis Najjar

By getting a system in place to predict the next 12 months financially, you will be able to see things much more clearly than if you’re only budgeting 1 month at a time. Granted – this takes more work than budgeting just 1 month, but most of the expenses carry over month to month anyway, so you’re looking for things that would be different, like a large purchase, a vacation, house or car repairs (roof or tires) that you know you’ll need. These you can budget for throughout the year using a “sinking fund” approach, where you take the amount needed and dividing it up into x number of amounts based on how many months you have until that purchase.

Dennis recommends that you “set up weekly or monthly checkpoint intervals, where you review your numbers to see how you’re tracking against your prediction”.  And that you add ”into your budgets opportunities to pivot should the numbers perform as, better, or worse than expected — so you don’t reach year-end completely off the mark. It’s not rocket science; just commitment to process, procedure, and accountability.”
 
4. “Prepare for the four D’s.” —Gail Corder Fischer

Gail says that the biggest threats to your financial future are debt, death, divorce, and bad decisions.  She recommends that you do the following:

• Save for a rainy day
• Save for retirement
• Use Auto-deposit or automatic transfers into savings accounts
• Always live below your means
• Watch out for hidden fees

 
5. “Put your money to work.” – Grant Cardone

You want your money to appreciate and to provide consistent cash flow. Find investments that will do just that.
 
6. “Invest in Real Estate” - Daniel Lesniak

Daniel says, “Find ways to get higher returns for your investments by networking or looking for the right deals. Even a few percentage points add up.  The difference between 10% and 15% returns might not seem like much in the short term, but over 30 years, that’s the difference between doubling your money four or seven times. Investing in real estate is a great way to do this
 
7. “Invest in Yourself.” – Barbara Corcoran

Whether wellness-related like a massage or an afternoon off with a friend OR  business-related like building skills to enhance your ability at a job or your marketability, don’t forget about you.

8. “Give More.” - Kuda Biza

Kuda says, “The secret to living your fullest life is giving. While there is peace in having financial security and comfort, neither means anything unless you help others and have gratitude.”