Eight Secrets About Warren Buffett

Here are my eight tips for success from my study of Buffet:

1. Believe it and it will happen: Buffet has said that he never doubted that he would wind up rich and that belief in prosperity is much of the secret to becoming rich. Start to put thoughts of poverty behind you and you can change your whole mindset and start changing your life.

2. Don't measure success in dollars alone: Buffet was asked the secret to his success and answered that he was loved by the people who he wanted to love him; bank balances didn't enter into it.

3. Earn more than you spend. Buffet has fabulous wealth, but he doesn't live the lifestyle; he still lives in the house he first bought in 1958 and for years drove a second-hand car. He might be worth billions but he pays himself just $100,000-a-year and is famous for living frugally.

4. Avoid debt for consumption: consumerism thrives on debt and would love us all to be slaves to debt in our never-ending search for more consumer goods. Forget this. Try and live without debt and certainly don't borrow simply to buy more and more 'desirable' goods. Buffet's debt is all related to investments.

5. Chose your friends wisely: Buffet says you should associate with people whose behavior you admire and aspire to emulate, it will rub off. If you want to make money, it's probably not a good idea to join a freegan group. People with similar beliefs to your own will influence your behavior for the better.

6. Never gamble: Youngsters often thing that the riskiest investments are the best because they offer the highest possible return; not so, there is nothing wrong with making good, long-term, safe investments. Buffet and Bill Gates are said to play poker together, the bets averaging around a dollar.

7. Give something back: Money, Buffet believes, doesn't change your essential nature. An idiot with a million dollars is a rich idiot, not suddenly a genius. In 2006 Buffet gave $30 billion to the charitable foundation run by Melinda and Bill Gates. Along with the largest donation in history he is a regular donor to foundations run by his children.

8. Generosity is the brother of abundance: Buffett needed a mentor to start on his road to riches; this mentor, Ben Graham, gave his time as a teacher, in order to pass on his knowledge. Making money is often a team game, and someone who helps others will inspire others to help them.