To get the best money advice, ask someone with a lot of it. In the video below from Forbes, seven successful people relate the best advice they ever got on money. From Ben Stein, author, economist and TV personality, to Jack Bogle, former CEO of Vanguard group, seven successful people relate their best money advice, including:
Ben Stein
Stein is known for hosting the popular TV show, Win Ben Stein’s Money. He’s also an actor, writer, lawyer and economic commentator. His net worth is estimated at $20 million dollars. His father’s money advice? “Be prudent.” Ben was about to buy a lavish home when his father said to shop a little more within his means.
Meredith Whitney
Whitney manages a New York hedge fund called Kenbelle Capital. She’s best known for predicting the difficulties of several major banks during the 2008 financial crisis. Her net worth is estimated at $10 million dollars. Her grandfather’s money advice was, “You can’t make money if you owe money.”
Dan Ariely
Ariely is a behavioral economist at Duke University. He claims humans are hard-wired by emotions to make financial decisions based on emotion rather than facts. He also says incentives in the financial sector lead bankers to create asset bubbles that generally hurt investors. Ariely’s net worth isn’t publicly listed. Once, when his salary was about to increase, and a friend said, “Think carefully. Don’t spend more just because you make more.”
Alexa Von Tobel
LearnVest.com is an award-winning personal finance website. Alexa decided to start LearnVest.com when, as an employee at Morgan Stanley, she was struck by the realization that most people never learn to handle their personal finances. Her net worth is estimated at $25 million. She learned, “Think about expenses in future dollars. What’s the cost decades later of not saving this money now?”
Kelly Phillips Erb, (the Taxgirl)
The taxgirl writes popular tax advice blog posts for Forbes magazine. Her best money advice? “Don’t be afraid to spend. Sounds weird, but sometimes to make money you have to spend it — on the right investments.”
Ramit Sethi,
Ramit is the bestselling author of “I Will Teach You to be Rich.” Seth graduated from Stanford University. He’s been interviewed on money topics by the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, NPR and CNBC. His best money advice was also his worst. “Stop spending money on lattes.” It didn’t work for him, and made him realize just because everybody says it, that doesn’t make it true.
Jack Bogle
Bogle is the retired CEO of Vanguard Group. His net worth is estimated at $80 million. He’s also a bestselling author who claims index funds will always outperform the more fallible, human-managed mutual funds. His best money advice came from a childhood co-worker: “Nobody knows nothin’.”