Ten of the Best Tips for Financial - and Personal - Success

From Warren Buffett to Bill Gates to Elon Musk, there's an applicable money-making tip for every type of investor, to give that inspired edge.

And the best advice is not just tied to finances. It provides guidance on how to be successful in any part of life.

Take a look at 10 of the wisest, most eye-opening phrases we've ever heard...

10 of the Best Quotes about Investing - and Life

best tips1. Warren Buffett on Mastering Investing Basics

Buffett is the CEO, chairman, and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A), a multinational holding company that manages several subsidiary firms. As a master investor whose net worth is $63.3 billion, Warren Buffett firmly believes in honing and developing fundamental skills, not spending one's education on theoretical, rhetorical business scenarios.

According to Buffett, "To invest successfully, you need not understand beta, efficient markets, modern portfolio theory, option pricing or emerging markets. You may, in fact, be better off knowing nothing of these. That, of course, is not the prevailing view at most business schools, whose finance curriculum tends to be dominated by such subjects. In our view, though, investment students need only two well-taught courses - 'how to value a business' and 'how to think about market prices'."

2. Bill Hewlett on Overcoming Fears to Reap More Rewards

According to the cofounder of Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), Bill Hewlett, "The greatest success goes to the person who is not afraid to fail in front of even the largest audience."

Making mistakes publicly is familiar to Hewlett. In 2011, HPQ bought out British software maker, Autonomy, for $11.1 billion in what some consider one of the biggest corporate deal blunders to date. Autonomy, apparently, cooked its books before the deal went down. HPQ didn't learn this, of course, until well after. The company has since spent an epic $5 billion so far on the as-of-yet unresolved issue. Public failure indeed.

Money Morning subscribers, continue reading to discover the one deadly sin that got Bill Gates to where he is today! And he only had to commit it three times... Plus find out what activity is "horrible" to Elon Musk...

3. Bill Gates on How You Can Only Improve Through Measurement

"I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition. You can achieve amazing progress if you set a clear goal and find a measure that will drive progress toward that goal," Gates has said.

Gates could possibly measure Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq: MSFT) prosperity on his own penchant for fibbing. It took him three major fabrications to get where he is today. He lied to Altair about his first ever computer language being ready for their use and purchase at any time (he hadn't written it yet). He then resold an operating system to IBM he'd bought from someone else (keeping the copyright; this was DOS). The final whammy - he publically announced the completion of his operating system Windows (which wasn't near finished yet).

4. Mark Zuckerberg on the Importance of Risk Taking

According to the cofounder of Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB), not taking any risk at all is actually one of the biggest risks an investor or entrepreneur can take. "In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks," Zuckerberg said.

The Zuckster (actual nickname) took the concept of risk-taking to another level when Facebook first started out. Zuckerberg refused offers from, canceled meetings with, and shunned phone calls from major investment firms - all in hopes that, by doing so, they would fight even harder to fund his site. Which they did.

5. Jeff Bezos on Thinking Long Term

The CEO of Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) believes it's best to think about the future in regards to investments. "We will continue to make investment decisions in light of long-term market leadership considerations rather than short-term profitability considerations or short-term Wall Street reactions," Bezos once stated.

Bezos showed strong long-term thinking in 1994, when he uncovered a shocking statistic -web usage was growing at a rate of 2,300% per year. He knew there was a slice of that percentage for him. Keeping overhead and ROI in mind (remember: long-term), Bezos chose to sell books online. They're portable and cheap!

The rest is history...

6. Ron Shaich on Why a Competitive Advantage Means Everything

Ron Shaich, cofounder and CEO of Panera Bread Co. (Nasdaq: PNRA) is a firm believer in maintaining a stringent competitive edge when it comes to being successful in the world of business. "Losing competitive advantage is the greatest risk in business. If you don't have a reason for people to walk past your competitors and come to your business, then you don't exist," Shaich said.

Shaich also told Inc. that he doesn't focus on monetary success. That's a byproduct. What he really cares about is why people walk past twenty restaurants to come to his. Part of his competitive ethos involves maintaining appeal.

7. Steve Wozniak on Investing Within Your Means

Steve Wozniak is the cofounder of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL). He warns investors not to operate beyond their means, using leveraged or borrowed money they may or may not get back. "Don't think about the money you don't have. Rather, what can you do with what you do have?"

Wozniak and Steve Jobs sacrificed a lot to keep from going into debt. Jobs sold his VW microbus - his only mode of transportation. Wozniak sold his most prized possession: his HP-65 Texas Instrument calculator (worth $500 at the time).

8. Martha Stewart on How Risks Should Only Be Taken if They're Well-Calculated

Martha Stewart is the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO), a media and merchandising company that offers lifestyle information and products for clients across the globe. Stewart has managed to become a massively successful businesswoman through a variety of ventures - writing cookbooks (which is how she started), a heavily circulated magazine, and later, a television show. Stewart believes in taking risks in order to attain success, as long as the risks are properly planned out. "A well-calculated risk may very well end up as an investment in your business. A careless chance can cause it to crumble."

But don't avoid Stewart's peach crumble. That is a different entity altogether - a well-calculated dessert.

9. Peter Lynch on How Investing Isn't as Complicated as Many May Think

According to Peter Lynch, investor, author, and manager of the Magellan Fund at Fidelity Investments (Nasdaq: FMAGX) from 1977-1990: "Everyone has the brainpower to follow the stock market. If you made it through fifth grade math, you can do it."

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Apparently, Lynch relied heavily on fifth grade math to average 29.2% annual returns in his mutual fund managing days. Under Lynch, the Magellan Fund was the best-performing mutual fund in the world.

10. Elon Musk on (Not) Taking Time Off

Billionaire Elon Musk, the South African inventor and entrepreneur who cofounded PayPal and founded SpaceX and Tesla Motors, once said: "The idea of lying on a beach as my main thing, just sounds like the worst - it sounds horrible to me. I would go bonkers. I would have to be on serious drugs. I'd be super-duper bored. I like high intensity."

Turns out, Musk's idea of a vacation was taking a road trip from Los Angeles to New York in his Model S Tesla electric car... with his five sons. His ulterior motive for the road trip was to show off how the Model S "supercharged." The car took approximately 20-25 minutes to recharge every 150 miles - equivalent to approximately 20 stops along the way. Seems like a lot... but not for a dad with five boys all drinking Capri Suns.

The "Secret Sauce" of Wall Street: There are questions Wall Street hopes you'll never ask. Because the answers would reveal too much. But we've done some research. And we've got the answers you're looking for right here...