<ul><li>Rule No 1: Never lose money.</li><li>Rule No 2: Never forget rule No. 1.</li></ul>If you work from a loss, it's much harder to get back to where you started, not to mention earn gains.

Never Lose Money

Money & Investments

<ul><li>Price = what you pay.</li><li>Value = what you get.</li></ul>You lose money when the price you pay does not match the value you're getting. For example, when you're paying high interest on credit card debt or spending on stuff you hardly use.You gain money when you look for opportunities to get more value at a lower price: For example, buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.

High Value at a Low Price

Most of your behavior is habitual. You can change your habits and the earlier you start, the better.Saving is a habit. Learn the habits of saving properly early. Pay attention to your money habits. Strengthen those habits that help your finances, and break the habits that hurt your finances.

Form Healthy Money Habits

Warren Buffet built his wealth by getting interests to work for him.<ul><li>Many people fail because of liquor and borrowed money. You can make a lot of money without borrowing.</li><li>Avoid credit cards, because the interest rates are very high on them. “Sometimes they are 18 percent. Sometimes they are 20 percent. If I borrowed money at 18 or 20 percent, I’d be broke.”</li></ul>

Avoid Debt

To ensure security, always keep cash or cash equivalent reserves available.
Businesses and individuals may desire to put liquid cash to work through investments. When bills are due, only cash is legal tender. Be sure to have it on hand.

Keep Cash On Hand

You are your own biggest asset. Invest as much of yourself as you can. Improve your own talents and make yourself more valuable. Nobody can tax or steal it.

Invest in Yourself

Part of investing in yourself should be learning about managing money. Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing. Educate yourself about personal finance. Read a lot. Make sure you get to bed smarter.

Learn About Money

For the average investor, Warren Buffet advocates for index funds. <ul><li>Put 10 % of the cash in short-term government bonds.</li><li>Put 90 % in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund.</li></ul>

Low-Cost Index Fund

Warren Buffet said that if you're in the luckiest 1% of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 %.You can enrich your life and others' by giving back.

Give Back

Invest with the future in mind. A tree planted today will give shade in the future.  Nurturing seed of financial success now will lead to shade later on, for example, freedom from debts, a secure retirement or college fees for your children.

Money is a Long-Term Game

<div>
<a href="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2015-12-02-1449084331-7797041-warren_buffet_spotlight.jpg"><img src="https://images.huffingtonpost.com/2015-12-02-1449084331-7797041-warren_buffet_spotlight-thumb.jpg"></a> By Elyssa Kirkham, GBR Staff Writer Warren Buffett is one of the greatest investing and business minds today. But aside from his exponential investing success, Buffett is probably most famous for his humorous insights, colorful commentary and wise advice. It's part of what makes him a perfect fit to be a finalist for the 2015 " <a href="http://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/announcing-2015-best-money-expert-competition/">Best Money Expert</a>" competition, presented by GOBankingRates in collaboration with Ally Bank.
Buffett's quotes are always entertaining, but some of them provide the perfect insights into how money works and what it really takes to grow wealth. This collection of 10 quotes represents the best pieces of personal finance advice Warren Buffett has ever given.
1. Never Lose Money 
Warren Buffett's No. 1 piece of advice for 2016 is one he follows as closely as he can: "Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1." This rule applies readily to investing -- if you're working from a loss, it's that much harder to get back to where you started, let alone earn gains.
2. Get High Value at a Low Price 
"Never lose money" is an even smarter rule when paired with another Buffett principle: "Price is what you pay; value is what you get," Buffett wrote in the 2008 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter. Losing money can happen when the price you're paying doesn't match the value you're getting -- like when you're paying high interest on credit card debt or spending on items you'll rarely use.
Instead, be like Buffett and <a href="http://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/7-ways-personal-finance-expert-warren-buffett-lives-frugally/">practice frugality</a> by looking for opportunities to get more value at a lower price. "Whether we're talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down," Buffett wrote.
3. Form Healthy Money Habits 
"Most behavior is habitual," Buffett said in a 2007 address at the University of Florida, "and they say that the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken." Habits are changeable, but the earlier you start the better.
"I think the biggest mistake is not learning the habits of saving properly early because <a href="http://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/10-habits-could-save-thousands/">saving is a habit</a>," Buffett said. Pay attention to money habits and work to strengthen those that help your finances, and break those that hurt your finances.
4. Avoid Debt, Especially Credit Card Debt 
Warren Buffett built his wealth by getting interest to work for him instead of working to pay interest the way many Americans in debt do. "I've seen more people fail because of liquor and leverage -- leverage being borrowed money," Buffett said in a 1991 speech at Notre Dame. "You really don't need leverage in this world much. If you're smart, you're going to make a lot of money without borrowing."
Buffett is especially wary of credit cards. His advice is to avoid them altogether. "Interest rates are very high on credit cards," Buffett once said in a news release. "Sometimes they are 18 percent. Sometimes they are 20 percent. If I borrowed money at 18 or 20 percent, I'd be broke."
5. Keep Cash On Hand 
Another key to ensuring security is to always keep cash reserves on hand. "We always maintain at least $20 billion -- and usually far more -- in cash equivalents," Buffett said in the 2014 Berkshire Hathaway annual report. Buffett credits these reserves with helping Berkshire Hathaway stay afloat throughout the Great Recession, even as so many other businesses floundered.
Businesses and individuals alike might get an itch to put liquid cash to work through investments. "Cash, though, is to a business as oxygen is to an individual: never thought about when it is present, the only thing in mind when it is absent," Buffett said. "When bills come due, only cash is legal tender," he continued. "Don't leave home without it."
6. Invest in Yourself 
"Invest in as much of yourself as you can. You are your own biggest asset by far," Buffett said, according to Inc.com. He echoed those sentiments in a CNBC interview when he said, "Anything you do to improve your own talents and make yourself more valuable will get paid off in terms of appropriate real purchasing power."
Those returns are big, too. "Anything you invest in yourself, you get back ten-fold," Buffett said. And unlike other assets and investments, "nobody can tax it away; they can't steal it from you."
7. Learn About Money 
Part of investing in yourself should be learning more about managing money. As an investor, much of Warren Buffett's job is limiting exposure and minimizing risk. And "risk comes from not knowing what you're doing," Buffett once said, according to Forbes. The more you know about personal finance, the more security you'll have as you minimize risks.
The lesson from this Buffett quote, then, is to actively educate yourself about personal finance. As Buffett's partner, Charlie Munger, put it, "Go to bed smarter than when you woke up." Buffett's formula for this is simple: read a lot. "That's how knowledge builds up, like compound interest," he said, according to The Week.
8. Trust a Low-Cost Index Fund for Your Portfolio 
While much of Buffett's wisdom and advice borders on the philosophical, he has also provided some actionable tips that nearly anyone could apply. For the average investor, for instance, Buffett likes index funds. "Put 10 percent of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90 percent in a very low-cost S&amp;P 500 index fund," he wrote in his 2013 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.
This is advice Buffett has given for years. "If you invested in a very low-cost index fund -- where you don't put the money in at one time, but average in over 10 years -- you'll do better than 90 percent of people who start investing at the same time," Buffett said at a 2004 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.
"If you're in the luckiest 1 percent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent," Buffett said at a 2007 political fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. And as a top member of that 1 percent himself, Buffett makes it a point to put his money where his mouth is.
This past July, Buffett donated $2.8 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to five charities. He is also a founder of The Giving Pledge -- along with Bill Gates -- which is a promise that more than 130 billionaires so far have made to give their fortunes away. While you might not be a billionaire, you can still enrich your life and others' by giving back.
10. View Money as a Long-Term Game 
"Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago," Buffett once said -- and it's true. Planting and nurturing the seeds of financial success now will lead to shade to enjoy later in life, like freedom from debts, a secure retirement or the ability to cover college costs for your children.
Such a long-term view of money is central to Buffett's investing decisions. In his 2014 letter to shareholders, he said people should "invest with a multi-decade horizon ... Their focus should remain fixed on attaining significant gains in purchasing power over their investing lifetime," rather than on moments of stock market volatility or economic crisis.
Building true wealth and financial security takes time, and you'll likely encounter financial challenges along the way. Sometimes they're avoidable; sometimes they're not. But viewing your finances and a lifelong endeavor can help you stay on-course despite those hardships and give you a financial foundation that will last. Just make sure you're keeping these 10 money lessons from Warren Buffett in mind.
More from GOBankingRates:
</div>

By Elyssa Kirkham, GBR Staff Writer Warren Buffett is one of the greatest investing and business minds today. But aside from his exponential investing success, Buffett is probably most famous for his humorous insights, colorful commentary and wise advice.

Money

By Elyssa Kirkham, GBR Staff Writer

Warren Buffett is one of the greatest investing and business minds today. But aside from his exponential investing success, Buffett is probably most famous for his humorous insights, colorful commentary and wise advice. It's part of what makes him a perfect fit to be a finalist for the 2015 " <a href="http://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/announcing-2015-best-money-expert-competition/">Best Money Expert </a>" competition, presented by GOBankingRates in collaboration with Ally Bank.

Buffett's quotes are always entertaining, but some of them provide the perfect insights into how money works and what it really takes to grow wealth. This collection of 10 quotes represents the best pieces of personal finance advice Warren Buffett has ever given.

Warren Buffett's No. 1 piece of advice for 2016 is one he follows as closely as he can: "Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1." This rule applies readily to investing -- if you're working from a loss, it's that much harder to get back to where you started, let alone earn gains.

"Never lose money" is an even smarter rule when paired with another Buffett principle: "Price is what you pay; value is what you get," Buffett wrote in the 2008 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter. Losing money can happen when the price you're paying doesn't match the value you're getting -- like when you're paying high interest on credit card debt or spending on items you'll rarely use.

Instead, be like Buffett and <a href="http://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/7-ways-personal-finance-expert-warren-buffett-lives-frugally/">practice frugality </a>by looking for opportunities to get more value at a lower price. "Whether we're talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down," Buffett wrote.

"Most behavior is habitual," Buffett said in a 2007 address at the University of Florida, "and they say that the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken." Habits are changeable, but the earlier you start the better.

"I think the biggest mistake is not learning the habits of saving properly early because <a href="http://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/10-habits-could-save-thousands/">saving is a habit </a>," Buffett said. Pay attention to money habits and work to strengthen those that help your finances, and break those that hurt your finances.

4. Avoid Debt, Especially Credit Card Debt

Warren Buffett built his wealth by getting interest to work for him instead of working to pay interest the way many Americans in debt do. "I've seen more people fail because of liquor and leverage -- leverage being borrowed money," Buffett said in a 1991 speech at Notre Dame. "You really don't need leverage in this world much. If you're smart, you're going to make a lot of money without borrowing."

Buffett is especially wary of credit cards. His advice is to avoid them altogether. "Interest rates are very high on credit cards," Buffett once said in a news release. "Sometimes they are 18 percent. Sometimes they are 20 percent. If I borrowed money at 18 or 20 percent, I'd be broke."

Another key to ensuring security is to always keep cash reserves on hand. "We always maintain at least $20 billion -- and usually far more -- in cash equivalents," Buffett said in the 2014 Berkshire Hathaway annual report. Buffett credits these reserves with helping Berkshire Hathaway stay afloat throughout the Great Recession, even as so many other businesses floundered.

Businesses and individuals alike might get an itch to put liquid cash to work through investments. "Cash, though, is to a business as oxygen is to an individual: never thought about when it is present, the only thing in mind when it is absent," Buffett said. "When bills come due, only cash is legal tender," he continued. "Don't leave home without it."

"Invest in as much of yourself as you can. You are your own biggest asset by far," Buffett said, according to Inc.com. He echoed those sentiments in a CNBC interview when he said, "Anything you do to improve your own talents and make yourself more valuable will get paid off in terms of appropriate real purchasing power."

Those returns are big, too. "Anything you invest in yourself, you get back ten-fold," Buffett said. And unlike other assets and investments, "nobody can tax it away; they can't steal it from you."

Part of investing in yourself should be learning more about managing money. As an investor, much of Warren Buffett's job is limiting exposure and minimizing risk. And "risk comes from not knowing what you're doing," Buffett once said, according to Forbes. The more you know about personal finance, the more security you'll have as you minimize risks.

The lesson from this Buffett quote, then, is to actively educate yourself about personal finance. As Buffett's partner, Charlie Munger, put it, "Go to bed smarter than when you woke up." Buffett's formula for this is simple: read a lot. "That's how knowledge builds up, like compound interest," he said, according to The Week.

8. Trust a Low-Cost Index Fund for Your Portfolio

While much of Buffett's wisdom and advice borders on the philosophical, he has also provided some actionable tips that nearly anyone could apply. For the average investor, for instance, Buffett likes index funds. "Put 10 percent of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90 percent in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund," he wrote in his 2013 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.

This is advice Buffett has given for years. "If you invested in a very low-cost index fund -- where you don't put the money in at one time, but average in over 10 years -- you'll do better than 90 percent of people who start investing at the same time," Buffett said at a 2004 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.

"If you're in the luckiest 1 percent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent," Buffett said at a 2007 political fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. And as a top member of that 1 percent himself, Buffett makes it a point to put his money where his mouth is.

This past July, Buffett donated $2.8 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to five charities. He is also a founder of The Giving Pledge -- along with Bill Gates -- which is a promise that more than 130 billionaires so far have made to give their fortunes away. While you might not be a billionaire, you can still enrich your life and others' by giving back.

10. View Money as a Long-Term Game

"Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago," Buffett once said -- and it's true. Planting and nurturing the seeds of financial success now will lead to shade to enjoy later in life, like freedom from debts, a secure retirement or the ability to cover college costs for your children.

Such a long-term view of money is central to Buffett's investing decisions. In his 2014 letter to shareholders, he said people should "invest with a multi-decade horizon ... Their focus should remain fixed on attaining significant gains in purchasing power over their investing lifetime," rather than on moments of stock market volatility or economic crisis.

Building true wealth and financial security takes time, and you'll likely encounter financial challenges along the way. Sometimes they're avoidable; sometimes they're not. But viewing your finances and a lifelong endeavor can help you stay on-course despite those hardships and give you a financial foundation that will last. Just make sure you're keeping these 10 money lessons from Warren Buffett in mind.

Bite‑sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

10 Best Money Tips From Warren Buffett of All Time

Never Lose Money

High Value at a Low Price

Form Healthy Money Habits

Avoid Debt

Keep Cash On Hand

Invest in Yourself

Learn About Money

Low-Cost Index Fund

Give Back

Money is a Long-Term Game

Warren Buffett: How He Does It

The Buffett Formula: Going to Bed Smarter Than When You Woke Up

Understanding your Circle of Competence: How Warren Buffett Avoids Problems

Bite‑sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

10 Best Money Tips From Warren Buffett of All Time

Never Lose Money

High Value at a Low Price

Form Healthy Money Habits

Avoid Debt

Keep Cash On Hand

Invest in Yourself

Learn About Money

Low-Cost Index Fund

Give Back

Money is a Long-Term Game

Warren Buffett: How He Does It

The Buffett Formula: Going to Bed Smarter Than When You Woke Up

Understanding your Circle of Competence: How Warren Buffett Avoids Problems

Bite‑sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career