Money is something most of us don’t like to talk about much and we usually don’t spend enough time in understanding our own financial situation. Below are some tips that I believe are some of the most impactful and are shared by some of the most successful people like Warren Buffet and Ray Dalio, both among the wealthiest people in the world. I will keep this one very simple as anything involving finance can often get complex and overwhelming.

Save 10% of every paycheck: If your initial thought to this is, “I’m just barely getting by, so there’s not way I can save 10 percent”, then look into an automatic increase of your savings per year, maybe as you get a raise at work. If you make it so you don’t know that more money is going into your savings, make the increase automatic, you’ll be there before you know it.

Make sure you can’t access the money you’re saving for some time: It could be tempting to take it out and spend it. And make sure this money is going somewhere where it will grow with time, which takes us to our next point.

Do your homework on where you will be investing your money: This is where it will really pay off later to do your homework. Take a minute to think about how much you know about your favorite sports team, TV show, video game, or hobby. Now imagine how much you would know about the stock market and investment options if you dedicated the same amount of time to it. I’m not saying to be an expert, that’s why financial advisors exist, which takes us to the next point, but make it a point to be well educated on this topic, your future self will thank you for it.

Find a financial advisor that will act on your own best interest: If you already have a financial advisor, then use what you’ll learn on the point above to make sure that person is acting on behalf of your best interest and not theirs. Even if you’ve known this person for so long that you consider them part of the family, greed is very powerful and so you owe it to yourself and your family to challenge them. If you’re starting from scratch or you’re not happy with your current advisor, then the best place to start is to look for a licensed Fiduciary. According to the Cornell Law Dictionary, “A fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care.” It entails always acting in your beneficiary’s best interest, even if doing so is contrary to yours. For a financial advisor, this may mean recommending a product that results in reduced or no compensation because it’s the best option for the client. Make sure this person does not also have a Broker license as well as Brokers are not legally obligated to act on their clients best interest.

There are many other topics to cover here, but again I wanted to keep it short and simple. Bottom line, the name of the game here is compound interest. Save as much money as you can, as early as you can, and that money will be working to make you more money, even while you’re sleeping.

“My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest” – Warren Buffet.