19 best money-saving tips from self-made millionaires

Saving money can be the difference between stressing to dress and dressing to impress. It can help you retire younger. It can mean building that dream house. And more than anything, it can mean having the money when you need it, and resting assured that you have it even for those times you don’t.

Credit cards can sabotage even the best of savers, according to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. “Credit cards are the worst investment that you can make,” the billionaire told Business Insider. “The money I save on interest by not having debt is better than any return I could possibly get by investing that money in the stock market.” On top of high-interest rates on credit card debt, paying with plastic could also trick you into spending more money. In a study published in the journal Marketing Letters, MIT researchers found that shoppers spend up to 100 percent more when paying with a credit card – and were even willing to pay twice as much for an item as those who paid in cash.

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Keeping tabs on your progress can both boost your motivation and hold you accountable as you save. Don’t just take our word for it, though; Microsoft founder Bill Gates shared this tip in his 2013 annual letter for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “In the past year I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improve the human condition,” he wrote. “You can achieve amazing progress if you set a clear goal and find a measure that will drive progress toward that goal.” Whether you use a budget app or a simple paper list, tracking your savings can bring you that much closer to achieving your dream nest egg.

The person who coined the phrase “a penny saved is a penny earned” might have had the right idea. Though business CEO Warren Buffett has been one of the richest people in the world for decades – and has an estimated $88 billion net worth – he still uses a flip phone and lives in the house he bought in 1957 for $31,500. Similarly, oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens only stocks his closet with the basics. “People are always surprised that I don’t have a closet full of suits,” Pickens told Kiplinger.com. “I buy three suits every five or so years and only own ten total. That’s all I need.”

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There’s no question that investing your money is key to accumulating wealth fast. But according to Tucker Hughes, who became a millionaire at the age of 22, the first (and most important!) investment you should make is in yourself. “Read at least 30 minutes a day, listen to relevant podcasts while driving, and seek out mentors vigorously,” he wrote in a blog post. “Consume knowledge like air and put your pursuit of learning above all else.” Doing so will guarantee a hefty return on your investment – no matter which way the stock market goes, Hughes says. Buffett agrees: “Nobody can take away what you’ve got in yourself, and everybody has potential they haven’t used yet,” he told Forbes magazine.

When self-made millionaire Chris Reining grew disillusioned with his standard 9-to-5 job in IT, he decided to start putting more than half his income in savings. By age 35, he had saved $1 million and retired two years later. His secret? Eliminating small, unnecessary purchases. “I know there are some people out there that say you shouldn’t worry about the $5 latte, but the more I think about it, cutting out the $5 latte was a good place to start,” Reining said in an interview with CNBC Make It. In the end, he said, “the small changes will lead you to be able to make the big changes.”

Here are 11 things to stop buying that will save you a ton of cash. 

Though cutting down on small expenses is a great place to start, millionaires also recommend dreaming big when you set a savings goal. “The single biggest financial mistake I’ve made was not thinking big enough,” Grant Cardone, a self-made millionaire by age 30, wrote in a blog post. From there, Brian Lim, millionaire and CEO of INTO THE AM and iHeartRaves, suggests developing an action plan by working backwards from your target amount. “Figure out a specific financial freedom number as a goal,” he said in an interview with Santander Bank. “Then calculate backwards on how much you need to earn to make it hit that goal.”

Here are more secrets of self-made millionaires to inspire you. 

A five-year study of self-made millionaires discovered that the majority of them have multiple streams of income, ranging from real-estate rentals to stock market investments to side businesses: 65 percent of millionaires had three streams, 45 percent had four streams, and 29 percent had five or more streams. “The more income streams you can create in life, the more secure will your financial house be,” the study author wrote. Even comedian Jay Leno, whose estimated net worth is $400 million, has earned two sources of income since early in his career. “I’d bank one and I’d spend one,” usually spending the smaller amount, Leno told CNBC.

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Spend passion, cut junk. That’s the mantra that helped wealth coach and lawyer Adeola Omole turn her $70,000 debt into a seven-figure net worth in less than three years. “In a nutshell, it means that you need to start spending your money on things that bring you joy and that you are passionate about,” Omole told Business Insider. Any extra expenses that don’t add value to your life should be downsized or eliminated altogether, she says. While Omole chooses to prioritise books and investing, you may prefer to set aside money for travelling or education.

Ryan Stewman, a millionaire and best-selling author of Elevator to the Top, says his No. 1 savings trick is having money automatically withdrawn from his pay and placed in a savings account. “When I was young it was $25 a week. Now it’s about $1,000 per week. I never miss the money, and I can’t see it in the savings account without logging in,” he told Santander Bank. Odds are, you won’t even notice the money is gone, Stewman says. And as your savings grows, you can use it to invest in stocks or make an extra payment on a mortgage or other loans.