And the very wealthy have a few basic rules that they follow to achieve financial success. Following these same rules can bring you closer to financial success, as well:

1) Do not lose your money. Successful investors and financial professionals do not gamble their money and they do not part from it for frivolous reasons. If they want to invest, for example, they learn as much as they can before they invest a dime, so that they do not have to resign themselves to losing money on a bad investment. The same goes for borrowing. The wealthy know that it costs money to borrow and so they avoid personal loans, signature loans, credit card balances, and other forms of unsecured loans.

2) They have specific goals and know how to make them happen. If a financial professional decides to invest in the stocks of a specific company, he or she does so when there is a good reason to do so.

3) Buy investments the smart way and hold onto them. Investors who do well are more concerned with getting quality for their investment money rather than paying the lowest possible prices. Once they have good quality assets, they hold onto them unless there is a very compelling reason to sell.