The 7 best lessons successful people taught us about money in 2018

Suze Orman: Invest in low-cost index funds.

Orman, a New York Times bestselling personal finance author, called investing in low-cost index funds "the winning ticket" on an episode of financial planner Farnoosh Torabi's "So Money" podcast.

"Here's what I found works so great: women love when things are on sale. They do. They wait, they'll buy it cheaper. They love that. You explain dollar cost averaging to them, and why buying these stocks on sale is exactly what they want to do."

She suggested investing with a small amount of money each month that you'd be comfortable losing, such as $100. You can even do it through contributions to your 401(k), she said.

"As soon as they get that, it's okay, and they'll be better off when the market goes down for the long run, because they're buying more shares. We've taken the fear out of it."

Brad Katsuyama: The amount of money you make doesn't equal success.

Katsuyama, CEO and cofounder of Investors Exchange (IEX), told Business Insider's Rich Feloni on our podcast "This is Success" that he's learned to differentiate personal and professional success — and neither is tied to money.

"I could not tell you if you asked me, if you had a gun to my head right now and said, 'What's the value of your stake in IEX?' I would miss it. I would be wrong. I don't know. So that tells me it's not about money.

"I think people equate success to work. I actually don't, and I learned the lesson early that identifying yourself too much with one thing in a way sets you up to be dramatically disappointed at some point."

Rus Yusupov: Don't chase money.

Yusupov, cofounder of the wildly popular quiz app HQ Trivia, working toward solving a problem is better than working toward a dollar figure.

He told Business Insider's Shana Lebowitz: "Profound motivations will take you a lot further than chasing money or a big exit. Bring something to life, solve a real problem or just build a big vision of the future."

Bethenny Frankel: It's not the salary that matters early on, it's the experience.

Frankel, CEO of Skinnygirl former star of the "The Real Housewives of New York City," told Feloni on an episode of "This is Success" that in order to have a career like hers, you have to overcome obstacles, keep trying to find passion, and have a willingness to do a job.

"I would say to be on the road, start the journey, and get dirty, and clean yourself off, and take another path," said Frankel, who sold Skinnygirl to Beam Global for a reported $100 million in 2011.

"Get locked out, and find a way to climb in another way," she said. "You've got to get on the road and figure out what it is that you want to do, what value you add, what clicks, what doesn't."

She added: "Those people are the people who are successful, not the people that are sitting there making $24,000 a year, complaining that they shouldn't be making coffee, that they shouldn't be doing this, they didn't go to school for this. It's called tough s---. Tough s---."

William D. Danko: Building wealth boils down to saving, resourcefulness, and maximizing income.

Danko, the bestselling author of " The Millionaire Next Door" and " Richer Than a Millionaire," suggests a three-step approach to building wealth.

He explained it during a Q&A with the Washington Post:

"First, commit to saving 20% of your income. Currently, most save about 5%. It is hard to get ahead and be an investor without saving first.

"Second, be a good steward of your resources. This includes having stable personal relationships, and good personal habits. These behaviors will lead to a longer life, and more compounding opportunities.

Third, consider having more than one stream of income. A second job can be beneficial.

Sallie Krawcheck: The secret to a good negotiation is both sides winning.

Krawcheck, a former Wall Street executive and the CEO and co-founder of Ellevest offered up her best tips for a successful negotiation during an installment in the #AskSallie series on Instagram.

She believes the best outcome for a negotiation is "both sides winning and maintaining the relationship," Lebowitz reported.

Krawcheck said she always shares her list of negotiation goals with the other person (or people): "Here are the three most important things to me. Here are the things that are less important to me. If I can get these three things, I'm good."

She continued: "I find it cuts through a lot of the other stuff that's lost with the macho, 'I want to win' back-and-forth of negotiations."

Larry Morrow: Investing in yourself is better than investing in material items.

Morrow, a New Orleans-based entrepreneur, told Feloni on an episode of "This is Success" that it's important not to focus on material things.

"I think society, especially in the urban communities, society teaches us so many things. Like, we should have the nice watches, the nice cars, spend money. All the material things," he said.

Morrow was excited by the flashy lifestyle at first, but then realized he could make smarter investments. He loved wearing his $40,000 watch out on the town, but didn't want it to define him.

"And, I had to realize, 'You know what? It's not about the materialistic things," he said. "It's more about providing something for my family and creating some stability, creating some generational wealth to where my kid don't have to worry about college tuition.

"So, I had to dumb it down a little bit and just get my mind right, not be so focused on material things. Because, I think you are what you are surrounded by. Once I switched things up and started to think a little different, that's when things really took off."