With a total fortune of just under $85bn, Warren Buffett is the world’s third richest man, and he is also widely considered to be the greatest investor¹ of all time.

沃伦·巴菲特的总资产达到850亿美元，是世界第三大富翁，公认的史上投资第一人。

Buffett didn’t build his fortune overnight. It took him many decades to acquire wealth and invest it in a way that has yielded tremendous results.

如此规模的财富并非一夜间凭空而来，巴菲特用数十载时间积累财富，并进行收益颇丰的投资方有此成就。

What’s more, the billionaire never used any secret tricks to build his fortune. He used several critical financial strategies that are available to all investors². Here are the three steps Buffett has used to grow his wealth over the years.

此外，这位亿万富翁并没有什么投资秘诀，只是采取了几条普遍适用的重要理财策略。以下是巴菲特过去多年积累财富所遵循的三大步骤。

Save, save, save

存钱，存钱，存钱，重要的事情说三遍

The first step he used to help him on his quest becoming one of the worlds wealthiest people was to save. Even at the very young age of 10, he understood the importance of saving. Throughout his life, he’s always prioritised sensible spending, rather than going out and buying a massive house (he’s lived in the same property practically all of his life) or a fancy car.

首个步骤是存钱。巴菲特年仅十岁时便已了解到储蓄的重要性，终其一生，他都重视理性消费，从不贪恋豪宅（他一直没有换过房子）或名车。

Instead of spending on big-ticket items, Buffett has kept his spending to a minimum and reinvested all of his excess capital. Spending less than you earn, and putting away a little bit every month is a highly achievable goal for most people and is a great place to start if you want to build wealth.

巴菲特不碰奢侈品，进行最低限度的消费，剩余资金则用于再投资。入可敷出，每月存钱，对大多数人来说既是可行目标，也是积累财富的良好开端。

Don’t waste your savings³

切勿浪费储蓄

The next step is to achieve the best returns on your savings without losing your hard-earned money. The best way to do this is to invest in shares, although you need to make sure that you do your research before committing yourself.

下一个步骤是通过储蓄获得最佳回报，不要让辛辛苦苦攒下的钱打了水漂。最佳方法就是投资股票，当然事前您要确保自己做好了调查。

Investing in only the highest quality businesses, with the best brands and record of achieving returns for investors, is a surefire way to make sure that you can grow your wealth without having to foot the bill for substantial losses at that wipe out a percentage of your savings.

投资的对象只能是水准最高的企业，它们拥有最好的品牌，过往的投资回报率优良。这是确保财富增长的不二法门，您的储蓄也不会因投资亏本而损失惨重。

Compound to grow

财富要复合增长

If you’re saving and investing your money sensibly, the next step is to let compounding do its work.

如果您正在进行合理储蓄和合理投资，那么下个步骤便是让复利发挥作用。

Compound interest is the most powerful tool that investors have, and once again it’s something that Warren Buffett has been well aware of since he first began saving money all those years ago.

复利是投资者手中最有力的武器，巴菲特在多年前开始存钱时已然心知肚明。

The best way to show the power of compound interest is to use an example. If you had invested ?5,000 in the FTSE All Share Index in 1986 and taken out any income produced from this investment, by the end of 2016, your portfolio⁴ would have grown in size to ?28,357. However, if you had reinvested the income received, the overall total would have been an amazing ?88,396 for the same period with no extra effort on your part.

为说明复利的巨大作用，我们来看一个例子。如果您于1986年在富时全股指数投资了5000美元，到2016年年底前取出所有收入，那么该投资组合收益为28357美元。然而如果所有收入进行再投资，经过相同时间，也无需多余付出，这份投资收益将达到88396美元，卓实令人惊讶。

The bottom line

底线

So overall, by following the three Warren Buffett steps above, you should be able to greatly improve your financial position, and maybe even make a million.

因此，总体上看，如果遵循巴菲特的投资理念，您的收入将有显著改善，甚至有机会身价百万。