(By Thorin Klosowski via Lifehacker) 

Many of us tend to look at certain types of financial or life advice—especially the kind that requires a little money—and disregard it because it doesn't feel like it applies to us. That's not always the case. We can all take a lesson or two from a wealthy CEO's playbook, whether it's about delegation, negotiation, or proper use of money. Let's take a look at a few of those tips.

Spend Money on Experiences, Not Goods

A lot of us equate wealth with material objects, and subsequently we try to save our money to buy things. That's usually not the best idea. In fact, according to The Washington Post, a number of America's wealthiest recommend spending money on experiences first:

You may be surprised to learn that among the monied set, expensive cars, yachts, houses, jewelry and watches come at the end of the list....

The rule of diminishing returns is a harsh mistress with luxury goods. Do you really think $100,000 audio speakers sound 20 times better than a pair of $5,000 speakers? (They don’t). Is a $250,000 sports car five times faster than a $50,000? (It is not). These days, you can buy quite a lovely home for $1,000,000 (and much less in the country’s interior). Those $10,000,000 manses are not 10 times roomier. Anyone who has owned a $10,000 Rolex will tell you that a $39 Casio keeps better time.

When discussing the benefits of wealth, I have heard again and again about amazing experiences, family get-togethers, vacations, shows, sporting events, weddings and other events as these people’s most important life experiences. While these things cost money, nearly every family can afford reasonable versions of them.

This certainly isn't the first time we've heard this. Researchers have known that experiences provide more of a psychological boost than material things, and new experiences completely change how we perceive time for the better. The good news for the rest of us is that shorter vacations are actually more memorable, so even if you can't afford to take a lot of time away from work, you'll still get a lot of out of the experience. Of course, taking a cheap vacation is easy too.

Delegate to Save Time and Avoid Frustrations

As the old saying goes, time is money. If you're running low on time, you'll benefit from a classic CEO trick: delegation.

Delegating tasks to others, or paying people to do things for you seems like a luxury that most of us can't afford. In reality, it's far less expensive than you think. We've talked before about how small expenses, like hiring a house cleaner, can make your life easier, and it applies in all sorts of ways.

For most of us, delegation means outsourcing your most annoying errands. You can outsource your chores and work to all kinds of places, like the team of assistants at Fancy Hands. Doing so doesn't cost you much money, and it saves you a ton of time. Likewise, you can get rid of most of your annoying errands with online tools like Amazon Subscribe and Save or Alice. Most of these options don't cost that much money, and while they're certainly a luxury, they're a luxury most of us can afford. I've used Amazon's Subscribe and Save for the last couple years to automate the bulk of my groceries, and while it make me feel like a king, it saves me money as well.

Plan and Track Your Spending

(Photo by CashCats) 

It's the simplest advice out there, but it rings true no matter how much money you make: the better you understand how you spend money, the better you are at saving it. Time is certainly money, but spending a little bit of time each week with your finances is worth it. Finance blog Get Rich Slowly explains why:

All this budgeting and goaling takes time, but millionaires are willing to spend it. Prodigious accumulators of wealth spend nearly twice as many hours per month planning their investments as under accumulators of wealth...

You don’t have to earn a big six-figure salary for planning to pay off. In a survey of 854 middle-income workers, [the authors] found “a strong positive correlation” between investment planning and wealth accumulation. This extra planning doesn’t just happen... “Most PAWs have a regimented planning schedule. Each week, each month, each year, they plan their investments.”

The key takeaway: everyone benefits from a little financial planning. We've shown you how easy it is to create a simple budget with a tool like Mint, and once you settle into your budget you can start planning better. In fact, you can create a personal financial plan without spending that much money, and doing so gives you a much better understanding of your money. If you're serious about learning financial planning, we like Learnvest because it combines a cheaper DIY alternative with access to experts so you don't mess things up. Set aside an hour each week to look everything over, see where you money is going, and try to spend it better. Once everything is set up, you can automate the whole process so you don't spend as much time thinking about it.

Negotiate Your Salary

We've mentioned before that not negotiating your salary costs you upwards of $500,000 in the long term, but salary negotiations aren't in everyone's skillset. Negotiations are hard and they're a little scary. That said, we all need to know how to do it.

We've walked you through salary negotiations in the past, and they're not nearly as terrifying as you might think. A salary negotiation is all about preparation, and after a little practice, you're ready to go. Even if more money isn't an option, negotiating for perks can make your job better. You can also take an old CEO trick and negotiate for a severance package instead of cash.

Give Yourself a Quest

We all know that goals are important, but it's hard to really wrap our minds around what we want from work or life in the long term. Speaking with Bloomberg, Evernote CEO Phil Libin describes his goals as quests, and it makes a lot of sense:

For Libin, "Lord of the Rings," the book by J. R. R. Tolkien and blockbuster movie directed by Peter Jackson, represents "the importance of having a quest," he said. He likens his mission of creating a tool to supplement people's memories to the journey Frodo and Sam embarked on to destroy the evil ring.

"Everything I needed to know in life, I learned from 'Lord of the Rings,'" Libin said. "If you're not on a quest, you're wasting your time."

It's a little silly, but Libin's point certainly rings true for all of us. If we don't have a quest that likely means we have no idea what we're doing. Figuring out what you want to do with yourself is no easy task, but we all have to do it at some point. What's nice about Libin's strategy is that the quest provides you with the long term goal you want to achieve, and it's up to you to figure out how you'll do it. We've heard this from plenty of other CEOs over the years, including Amazon's Jeff Bezos. It seems goofy, but take the time to actually sit down and think about your quest and how you'll get there. If you need a little help achieving that, we've certainly got you covered.

The fact is that whether you have $30 in your bank account or $3 million, managing your life and finances is tough. But we can all learn from each other, and when it really boils down to it, being a CEO or wealthy investor doesn't really change the game all that much.