CNNMoney.com asked forty famous people for their best piece of financial advice. You’ll hear answers from the likes of Bill Miller, Derek Jeter, Jon Barry, Steven Levitt, and even advice from Rodney Dangerfield. In the beginning of the slideshow, the photos are of the respondents but as you get closer to the end it’s photos of the origins of the advice; you’ll know what I mean when you get there.

Unfortunately, they didn’t ask me, otherwise this is what I’d say about the smartest financial advice I got:

The smartest advice I ever got from my parents was to always work hard. My dad once told me that I was one of those people who could complete a fifteen minute job in ten minutes. As I basked in the compliment, my dad told me that what would separate me from the other people who could do the same thing was what I did with the other five minutes. Everyone has talent in something, but not everyone has a work ethic. A strong worth ethic is what separates the great from the merely good. I can’t say I disagree.

Here are my favorites from the slideshow:

Elizabeth Gilbert: Swear off debt.

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of Eat, Pray, Love, a book my wife has read and really enjoyed, and I thought this bit of advice from her parents was a gem. Her father passed along this message from her grandfather: “Borrowing money is like wetting your bed in the middle of the night. At first all you feel is warmth and release. But very, very quickly comes the awful, cold discomfort of reality.”

In Taiwan, and China, the concept of consumer debt is only a recent phenomenon. Until the last five or ten years, the idea of a credit card was foreign in Taiwan. My father told us a story about when my parents bought a home on Long Island that my grandfather wanted to give him the cost of the home (this was nearly thirty years ago). My dad explained to my grandfather that he could put 20% down and borrow the rest, a concept that made no sense to his grandfather. Why borrow money? Just keep saving and saving and saving until you can afford it. It’s amazing how pervasive consumer credit has become in such a short time.

Derek Jeter: Know where your money goes.

Derek Jeter is the shortstop for the New York Yankees and considering the size of his paycheck, it’s amazing this was the advice he thought of. I think it’s valuable because as we get older, the finances get more complex and you begin relying on more and more experts. We now have an accountant that handles our taxes, we leaned on a real estate agent when we bought our house, we’ll have to rely on the expertise of numerous subject matter experts as we grow older but it’s always important to be part of the process.

Chris Larsen: Take risks when you can.

Chris Larsen founded E-Loan.com and Prosper.com, two hugely successful and innovative companies in the lending industry. This bit of advice came from Jim Collins, author of Built to Last, Larsen’s MBA professor at Stanford. “You’re young. You can fail two or three times, even lose all your money two or three times, and you’ll be just fine. Taking that risk puts you in the path of wealth.”

In my MBA, I received similar advice from my Entrepreneurship professor. He said that, especially if you’re young, you should be willing to take risks and try paving your own way. It’ll be hard, you might fail, but the worst thing that can happen is that you go back and get another job.

There are a lot of good gems in there including appearances by Freakonomics author Steven Levitt, Four Hour Work Week author Tim Ferriss, and many many others.

The smartest advice I ever got [CNN Money]

Conventional wisdom says that you need to save your money. You save for retirement, save for your kid’s education (unless you subscribe to idea that you shouldn’t have kids), save for this, save for that. Sacrifice a little today, let some magical force called compound interest take effect, and you will be rich beyond your wildest dreams in 40 years!

However, Americans aren’t stupid. We didn’t save our money to launch the Revolutionary War to escape taxation without representation, we just did it. Heck, we spend so much that our savings rate is negative, beat that!

Here are only a few good reasons why we shouldn’t save.

Inflation Isn’t 3%

“Core inflation,” what the government uses to figure out inflation for a variety of inflation-pegged measures, doesn’t include food and energy. That sounds reasonable in theory, we shouldn’t peg an important number to something that fluctuates so much, but it fails miserably in practice. Food and energy prices have skyrocketed in the last year, yet CPI is still within “reasonable” limits.

Your money is worth less and less each day. Gasoline is at $4 a gallon now. Has your salary increased accordingly? If so, your employer is wonderfully pragmatic. If not, then you’ve experienced an erosion in your money’s purchasing power. That’s economic-speak for you have less money. While we’re not talking crazy Argentina inflation numbers, inflation is still there. Imagine if every night someone went into your bank account and took out a penny or two. How does that make you feel? Now imagine if it’s a ghost and there’s nothing you can do about it… except spend it. If you spend it, they can’t take it.

Retirement May Never Happen

Saving for retirement? Very admirable, but retirement may never happen. I’m not being morbid and saying you might be hit by a bus (seriously, just look both ways before crossing, like Sesame Street says), I’m merely positing the idea that you’ll hate retirement.

You may never want to retire, sit at home, play golf, watch soaps, or buy an RV and travel the United States. You may want to continue working, continue challenging yourself and achieving, and this amazing retirement, that you’re saving for and putting on a pedestal, may never happen. Tim Ferriss, author of the Four Hour Work Week, suggests mini-retirements rather than saving for this monster retirement at the end.

Enjoy When Young

The younger you are, the fewer responsibilities you have. If you’re single with no kids, take advantage of that flexibility and spend your money on the things you can enjoy today. If you’re married with no kids, go on more vacations. If you’re married with kids, it’s game over (just kidding!).

I’ve had numerous friends travel the world and living life (Roberto, Jack, Mark) and they’re under thirty. They’re taking mini-retirements. They’re all very smart individuals who can take a few months off and still find a job on the back end. They’re spending now, rather than later, and enjoying life to the fullest.

Why would you want to do this when you’re 60? Now is the time to do it.

Bequeathing Large Sums to Children = Mistake

Warren Buffett is donating most of his personal fortune to numerous philanthropic organizations, most notably the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “There’s no reason why future generations of little Buffetts should command society just because they came from the right womb. Where’s the justice in that?” - his words, not mine. If you want some proof or justification for his words, look at Paris Hilton.

I say skip the bequeathing of money to your children. They will grow up and have the opportunity to earn their own money and learn the value of a dollar through hard work. Don’t save for them. Instead, spend it on yourself or spend it on supporting good causes like Buffett did.

Saving is for suckers, don’t be a suck.