RICH DAD POOR DAD

"The antidote to fear is knowledge."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

You may be indecisive in making your chess pieces move when it comes to investments. But deep inside, you know you need to do this. Let me break it up to you. The best investment you could ever do, is to invest in yourself. There are a lot of tools that are ready for us to choose from. There are mutual funds, stocks, insurances. But like any other tool, it's always smart to get hold of the teaching manual. Here is a book that is best for you to start with.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is a book about a man who was trained to understand how to make money work for him at a very young age.  The good news is, he is not hesitant at all to share the secret of the rich people since he aims to financially educate as many as he can. The rest of the details is up for you to discover but for my #fabfindFriday, I recommend this to all adults who are wary of what are the fundamentals in becoming financially literate. In this book lies a great driving force that is empowering enough for you to be confident in taking responsibility of your finances and that is the knowledge that you didn't realise you needed from Day 1.

Let me tell you something about the author, Robert Kiosaki is an entrepreneur, investor, financial advisor, financial literacy activist, radio personality and is a financial c
ommentator on Yahoo. He's basically a millionaire, a financial advisor turned spiritual, that encourages everybody to wake up and be able to manage life's most in demand form of security, MONEY.

Robert Kiosaki,
a 4th generation Japanese American
that was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii

Things I learned in this book:

1. The difference between assets and liabilities. - Very very important piece of information. Why? Besides your job that brings in cash flow every month, earning while you're sleeping puts more excitement to it. You see, assets, being anything that puts money in your pocket, are now my aim. I would have to say this to myself every time I am in a shopping dilemma, whether what I am about to buy is need or a want, "Buy assets, not gadgets." Liabilities, on the other hand, are those that take money "out" of your pocket. Usually, having a house, purchasing a car and hoarding on jewelries are treated as an investment, after reading this book, rethink again. Because for all you know, maybe the mortgage for the house, the registration plus gas plus parking space (if you're in HK is much more expensive than rent) for the car and depreciating jewelries (such as diamonds) maybe just fall into under liabilities.

2. The equation: 

Salary - Savings = Expenses

Any book about financial education would present this golden rule. It is the holy grail of "staying" rich. We have to remember that our hard earned salary are due to us being hard working. So why not pay yourself first (put away something for your investments, assets and retirement) then consider the expenses. Change your usual way of paying the bills first before paying yourself. Try it for a year and you'll be surprised with the outcome. In addition, don't save to just get it as it matures. Go for savings plans that would earn you interest more than the bank and more than the inflation rate. You would understand what I'm saying more if you read this book.

3. That money can buy happiness.

I realised that that statement actually is true after all because the way it's being used, money is just a tool. It didn't say Money is happiness. Money ables you to meet ends.

Every month, there are bills to pay. Whether you are rich or poor you have monthly expenses. Imagine if these bills would pile up let's say 3 months. I doubt it if you're not going to be stressed out because you cannot pay. Make it pile for 6 months, I don't think you'd be able to go out of your house, you feel so ashamed to show your face. Make it a year, I think that's one of the reasons people commit suicide. And if you die, with that much debt, do you think the ones who are still living would be happy? Let's say your family? That they had to deal with what you left? Ladies and gentlemen, there's nobody exempted from dying. It is just right for you to be ready with things that are out of our control. Shit happens. Divorce, Death and Downsizing, which means before you get too comfortable, you should be open to the fact that you can't be assured of having the job that you have now FOREVER. So, why not make money work for you in the sense that it secures your monthly needs? How long would you be able to afford unemployment keeping up with the same lifestyle you have while you still had the job? If your cash-flow is greater than that of your monthly expenses, then you are one step closer to financial freedom. So to those that disagrees with me, that money can buy happiness, perhaps you don't know how to use money wisely and as to how it's supposed to be used.

4. Truly rich means being able to give.

Donation jars take approximately
1 and a half year before getting filled up each time.

I also know a Philippine evangelist named Bo Sanchez and I continuously keep myself abreast of his teachings. I got hold of his advocacy in imparting financial education to the Filipinos, most specifically to the masses, to eradicate the habit of crab mentality and to help out the poor and the middle class to attain richness. He is an evangelist turned financial advocate while Robert Kiosaki is a financial advocate turned spiritual. Meaning, for the truly rich men, they understand that there's no contentment in being rich alone, in having so much money yet, living without purpose. If you are able to help other people and if you are able to make them become responsible of their own riches, then, there lies the reality behind being "truly" rich. There's no point in keeping the knowledge about investments and the advantage in having passive income a secret. With that being said, there's no point in staying financially ignorant too. So, as you pay it forward, enlightenment happens.

5. Choose your friends wisely.

With that much enlightenment, you would be excited every day every night to start what you think you should've started doing already a year ago, a couple of years ago, or 8 years ago (in my case) and you'll start talking about it nonstop. You get so driven, you want as much friends, loved ones and family to get enlightened at the same time. Don't take this against me but I realised it's not that easy to share what you know because they'd either think that you're a know-it-all or that you've become a worshipper of money. Some closed minded people would even answer, "I don't need anybody to tell me how to save." or "I don't have that much to save because I can't barely make it every month." I tell you, I know a lot of people who dress up so nicely, complete with accessories and the latest gadget to complete their style but their savings are zero. To make it worst, it may be negative since they are living with debts.

Somebody once told me, you would know when a person gets enlightened when that person couldn't stop talking about an idea. I am now blogging a lot of ideas about money because I have been opened up to an affordable, achievable and attainable form of investment and I'd like to impart what I know to my readers. In my experience, encouraging a person to embrace the idea of investing for unexpected situations that may arise anytime (death, divorce, downsizing) is like encouraging somebody to believe in your religion. It's funny but it does feel this way. Some friends who actually got money, love talking about the subject. Because they learn from each other. But for those that actually don't, and are not saving, they find the topic of money rude and disrespectful. You don't have to push the idea. Just find the group that actually has the underlying reason why they're doing this. They wouldn't be there if their aspiration is not as big as yours. Have the information readily available and just cater to those who are ready to do what really works for them.

Check out this book for this is worth your time. Trust me.

Related posts:

1. HOW FINANCIALLY RICH ARE YOU?  - 6 steps on how to assess your financial status.

2. A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL STOCK INVESTING WITH THE EIP COL INVESTING EASY INVESTMENT PROGRAM - a brokerage company that may help Filipinos own some shares of most sought after companies in the Philippines.

3. THE PARABLE OF THE WEEDS - God gave us talents to help us attain richness that would enable us live sufficiently.