I Stumbled Into The Secret Book Of Rich People
The secrets of the rich that this book holds are now open to everyone.
Have you ever thought about what makes the rich, rich, and the poor, poor? Why only the rich have their assets grown while the poor drown in debts? Why only do the poor suffer from the financial struggle but the rich enjoy a luxurious life even in a crisis?
The answer is: Only thing that separates a rich from the poor is—the perception towards money.
Robert T. Kiyosaki, in his best-selling book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, says, “The rich don’t work for money. They make the money work for themselves.”
It sounds nice, right!
How the rich can make money work for themselves while the poor spend their whole life working for it?
The plot twist here is: You don’t need to be an intelligent grad with five degrees working for some billion-dollar MNC to be rich. It’s not the education that can make the difference but only how you handle the money you earn.
The following is an excerpt from the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki. In his book, Robert T. Kiyosaki has shelled out what the rich teach their kids that the poor don't.
When he was 9 years old, he had two dads, one his own highly educated dad and the other, his friend Mike’s dad, who was just eight passed.
His own dad, whom he calls his poor dad, was highly qualified, earned good, but spend his all life suffering from financial struggles. His friend Mike’s dad, whom he calls his rich dad, with no proper qualification, went on to become the richest person in Hawaii.
So what made so much difference? How a highly qualified dad suffered from financial struggles when the other became the richest person.
Robert calls this difference the perception people have towards money. He explains the poor have the mindset of asking their kids to “get good grades or you won’t get a high paying job" while the rich never ask their kids to rely on their employer for a minimum wage.
His poor dad always emphasized working for a corporation while his rich dad wanted him to own a corporation. Though his both dads encouraged him to learn, to study, but not in the same way. His poor dad wanted him to be just like his dad. Get good grades and find a safe and secure job with a big company. His rich dad wanted him to make money work for him. And, his rich dad knew he can only learn it throughout his life, not from a school.
For his rich dad, the school only gives you scholastic and professional skills but no school teaches how to make money work for themselves. He believed since 1945, the world has advanced into a developed state but schools still develop a kid as he or she was to work in the era of 1945.
He was never against schools for he knew education is a vital part of a kid’s development. But he also focused on the financial skills of a kid. Kids should learn how to manage money and how to multiply it.
In his book, Robert says his rich dad has taught him six lessons that helped him to get rich. Here are they:
#1 The Rich don’t work for money
As I already said above, the major difference between a rich and a poor is that the rich never work for money. But the poor and middle class spend their whole life working for money.
His rich dad says, two things drive the people to get up and go for their daily job even though it pays less — fear and desire. The fear of paying the bills and the desire of earning more. This is the trap that most people fell into.
He advises him to control his fear and desire. If he can’t control them and gets rich, then he would be a high-paid slave. Most people run after paychecks, job security, pensions because of fear and desire. That’s what keeps them doing the same job every year despite knowing that they are not made for this. He says it’s just like a donkey with a carrot dangling in front of its nose.
#2 Why teach financial literacy?
Financial education is the foundation of everyone’s life which unfortunately no one talks about. People who were millionaires in their life once, went bankrupt soon after because they were financially illiterate. Money is like sand that slips from your hand quicker than you expect. If you don’t know how to hold it or multiple it, you will soon struggle financially.
Robert says his rich dad emphasized learning the difference between an asset and a liability. Poor or middle-class people are not aware of the difference. They assume liabilities as their assets. An asset is what helps you generate income without doing much. Liability is what takes money out of your pocket. If liability increases, you are in debt, and if asset increases, you become wealthy.
#3 Mind your own business
Ray Croc, the founder of McDonald’s was once invited to talk to the MBA class at the University of Texas. After the commencement of his speech, a group of friends asked him to join them at their favorite hangout which Ray happily agreed. Then he asked them in what business he is. Every one of them started laughing. He again asked the same question.
Everyone said with a laugh, “Ray, who in the world does not know that you’re in the hamburger business.”
“That is what I thought you would say,” he chuckled. “I’m not in the hamburger business. My real business is real estate.”
He explains that though his main focus was to sell hamburger franchises, he never lost sight of the location of each franchise. Basically, anyone who was paying for the franchise was also paying for the land under the franchise. And he believes, real estate and its location was the major factor in the success of each franchise.
Robert calls this “Mind your own business" lesson. He says everyone is focused on getting a good job with a big company. Everyone is focused on their income rather than assets. “I need a raise" or “I quit this job" is what we hear today. To become financially secure, you need to mind your own business.
Getting a safe and secure job is not bad until you focus solely on your income column. The best practice is to continue your job and invest the money you earn into income-generating assets. Unfortunately, most people don’t want to take risks. They want to play safe. They cling to their jobs. Because they don’t have a financial foundation.
The poor believe that their house is the biggest investment he can ever have. But their house is not an income-generating source. It costs them money every month. In the time of a crisis, they would have nothing to fall back on. Their house which they thought was their asset could not save them from it.
To save yourself from the crisis, invest in an income-generating asset. Every time you generate income, again invest it on another income-generating asset. In this way, you can form your assets with no longer rely on your sole job. Even though you lose it somewhere in the middle, you can still pay your bills.
#4 The history of and the power of the corporation
Robert says one main reason behind the people struggling financially is the taxes. They spend six months of time working for the government to pay taxes. What remains is not enough to pay their bills and live financially well. Because an individual doesn’t know how to save themselves from money-sucking-government.
He believes the rich had the idea of getting out of every tax government put on them. Purposely, taxes were made to suck the money from the rich and give it to the poor. It’s much like a Robin Hood story. So government asked for the votes of the poor and middle class to implement tax rules.
Since ever poor considers Robin Hood to be a savior of the poor, they voted the government to implement taxes on the rich. But they didn’t know that the power of greed was so strong that made the government also implemented taxes on the poor and middle class.
To escape the wrath of taxes, the rich invest more in a corporation. The corporation protects them from high taxes since the corporate tax is less than the individual tax. The idea of “Take from the rich" backfired on the poor. This is where the rich play their game.
Every time the government tries to suck money from the rich, they react smartly. They have the money and power to hire highly talented accountants, attorneys to find loopholes in the rules. But the poor without any reaction to take action or thought to prevent paying more taxes, comply with the rules and work half of the year for the government.
Robert says his rich dad always advised him to have money work for him. If you work for money, you give them the power to your employer. If you make the money work for yourself, you will have your own power.
To be financially strong, you need to learn the law. If you know the rules, you can stop yourself from being bullied by the government. That’s why his rich dad always hired smart accountants and attorneys to save his money from taxes. It was cheap to pay to them than to the government.
#5 The Rich invent money
There is talent and brilliance inside everyone but one thing that holds them from getting wealthy is fear and self-doubt. It hurts to see talented people with answers but lacking the courage to act on it. Robert says, in the real world, it is not the smart that gets ahead but the bold.
He says to be financially genius, one needs to control his fear. If the fear overcomes you, your genius will be suppressed. He advises everyone to be bold, take risks, let that genius convert fear into power and brilliance.
#6 Work to learn — Don’t work for money
There are thousands of talented people out there in the world. Unfortunately, not everyone is paid for what they deserve. Hundreds of talented doctors, attorneys, accountants, are earning less than $20,000 a year. The reason behind this injustice is — no one is willing to learn. Robert quotes a phrase told to him by a business consultant, “They are only one skill away from great wealth.”
If only everyone is willing to learn one more skill, their income would jump exponentially. He says his rich dad always advised him to work to learn. His rich dad believes even if you fail and go broke in your 20s, you will have time to recover. The 20s are the time when you can take bold risks.
In the end, Robert sums it up by saying, “It’s what is in your head that determines what is in your hands. Money is only an idea. There is a great book called Think and Grow Rich. The title is not Work Hard and Grow Rich. Learn to have money work hard for yourself and your life will be easier and happier. Today, don’t play it safe, play it smart.”
When I got hold of this book, I immediately knew why the rich become rich and the poor, poor? Why they are able to generate assets and the poor are stuck with their liabilities? The only thing that can lead you both to success and to failure is — your mind.
That’s why rich dad always said, “Use this (your mind). If you use it well, you will soon thank me for giving you an opportunity, and you will grow into a rich man.”
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