| Written by Fred, on 31-03-2008 22:21 |
I was looking for the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad " (Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter, Warner Books, 266 pages), which I bought some years back after I resigned from a Makati law firm to start my own. The book was an eye-opener, not because it deals with matters that I don't know, but because it neatly discusses matters I took for granted, including the following:
Get out of the rat race. According to Mr. Kiyosaki, most people "want to go to school, learn a profession, have fun at their work, and earn lots of money. One day they wake up with big money problems, and then they can't stop working." You work hard to earn more money in order to buy that things you want, and as you covet more material things, you work even harder for a bigger paycheck. It's a vicious cycle. "These people often work harder than they need to because they learned how to work hard, but not how to have their money work for them." Earning more doesn't necessarily mean getting rich. The tendency of those who earn more is to spend more, acquiring material possessions left and right. In the long run, that person is trapped in an endless cycle of earning money to maintain the lifestyle. "Most people fail to realize that in life, it's not how much money you make, it's how much money you keep."
Work smart, let your money work for you. Many people earn a considerable amount of money, yet continue to work for money, failing to realize that their money should be working for them. In the words of Mr. Kiyosaki: "Think of it this way, once a dollar goes into your asset column, it becomes your employee. The best thing about money is that it works 24 hours a day and can work for generations." How to make money work for you is discussed in the book in a manner that is easy to understand.
As noted in Wikipedia, the Poor Dad in the book is based on Mr. Kiyosaki's real father, who was the head of the Education department of the state of Hawaii. In the book, he is greatly respected until he decides, late in his career, to take a stand on principle against the governor of Hawaii. This leads directly to Poor Dad losing his job, and his inability to find comparable work ever again. Because he has never learned to handle money, instead depending on the government (his employer) for support, he dies in severe debt. In contrast to this character is Rich Dad, his best friend Michael's father. Rich Dad dropped out in 8th grade, but became a self-made multi-millionaire regardless. He teaches Kiyosaki and Michael a variety of financial lessons, and insists that the boys learn to make money work for them to avoid spending their whole lives working for money, like Rich Dad's employees, as well as Poor Dad, and indeed most of the people in the world.
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