Wisdom of Rich Dad

Here are some tips that will help self-employed workers get their business off the ground without running into tax problems down the road.

Hire a Tax Pro and an Attorney. It’s part of the cost of doing business and is highly recommended by many experts, not just us tax pros and attorneys. Richard Kiyosaki, in his book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” stresses the importance of having a team of legal and accounting/tax experts to guide you through the process. Pound for pound, their advice will save you money in the long run. Tax planning, entity selection, financial analysis, and setting up accurate books are integral to your success.

Find Free Workshops. The IRS hosts free workshops on a regular basis for people opening a business. Taking one of these workshops will save a lot of money in consulting fees with your tax pro, attorney, and bookkeeper. Check out this link to find a workshop near you. The Small Business Administration is another good source for counseling and loans.

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MANHATTAN (CN) – A federal class action claims Rich Dad Education and its affiliates use their “free classes” and $199 seminars about financial success as a come-on in a high-pressure “sales scam” to sell worthless courses for tens of thousands of dollars.
Named plaintiff Robert Crewe says Rich Dad’s “sales scam is built on a misleading three-tiered sales pitch where customers are sold increasingly expensive financial training programs using pressures tactics and false promises.”

Crewe says he paid $199 to attend a “Rich Dad Education Stock Success 3-day Training program, which was supposed to provide training and education in trading stocks.”

But he says, “Defendants did not provide any training or education at the workshop. Instead, the sole purpose of the workshop was to up-sell ‘students’ into additional useless but more-expensive coursework and monitoring, which costs up to $64,899 per enrollee.”

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The Federal Reserve just downgraded the economic outlook for the U.S., and started another round of quantitative easing, dubbed “Operation Twist.” The financial markets have been in upheaval as European stocks and U.S. stocks alike plunge, and even gold is losing ground fast (although some think it will pick right up again). If the economic outlook is really as dark as some seem to think, it means that maybe it’s time to consider your situation.

Yes, you can prepare for the future by reducing your spending and paying down debt. In fact, these are wise ideas if you want to whip your finances into shape and avoid obligations that can make an already difficult personal economic situation even harder. But you should also consider that earning a little income can also be a good idea.

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Forget designer strollers and organic baby formula, just providing a child with the basics has become more than most parents can afford.

The cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 for a middle-income, two-parent family averaged $226,920 last year (not including college), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s up nearly 40% — or more than $60,000 — from 10 years ago. Just one year of spending on a child can cost up to $13,830 in 2010, compared to $9,860 a decade ago.

“Everything is more expensive and each family makes its own set of trade-offs,” said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute in New York. “Many parents are working longer hours, or another job, and they are giving up time at home. It’s a complete catch-22.”

From buying groceries to paying for gas, every major expense associated with raising a child has climbed significantly over the past decade, said Mark Lino, a senior economist at the USDA.

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An Accokeek man is up against Warren Buffet. So far, he’s ahead.

Jeff Yeager, who writes about frugality, is one of 12 personal finance experts featured in a contest on www.gobankingrates.com, a financial website.

Until Dec. 31, visitors to the site can vote once per day for their favorite from a list that, in addition to Yeager and Buffet, includes Suze Orman, who has a personal finance TV show, Dave Ramsey, a radio personality, and Robert Kiyosaki, creator of the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” books and seminars.

In a Wednesday interview, Yeager, who has dubbed himself “the Ultimate Cheapskate,” said he was startled to be selected to compete against the “rock stars of finance.”

“At first I thought it was some sort of scam,” he said.

Yeager has written two books about serious frugality he advocates paying less than a dollar per pound for groceries, and conducted a cross-country book tour by bicycle but didn’t think he had achieved enough attention to be in the top 12, he said.

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Today, the golf trophy that I won for placing 2nd on my flight was shipped to me. I was so excited because I have never won anything other than getting certificates and ribbons before so it made me really happy to say the least. My credit card balance, my next paycheck, the stock market tumbling today all did not matter. Being a person that always thinking about money – how to save more, how to earn more, how to accumulate more, this prompted the question “does always thinking about money really make me happy?”

The answer to this question is probably pretty complicated. On the one hand, it stresses me out unnecessarily. I’m certainly not worried about survival since I have a good paying job and have very little expenses so far, creating a sizable positive cash flow every month. If I project my savings rate and investment performance, I will be way ahead of my goal. However, because it seems like I’m very far from my retirement goal (as I’m still young and I just started accumulating wealth), I try to save as much as I can, as early as I can just in case. I’m probably a little too frugal because I’m stressing myself out when I don’t need to be.

On the other hand, my expenses in the future will only go up as I buy a house and start a family. Hopefully, my income will also grow but I shouldn’t count on it growing faster than the rate that my expense will increase. This means that I cannot just project the same savings that I do now; I should plan for the future and start to save as much as I can. There’s no such thing as saving too much right?

Some might think that this is a good problem to have but sometimes having too many choices is not the best for a person’s mind. This will probably be a question that I will ponder again and again through the years. In the meantime, I will be content with my first trophy ever.