Wisdom of Rich Dad

One of the key lessons we learn in life is that it is important to save. There is a big difference though, between what we learn and what we do and many people find saving difficult.

Those people who feel guilty about not saving will be interested in a concept being promoted by Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, who suggests that savers are losers. Before all non-savers get too comfortable with that proposition, his point is not that everyone should spend rather than save. Saving implies putting money away on a regular basis into a bank account where it will earn interest and slowly increase in value with compound interest.

There are three reasons why you could argue that people who save are losers.

• Firstly, the return on your savings is reduced because you pay tax on the interest earned.
• Secondly, over time, the effect of inflation will reduce the purchasing power of your money. In other words, if you save $100 and choose to spend it ten years from now, you will not be able to buy as much with your money as you can today.
• Thirdly, bank deposits offer a low rate of return when compared with other investments. That is because bank deposits are seen to be less risky than other investments.

The point made by Kiyosaki is that if you really want to get ahead financially, you are better to invest rather than save.

Investing in growth assets such as property and shares or investing in a business of your own should give you better protection against tax and inflation, and a higher return over the long term.

In my view, the best approach is to do a little of everything; invest for a good return, save for security and spend to enjoy life.

Robert Kiyosaki likes real estate investing is because real estate touches each part of his financial statement.

Starting with his best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad and continued in many of his subsequent books, Robert explains how real estate gives cash flow to his income statement and on the expense side of the income statement he’s able to deduct the property’s depreciation as an expense.

When seen from the balance sheet, he’s able to gain appreciation on the asset side and the leverage provided by the bank rounds out the liability side of the balance sheet.

Through a property management company you can also access the four parts of the financial statement.  Here’s how:

Balance Sheet:  Asset-side

Every property producing monthly rent is an asset.  It is possible to sell the rights to manage the property to another property manager for a lump sum of money.

Balance Sheet:  Liability-side

Robert uses his banker’s money aka leverage in order to purchase a large property with only a small percentage as a down payment.  When the property goes up in value he is able to keep the entire appreciation amount without having to share it with the bank.  He can use leverage and still get the benefit of 100% of the appreciation.
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Robert Kiyosaki talks about:

• The loser’s mentality.
• “If you can’t control your emotions, you can’t control your money.”
• Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die!
• “Why doesn’t our school system teach us about money in school?”
• “You know why they call brokers, brokers?”
• Understanding the 80/20 rule – Kiyosaki style.
• What the church will tell you.
• Are you in the right relationship to be wealthy?

Most of us know what life insurance is: you pay a monthly or annual premium and in return the insurance company pays your nominated beneficiary or estate a lump sum when you die.  Over the years life insurance has grown, with a multitude of policies to suit nearly every kind of need.

1. Buying Life Insurance From Mortgage Lenders When Arranging A Loan

Another common mistake is buying life insurance from a mortgage lender or bank who is lending the individual money to buy a home. Banks like to cross sell a variety of products to their customers, and when individuals seek financing for the purchase of a home, they suddenly become a captive audience to the bank who is making the loan.

The financial institution will try and add on a variety of insurance products in addition to the mortgage or loan they are making, and the deals on offer may not always be the best deals that can be picked up were the individual to approach an insurance adviser or a specialist.

It is better to buy life insurance from a specialist financial adviser, largely because they have a better understanding of the products on offer, and how they compare to rival products and probably have a bigger offering.

Individuals should also not be afraid to make an adviser work for their money and feel no pressure to commit. Advisers may be commission driven and financial products such as life insurance provide remuneration to advisers through a commission structure.

2. Life Cover through superannuation fund providers

Life insurance through your superannuation fund may seem like an easy option, but just make sure you read the fine print.

A life insurance policy through your super fund may not cover you for the right amount. This means that if something does go wrong, you may be severely underinsured, leaving your loved ones with insufficient funds during an emotionally turbulent time.

3. Buying Life Insurance directly without underwriting

Life insurance products sold directly without underwriting, often sold aggressively via television advertising, may cost double compared to equivalent cover which is fully underwritten.

Another point to note is that non underwritten types of life insurance policies often have exclusions on previous medical history.

Speak to your trusted insurance adviser about your personal life insurance needs and compare different life insurance quotes.

I think many of you would agree that a lot of us are employees. We have a definite working time schedule. We have a boss. We work on a particular role. Basically, we work hard to sustain our day to day living.

But if you want to achieve financial freedom, you should not just work hard but work smarter! Yes, you will earn more by working harder. You will work even harder if you got promoted because of the additional responsibilities and tasks that will be assigned to you. You will become probably rich because of overtime and pay raises but definitely you would sacrifice a lot.

You will risk your health because of stress. You will lessen the time for your family and friends. In short, you will not enjoy the fruits of your hard work if you will only just work harder. Added to that, the government is your number 1 beneficiary if you work harder. Your pay gets taxed first even before you get it.

Don’t just work hard, work smart too. How to work smart? Here are some of the the things that you could do to work smarter!

Work like a smart entrepreneur. If you have the capacity to become an entrepreneur, start a business. An entrepreneur leverages his resources and hires people who are smarter than him to work for him. Yes, he will work but on the supervisory level only. He delegates tasks and he gets rich by doing it. These are the tactics of taipans and tycoons.

Learn financial intelligence. If you would just work hard and even harder, you will definitely end up burnt out of your work. If you are financially literate, you would accumulate assets while you are working. And as these pile of assets accumulate over time, it would be sufficient to provide you with your needs without working. Choose to be the ‘rich person’ as Robert Kiyosaki said and not the ‘poor’ and ‘middle class’ persons who buy liabilities they think are assets.

Work for passive income. As I already mentioned in previous posts, passive income is your money working for you. Try to work little by little for passive income while you have your job. And as your passive income grows, then that would be the time to go full time for it.

Ultimately, working smarter is shifting from either the Employee (E) and Self Employed (S) quadrant of the Cashflow Quadrant to either Big Business Owner (B) and Investor (I) quadrants.

Financial planning is needed for those of you who want to achieve your financial goals, as well as the old saying “Failing to plan equals planning to fail” if you do not make plans in the financial planning or the plan is still not good then you’re planning to fail.

Try to think for a moment: people who have done just planning to fail, especially who do not plan, certainly will fail. as Robert T. Kiyosaki always emphasized in every book of the mega best seller: The Importance of Having and continue Sharpen your financial intelligence because that is what will bring you to financial freedom.

To make a financial plan is still much that is not understood by most people about issues related to financial issues. for example, people want to save in order to prepare for a down payment on a house, may not know how much to save each month, and probably also can not predict what the price will be the future home, questions such questions will arise and many will not be able to easily answered because of lack of knowledge about the “financial planning”.

In this case you may need the help of a financial planner to help you create a financial plan which if the plan is executed, then you are running to achieve financial goals that have been defined.

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