Some of the world’s biggest companies came from the most humble of beginnings. Here are four major corporations who’ve each starred in their own rags-to-riches story.

Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG)
“On September 7, 1998, Google Inc. opened its door in Menlo Park, California. The door came with a remote control, as it was attached to the garage of a friend who sublet space to the new corporation’s staff of three.” — Google’s Corporate History

Just days before that garage door opened, Google
co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin moved out of the dorms, officially incorporated the Google name, and finished raising $1 million from a handful of investors. A friend of Brin’s, Susan Wojcicki (now Google’s VP of product management), needed help paying the mortgage on her 1,900-square-foot home in Menlo Park, and agreed to lease the garage for $1,700 per month to the 25-year-old Stanford grads.

For the five months Google operated out of Wojcicki’s garage, Page and Brin alternated between tinkering with their search engine’s now legendary algorithm, soaking in the hot tub, and raiding the refrigerator for midnight snacks — a habit that may have inspired Google’s free-food policy for all its employees.

By the end of 1998, Google (still in Beta mode) had indexed nearly 60 million pages and was being praised for providing better search results than its competitors. They moved out of Wojcicki’s garage in March 1999, and after quickly outgrowing three other locations, settled down at the 26-acre complex fondly referred to as the “Googleplex.” On the company’s 8th birthday, Google purchased the garage (and the attached home) and plan on preserving it as part of its legacy.

Dell (Nasdaq: DELL)
The University of Texas at Austin campus is known for stimulating the minds of its undergraduates — the grassy fields, the sprawling trees and the traditional architecture of the revered halls are all filled with inspiration. But Michael Dell didn’t have his revelation in the class room. He found it in his dorm room.

It was in room 2713 that he ran his informal business, building and selling custom-ordered personal computers under the name PCs Limited. By selling directly to the customer, Dell cut out the middleman and kept prices lower than his competition. That bright idea set the young entrepreneur apart, and by 1985, the 19-year-old dropped out of school and moved his business to an office center in North Austin that he purchased with his profits.

Dell is now one of the largest tech companies in the world, and is ranked #38 on the Fortune 500 list.

Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE)
Before it became the world’s leading supplier of athletic gear, Nike wasn’t Nike — it was “Blue Ribbon Sports.” And for the first two years, you couldn’t find it at any retailer. Blue Ribbon Sports operated exclusively out of the trunk of Phil Knight’s green Plymouth Valiant. That’s right, Nike started in the trunk of a car.

Blue Ribbon Sports was founded in January 1964 by two University of Oregon men — track athlete Knight and his coach, Bill Bowerman. The company originally operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger. While Knight sold shoes at track meets, Bowerman, always on the search for the competitive edge, was ripping them apart to see how he could make them lighter and better. He recruited his runners to test his designs.

In 1966, the two opened the company’s first retail store in Santa Monica, California, and business grew quickly. Blue Ribbon Sports split from Onitsuka Tiger and launched its own line of footwear, bearing a newly designed “swoosh.” In 1978, BRS, Inc. officially renamed itself Nike, Inc.

Dyson
Just as Nike was getting its official start, Dyson was coming into being across the pond. In a dirty living room.

In 1978, James Dyson was growing more and more frustrated with his Hoover vacuum cleaner.  As he tried to clean his living room, dust clogged the fine mesh pores of the bag and blocked airflow, causing the machine to quickly lose suction power. Even emptying the bag had no effect. Tired and frustrated, he set to work on developing a more efficient vacuum cleaner.

While visiting a local sawmill, Dyson noticed that large industrial cyclones were removing sawdust from the air. Inspired, he dismantled his Hoover machine and fitted it with a cardboard recreation of the sawmill cyclones. During his initial tests, Dyson found his cardboard prototype picked up more dust than his bag model!

For five years, Dyson faced rejection from every major vacuum manufacturer. He and his wife were seriously in debt, and they even began growing their own vegetables and sewing their own clothes to support the ongoing project. A determined Dyson persevered, and he went on to manufacture, market and sell his design. Today, Dyson is one of the most widely-recognized appliance manufacturers, constantly wowing consumers with innovative and stylish solutions to everyday problems.

In recent years, there has been a tectonic shift as Wall Street brokers leave their big firms to set up shop on their own. Generally speaking, such a move is bad news for the biggest clients as they are able to participate in hot IPOs and other transactions, and they may lose that access when a broker jumps ship. But for the rest of us, this transition is good news, as the newly independent broker can simply focus on your needs and not the big brokerage’s needs. Big firms won’t always act in their client’s interests. As we recently saw with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), when there is a conflict of interest, the house always wins.

To make sure your broker is watching your back, keep an eye out for these pitches.

1. “My analyst loves this stock.”

If your broker is pushing a stock idea on you, it’s at least a few days old, and perhaps a lot longer than that. The best ideas are first shared discreetly among the firm’s most favored clients, and even more egregiously, with the firm’s proprietary trading desk. Ever wonder how these internal trading operations seem to make money, even when their clients lost money? Now you know. And sometimes, a firm decides that its traders hold too much of a certain stock. And guess who has been told to help get rid of those shares? The broker. The solution: work with folks who have zero conflicts of interest.

2. “We got this stock at a great price for you.”

Your broker may have gotten you shares at $24, but his firm may have only paid $23.90 a share. That may not seem like much, but it’s a hidden source of profits for the firm. Every “buy” or “sell” order should have a trading ticket. And it’s easy to “assign” those tickets to particular trades. Electronic trading has eliminated some of this abuse, but it still goes on, especially at smaller broker-dealers. There is a range of high integrity broker-dealer firms out there, but there are even more firms that cut too many corners. To keep your broker honest, find out what time of day a trade was made, and go back to the intra-day chart on Google Finance or Yahoo! Finance to confirm. Better yet, insist on real-time trade confirmations.

3. “We’re getting in on this hot new deal.”

Be wary of any offers of IPOs or other financial instruments that are being sold in an offering to clients. Each deal comes with a prospectus that highlights the lead deal manager, and then the supporting firms, known as the syndicate. If your firm is at the bottom of that list, then stay away. Here’s how it works: If your firm just got their hands on some stock to sell, and the deal is going to take place in a few days, then that’s a sure sign that demand was fairly weak, and your firm was brought in at the last minute. That often means the deal is a dog. Hold your nose and say “no thanks.”

4. “You should buy this now. It won’t be a good deal next week.”

Stock brokers are under the gun to generate trades. And their supervisors will push them to meet quotas at the end of the month or the end of the quarter. Don’t feel an obligation to take your broker’s advice if his or her idea doesn’t seem like a good one and is coming at the end of one of these periods. I’d suggest getting in the habit of declining some of your broker’s ideas when you first establish a relationship. See how those ideas performed over time. If your broker values your business, just explain that you’ll accept more of his or her ideas down the road, but have them keep telling you what they like right now.

5. “Your broker just left, but we’ve got a better one to take his place.”

Huh? Where did he/she go? Why did he/she leave? Try to find where that broker went and try to speak to him or her. They may be prevented from candidly saying why they left, but their “body language” over the phone should tell you everything. Brokers often leave for basic reasons such as higher commissions. But sometimes when they leave when the firm slips below their standards of integrity.

To repeat, this is an industry filled with many bright, caring people. But that doesn’t mean that your needs always come first. There’s no need to assume that you’ll always get the raw end of any deal, but it’s your right to develop a high level of comfort. And that means honest communication and lots of transparency. Don’t settle for less.

Over the weekend, I got five of my friends together to play this game that’s like Monopoly.  The game Cashflow was developed by Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad.  It teaches people financial intelligence. 

How can anyone learn financial IQ from a board game right?  I was skeptical in the beginning also.  But I was a fan of his book so I wanted to see what it was about.  It’s now my fourth time playing and I definitely picked up a thing or two.

At my first time playing, I did not land on an opportunity square for the last hour and half of playing.  I was getting shorted even though the odds of my landing on an opportunity is extremely high.  It’s every other spot!  But in life, that happens.  But you can either decide that’s your fate or you can just keep fighting. 

By the fourth time playing, I realized you could BUY other people’s opportunities.  This meant that whenever someone landed on one, they could either use it themselves or sell it to someone else.  Sometimes, that person can’t afford it because they don’t have the necessary capital.  The analogy in real life is like having a really good financial adviser who can suggest opportunities for you.  All you have to do is shell out the money.

More People Knowing The Market = More opportunities for you

Because the Market card came up so rarely, it helped when there were more players in the game.  And the Market card was the only one that can shake things up both good and bad.  So for us in real life, we need to surround ourselves with people that know the market very well.  Only then we will be able to make the right decision to make a gain or to avert a lost.

Money In Bank Does Nothing

Yes, money in the bank gets you 2% interest after inflation.  Likewise, just getting a paycheck every couple of turns and not taking risks in buying investments will get you nowhere in the game.  It will do nothing for you to get out of the rat race.  Live with the fact that some investments will make money, some will lose.  But the more you do it, the better you will become in finding the ones that MAKE you money.

People With Smaller Expenses Get Out Of Rat Race Faster

At my last game, I was generating over $2500 in passive income.  My expenses however were around four grand.  And after doing the math on whether I could just pay down some of the expenses, I realize it was better to generate more passive income.  It was taking forever.  My friend however, had something like $1500 in passive income but her expenses was around a grand.  Because of that, she got out of the rat race.  I had 4 times as many real estate holdings but it was my expenses that was holding me down.  So note to self: keep expenses low (unless I want to keep going around the board as a rat).

Buying Someone’s Opportunity Saves Time

Because I had to keep generating passive income, I snatched up every opportunity that had positive cashflow.  Not only that, I brought other people’s opportunities when they couldn’t afford it.  Doing this saved me a roll of the die.  So instead of being able to buy just 1 opportunity on one turn, I was able to buy 2-5.  And that saved me time in the game.  And that saves time in real life.

The Cashflow Formula

Finally, I figured out the formula to get out of the rat race.  The player first HAD to buy up small opportunities.  There was just not enough capital to invest in the big ones.  But these small opportunities only generated a small amount of cashflow.  So second, they need to be sold for large lump sums in order to buy the bigger opportunities. 

These bigger opportunities are the ones that was generating significantly more cashflow, 4-5 times as much.  And that’s the way Kiyosaki did it in real life.  He started buying small real estate properties, 2-3 bedroom houses.  He then parlayed that into duplex, 4-plexes, and apartment buildings.  He did it this way because the knowledge needed to make a small deal is exactly the same as a big deal.  He looked at the numbers.  After having enough confidence in making small deals, that transfers over when making large deals.

It’s true that it’s easier for the rich to get richer. That first million is by far the toughest to make. But once you’re there, it gets much easier to make the next million.

When you already have money working for you, each percent of return adds more to your worth. Earning 10% on $10,000 gives you $1,000. Making 10% on $1,000,000 gives you $100,000. 

 Let’s look at what it takes to accumulate your first million. Assume you regularly invest a monthly amount at a given return. Using the power of compounding, the table below shows you how many years it will take you to reach your first million. We’ll assume you’re starting from zero.

You might wonder why I chose $1,375 as the last monthly contribution. That number happens to be the maximum amount an individual can contribute to their 401k in 2010, divided by 12 months.

As we’ve already mentioned, after you reach your first million it takes less time to make your second. When you start from $1 million, you can take advantage of the effect of compounding on that first $1 million. 

If you consistently put away as much as you can afford, it is possible to have $2 million in 26 years if you contribute the maximum to your 401(k) and achieve a 10% return. Even better, some companies will match some of your contribution, helping you reach your million-dollar goal even faster.

The taxman even wants to help.  He’ll give you a break when you save in tax deferred accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs. If you are in the 25% marginal tax bracket and you contribute $200, your out of pocket cost is only $150. Now you have a little more money to contribute to help you become a millionaire even sooner.

The most difficult part is getting started. Once you begin, it becomes easier. So, what are you waiting for? Sign up today to have that monthly allotment taken out of your paycheck. Then increase it ever so slightly every six months until you reach the maximum contribution level. Before you know it, you will be well along your way to your first million.

While most of us were busy clinging to jobs, hoarding cash and delaying retirement plans, a few lucky people capitalized on the opportunities created by the Great Recession of 2008.

Nouriel Roubini

You have to admit, Nouriel Roubini was screaming “danger” from the mountaintops well before the financial system fell apart. The NYU professor of economics had been dismissed as somewhat of a fringe element when in September 2006 he told the IMF, “The United States was likely to face a once-in-a-lifetime housing bust, an oil shock, sharply declining consumer confidence and, ultimately, a deep recession.”

Labeled “Dr. Doom” by the New York Times and CNBC, Roubini has found widespread acclaim in light of his foretelling of the recession. Nowadays, when Roubini speaks, the markets listen. Dr. Doom was ranked #4 on Foreign Policy magazine’s list of the “top 100 global thinkers.” Additionally, he has spoken before Congress and the influential Council on Foreign Relations.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Before Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote the book Fooled by Randomness in 2001, he was a financier, having worked at world-renowned financial institutions including UBS, Banque Indosuez and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Fooled By Randomness brought him distinction as a writer with a keen understanding of financial markets, but his follow-up, The Black Swan, published with perfect timing in 2007, truly launched him to rock-star status.

Like Roubini, Taleb spotted the Ponzi scheme that was our financial system years ahead of the crowd, and he wasn’t shy about taking the banks to task. He recognized that with widespread sharing of risk comes the greater chance of a devastating domino effect. When his prophecies came to fruition, his books gained increased notoriety for having foretold the crash.

Meredith Whitney

Camera-ready and smart as a whip, Meredith Whitney became the face of the financial crisis. While working at Oppenheimer & Co., she became the go-to banking analyst after publishing a research report in 2007 that predicted the demise of Citigroup, an outcome that seemed outlandish at the time. In the midst of the financial crisis, her analysis had the ability to dramatically move share prices.

Following this and other bold calls on the crumbling financial system, Whitney was named CNBC’s 2008 “Power Player of the Year”, beating out JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Whitney left Oppenheimer in early 2009 to start her own equity research firm, the Meredith Whitney Advisory Group.

Lloyd Blankfein

Lloyd Blankfein led Goldman Sachs through financial turmoil and came out stronger, much stronger, on the other side. By teaming up with America’s favorite investor, Warren Buffett, Blankfein secured both strong financial backing and a de facto “seal of approval” for Goldman, signaling to the markets that Goldman was here to stay.

When markets began to collapse and the government decided to bail out firms that were “too big to fail,” it didn’t hurt Goldman’s chances that Blankfein was good friends with the Secretary of the Treasury at the time (and former Goldmanite), Henry “Hank” Paulson. Goldman received federal TARP money and weathered the storm.

Once the destruction of Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch cleared the way to utter market domination, Goldman paid back its $10 billion of TARP funds and cast off the yoke of government. The market rally in 2009 allowed Goldman to rake in over $13 billion in profits and secure its post as American’s most prestigious investment bank.

John Paulson

John Paulson (no relation to former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson) was a relative unknown when he formed his own hedge fund in 1994. But by the end of 2007, he’d pulled off what many believe to be the biggest payday in Wall Street history with his $3.7 billion winning bet against subprime mortgages.

Paulson is now considered a leading authority on everything from financial regulation to gold, and his opinions and fund positions are endlessly scrutinized by the financial media.

Ron Paul

Congressman Ron Paul, formerly a physician in Clear Lake, Texas, is the face of the emerging Libertarian party. Paul has run for president several times, and there is much speculation about another campaign in 2012. His son, Rand Paul, is currently the Republican Party’s nominee for a Kentucky Senate seat.

Paul’s political and economic views, which include abolishing the Federal Reserve and the federal income tax, were once seen as too radical for the mainstream. But today, many fiscal conservatives have hopped on Paul’s bandwagon in protest of massive deficit spending. The rise of the Tea Party, which champions many of Paul’s beliefs, has only solidified his position as the spokesman of fiscal conservatism.

Robert Kiyosaki, says he went from bankrupt homeless person at 38 to retired multimillionaire at 47. His story has inspired me to start writing a paperback telling fatties they should eat more chocolate and watch more TV if they want to look like supermodels.

The success of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad franchise shows that a book titled Making Money Is Extremely Hard Work just won’t sell. This may be why most of the books I recommended have to be ordered while you’re bound to find Kiyosaki’s paperbacks in your CNA.

Kiyosaki – now 63 and still scribbling away suspiciously much for a supposedly retired tycoon – tells stories about how his hard-working university graduate dad ended up poor while the high school drop-out dad of the kid next door became rich.

It is enjoyable fiction, unfortunately pretending to be fact. Much of Kiyosaki’s advice is extremely dangerous, especially for the lazy, uneducated market at which it is pitched.

Wall Street Journal personal finance writer Jonathan Clements kicked off his review Rich Men, Poor Advice: Their Book Is Hot, But Their Financial Tips Aren’t: “My entire career has been a pathetic waste of time. Or so Igather from Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump.

“You know all those articles I have written about saving diligently and buying mutual funds? This ‘may be good advice for the poor and middle class, it is not good advice for people who want to become rich,’ according to Why We Want You to Be Rich, the new book from Messrs Kiyosaki and Trump.

Clements concludes: “Don’t rush to dump your funds quite yet.”

Another harsh critic of Kiyosaki and Trump is rival business book writer John T Reed, whose website johntreed.com has a comprehensive “BS detection checklist”.

Kiyosaki gets flagged in 17 out of 55 warning signs that we are dealing with an obvious “BS artist”.

Reed suspects Kiyosaki’s “rich dad” is fictional. No-one who grew up in the same area of Hawaii has any idea who he might have been.

Surprisingly, his research into one of Kiyosaki’s tallest-sounding tales – that he was a Marine helicopter pilot in Vietnam – reveals that the story is at least partially true.

Though Kiyosaki transferred from the merchant marine to the fighting Marines without going through the notorious boot camp, the US Marines still boast of Kiyosaki on their list of famous alumni – something that enrages fellow Vietnam veteran Reed, since Kiyosaki claims to be a deserter.

Kiyosaki wrote that after aiming at an unarmed child and starting to pull the trigger, “I put my gun away that day forever. I committed myself to finding new ways of doing things, instead of simply responding to what I’d been told to do by a person who supposedly had more authority than I.”

West Point graduate Reed is understandably offended by Kiyosaki’s statement that shooting unarmed children “was the code of war we were taught as military officers” .

Even if Kiyosaki’s claim to be a brave rebel against military authority is codswallop (if he really deserted, why did he get an honourable discharge?), it would be harmless if it were not propaganda for multilevel-marketing (MLM) schemes.

“Over time, I have received numerous reports that Kiyosaki is primarily a creature of Amway (now Quixtar) and other multilevel marketing organisations,” Reed wrote on his website. “Reportedly, his books were not selling until he allied himself with that crowd. Then the volume of sales to those MLM guys made him a ‘best-selling author,’ which caused normal non-MLM people to think the book must be good.”

So a reason to be “scared to go to the basics, Rich Dad, Poor Dad books” is they have prompted countless gullible people to chuck in their day jobs – rebel against that awful authority of nine-to-five in the cubicle farm – to pursue their dream of owning a Rolex watch like Kiyosaki’s by selling Amway products.

There are a great many computer games available online. If you have been playing online games for a while it might be time that you put your skills up to the task and see if you can win some cash for playing these online games . You really don’t have to be a professional gambler to win some cash from these sites. Just play online and see if you have what it takes to win some money with your skills. Some of the games are not games of chance but instead games of skill and these are the ones that you should be looking for. These types of games will mean that you have to put some practice into the games and get really proficient at playing. You will not be participating in a get rich quick scheme, just a way to put some of your online gaming skills to the challenge.

All you will have to do if you want to play some of these games for cash is find a site that offers this type of gaming. Deposit your money into your online account and get playing the games. There are free games on the sites in most cases so you can get some practice in before you begin playing the cash games.

Most of the games that you will play will match you up against other players who are playing at the same skill level as you. This will make the games more of a challenge and give you the opportunity to make some cash. Make sure that you play on a site that matches the players up against those that are in their same skill class.

One thing that you should keep in mind when you are playing these games for cash is that you should never spend money that you don’t have. If you are finding it hard to pay your bills, online gaming is not a good idea. There is still the possibility that you will lose your money no matter how good you are. You will always face the possibility that you will be playing against someone who is better than you are. Don’t bet your rent.

On the other side of the coin, if you have some extra cash and are interested in wagering a little bit of money on the skills that you have acquired there is nothing wrong with a little gaming now and then. It is perfectly legal as long as you are over eighteen years old. Make sure that you get in some practice before you put up your money in the games.

You can find these online gaming sites all over the Internet. Some of the sites will play traditional casino games and others will allow you to wager on word games and puzzle games. The choice is yours. If you find a game that you are particularly good at, then this might be the game for you to make some cash. Put your money where your mouth is and get playing for some cash online.

I have been fed up to my nostrils with people pretending and always talking about what they are “going” to do tomorrow. I am guilty of being in the company of spectators; they talk about winning but won’t put one foot in the game.

I recently decided to up the ante and find the players, the ones who are in the game of making things happen. As I pondered this subject, it makes an enormous amount of sense: If I want to be better and score higher, I need to be around those people who are making it happen.

Businessman and author Robert Kiyosaki sums it up best, “If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there.”

Over the past several months, I’ve been closely examining the people in my personal and professional space; I noticed most were holding me back. They were incredibly brilliant in their dialog: They were talking big, but playing small. My initial response was that these people had no genuine purpose in my life, but in retrospect they did. They were human mirrors, reflecting my personal growth, current dissatisfactions and future ambitions.

As I grow older, my goals have changed and my focus has zeroed in; things have crystallized in the most significant way. I now realize that very few people in my life have obtained anything remotely similar to my dreams or aspirations.

The question flowed as easily as the answer: “How can these people show me how to achieve my desires when they haven’t achieved them?” They can’t, not even the ones showboating and pretending.

So I pulled my hair back, grabbed some equipment and gave my inner circle a good cleaning out. I swept for days, pulling hard to reach perpetrators out of the corner. I bleached the brown stains of the liars and manipulators and didn’t think twice about blow-torching the cowards stuck in the cobwebs.

I gently polished the few gems of influence and placed them on a pedestal. I allowed plenty of space in between as I plan to restock that shelf with other high-quality people.

I had to release the mundane in order to make room for the opportunities on the other side. I know it is impossible to do both — move forward and stand idle — so I made a declaration that I’m sticking with. I have chosen an affluent life that’s aligned with upstanding people.

I mingle with people of substance, asking questions, carefully listening to their stories of success and failure. Being in the presence of people who are making it happen brings a certain aura, an energy that entices me to stay on the field with the movers and shakers.

Like most of you, I desire a bright future; I’m dedicated to using my God-given talents and abilities to the highest degree. I want to be better and in order to be better, I’ve got to think better and do better — and this all takes work and time. I’m channeling every experience and challenge that comes my way, I’m seeking the lesson and preparing for the journey on the high road.

I’m open to feedback from people who know and understand my current victories and struggles because they have lived through similar situations. I’m open to the mighty-spirited who wears a badge of honor on their arm. You might say I’m on the prowl for those endowed with personal power and unlimited success.

I am on a mission to be better today than I was yesterday. I believe God is expecting me to get out of my comfort zone and shed old skin. Perhaps you know where I’m coming from or you’re ready to take the plunge, too.

Let’s do it now: Waiting for tomorrow won’t bring it any closer.

When your children are little, you purchase things for them that they may need or want. Once they hit the teenage years, that’s a different story. As the parent of a teenager, you need to have a plan for teaching teens to save money. When you child hits the teenage years the things they want seem to increase and so does the price. They still seem to think you have all the money in the world and you can and should buy them whatever they want.

Once they hit 16, they should get a job. But it can start earlier than that if you want it to. They can mow lawns, shovel sidewalks, or babysit. Working hard and making money will teach them the value of a dollar. Once they start making money they will probably want to spend quickly too. Teaching teens to save money may be difficult at first, but you need to do it.

Teaching teens to save money is important for their future. They need to know why they should save and how to do it. You may need to learn yourself so you can teach your teens to save money, but it will be a valuable lesson for you as well. The first thing you need to do is take them to the bank and set up a savings account for them.

Once you do this you need to set them up on a budget. Teaching teens to save money through a budget is one way to make this happen. You need to gather all their bills and their pay checks. Their checks will be different since they are probably not guaranteed the same number of hours each week.

You need to teach your teens the reasons why they need to save money. These reasons can include saving for a car, a special date, new clothes, or college. Teens want expensive things and when it gets to a point where they have their own money, you should consider making them pay for most of those things.

Teaching teens to save money can be a very difficult thing to do. You need to stand your ground when they try to tell you they have no need to save money. It may be hard for you, but you can do it and you will thank yourself for it in the future.

Your teen will thank you when they have a major repair that is needed on their car, or if they have to buy tires for it, or they find a new pair of shoes they “must” have. They will also be thankful when they are grown, married, and have their own kids and need money to buy their first house.

There are many reasons why teaching teens to save money is so important. Showing them how to save money will not only help them now, but in the future as well. They will be so happy you taught them these things later in life when they have a family and retirement to think about.

Compared with the income statement or the balance sheet, the cash flow statement gets perhaps the least amount of attention from everyday investors. Ironically, the cash flow statement can be the most telling of the three financial statements; in fact, it’s the only financial statement that matters to many investors. Here are ten things you need to remember about this important report.

1. The cash flow statement explains the changes in a company’s cash balance.
The cash flow statement is broken into three sections covering the fundamental components of every business: cash from operations, cash from investing activities, and cash from financing activities. In general, the cash from operations section deals with the cash inflows and outflows directly related to the company’s primary activity: selling a good or service. The cash from investing activities section shows  how much the company spent (or made) on buying (or selling) assets such as property, equipment, or even other companies. The cash from financing activities shows the inflows and outflows of capital the company uses to fund its operations; this is where one sees the proceeds from equity offerings, for example, or payments on bonds or bank debt.

2. The cash flow statement answers the question: Is this company generating cash or using cash?
Not only does it answer this question, it shows the reader what aspects of the business are generating the cash and what aspects are burning the cash. In many analytical situations, there is nothing as important as knowing its sources and uses of cash.  For example, the income statement may show an increase in sales, but if a company is burning through the cash instead of retaining it, this could potentially be a sign of trouble.

3. Cash flow is not the same as profit or net income!
Income statements and balance sheets include non-cash expenses, depreciation often being the largest of those. But guess what?  Nobody’s actually writing a check to “Depreciation.” It’s a non-cash expense, so the cash flow statement gets rid of it. This is a big reason companies might never show a dime of net income but could be spinning of millions in cash.

4. The cash flow statement doesn’t care whether this month’s cash outflows are for transactions actually associated with next month or next year.
This is somewhat of a rehash of point #3, but it’s important. One of the beautiful things about the cash flow statement is that, for the most part, it simply tracks the movement of cash. It is not as influenced by accrual accounting methods, which record expenses in the period in which they’re incurred.

For example, if the accounting department cuts a check to Allstate for, say, the next six months of insurance premiums, this month’s income statement will only reflect one-sixth of the check amount each month for the next six months. This month’s cash flow statement, however, will show the full amount of the check as a cash outflow, because that’s what actually happened to the cash. The cash flow statement doesn’t care that the bill was for the next six months of insurance. It only cares that cash left the account.

5. The cash flow statement discloses the total amount of cash used to purchase assets or make other capital expenditures.
As mentioned, the cash from investing activities section discloses the amount of cash involved in purchasing or divesting capital assets during a certain period. This is helpful for determining how far along a particular project may be, how much a particular acquisition “really” cost when intangible costs are considered, or how much the company got for the sale of certain assets.

6. The cash flow statement shows the company’s debt payments–both interest and principal.
Like your mortgage, corporate payments on debt are usually made up of interest and principal. However, the income statement typically only shows the interest portion, and the balance sheet typically only shows the principal. It’s much easier to look at the cash flow statement if you want to know the actual size of the whole payments.

7. Companies raise capital all the time, but if you really want to see what was actually wired into the company’s cash accounts, check the cash flow statement.
A company might tell everyone that it is doing a $10 million equity offering, but if that offering is spread over several months or years, or it involves fees and expenses, the cash flow statement is the only primary financial statement that will tell you exactly how much actually went into the company’s cash account and when.

8.  Changes in the income statement and balance sheet affect the cash flow statement.
It’s important to remember that the financial statements are integrated. If the income statement changes, the cash flow statement almost always changes. After any change in revenue or expenses affects net income, and net income is the first line on the cash flow statement. If the balance sheet changes, the cash flow statement almost always changes.

9. Changes in working capital are considered sources and/or uses of cash.
This is one area that often trips up people who are new to the cash flow statement. Accounts payable and accounts receivable are big components of working capital–the source of a company’s short-term liquidity. So when accounts receivable–those are monies owed from vendors and whatnot–goes up, for example, it means that customers are paying their accounts. The company is receiving those cash pay ments. Likewise, the opposite is true: increases in accounts receivable are considered uses of cash.

10. The ending cash flow for a particular period should equal the cash shown on the balance sheet for that period.
If the two statements do not tie in this way, it is likely an error occurred.