By leveling any criticism at such books, those who believe them can automatically say, “Well, since you don’t believe, you’ll never accomplish what the books say you can. The failure is entirely at your feet.”
Maybe that’s right.
And maybe that’s a load of barnacles.
Because if we’re honest about it, any dismissal, any failure, any result that does not end in adherents’ retirement at an early age with pots of money, is a failure, according to this book. We weren’t smart enough. We weren’t as open to risk as we should have been. We’re suckers.
And maybe we are.
Then again, maybe we’re not.
But right now I’m withholding judgment. Because with these books, it’s easy to say dammit this isn’t anything I can do and walk off, not realizing you might already be doing part of it and doing more might not be all that difficult.
As far as I’ve read, the ideas presented herein aren’t on the surface, all that complicated. Have more assets than liabilities is the basic tenet. And know how to tell an asset from a liability.
If you own a home but you’re still paying a mortgage on it, that’s a liability.
Those solar panels on the rooftop? Make damn sure they’re paying for themselves, and that you get the loan you took out to install them paid off as quickly as they can so they can get moved to the asset column, rather than remain as a liability.
There is some good advice to be found. For a long time, it sounded like these folks were saying “Go start your own business.” But that’s not necessarily the case. If you want to, start your own business. But be ready for failure, because they acknowledge most new businesses end in the ashcan.
So what are assets, per these dweebs? Here’s the list:
1. Businesses you personally don’t have to run (if you do, that’s a job, not an asset, which seems kinda weird.)
2. Stocks
3. Bonds
4. Mutual funds
5. Income-generating real estate
6. IOUs
7. Royalties from intellectual property
8. Anything else that has value, produces income, or appreciates and has a ready market.
So, was Homer right all along?
Still, I’m reminded of this:
So, sucker, you may ask. Doing any of this? Or are you going to be a corporate slave for the rest of your unnatural life?
Am doing some. What I am doing is my own business. I will share a little.
Remember those solar panels? Thanks to government tax incentives, we’ve paid down nearly a third of the loan. We also signed up with the solar company on the last day they were offering to make our loan payments for the first eighteen months. They said many people would take the tax money, or the loan payment money, and fritter it away on other stuff, but we rolled it all back into the loan, along with additional money of our own to pay down that principal. And while teething pains in the first year didn’t show us the promised 100% reduction in our electric bill, we haven’t had to pay for electricity since February. (Contrary to what the solar company told us, the panels will not produce any electricity if they’re covered in snow, so keep that in mind when you’re contemplating doing solar on your own.)
Also, paying for tax software for the 2018 tax year paid off, getting us deductions I thought weren’t possible or that we’d have to spread out over more than one tax year. That $50 spent on Quicken was money well-spent, and I’ll do it again. Maybe. Maybe I learned enough for 2018 that I can save that money for 2019. We’ll see. Still beats paying a professional to do it.
I’m hoping the authors get to the nuts and bolts of collecting enough money to find and grow assets. Because I’m pretty certain that’s where most people fail.
And it’s clear Kiyosaki has his critics, including his co-author, who sued him over something. And apparently his book became a best-seller partly because he got hooked up with Amway.
No surprise to find some of his critics selling their own books. But there’s a lot of good reading here.
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