Chapter 4 Lesson 2: Why teach financial literacy

In 1990, my best friend Mike took over his dad's business empire and did better than his dad.We meet once or twice a year on the golf course.He and his wife had more money than you can imagine. Rich dad's kingdom was well run, and Mike was training his son to take his place, just as rich dad trained us. In 1994, I retired at age 47 and my wife was 37 at the time.Retirement doesn't mean having nothing to do.For me and my wife, unless something unexpected happens, we can choose to work or not to work, and our wealth can avoid inflation and continue to increase.I think this is financial freedom.Assets are so rich that they can add value by themselves, just like planting a tree, you water it year after year, and finally one day it no longer needs your care and can grow by itself.Its roots are deep enough that you can now enjoy its shade.

Mike chose to run his business empire and I chose to retire. When I speak to groups of people, they always ask me what advice I have for them, or what they should do. "How do I get started?" "Is there any good book to recommend?" "What should I do to raise my child?" "What's the secret to success?" "How can I make $1 million?" This always reminds me of that article I wrote, which reads as follows. richest businessman In 1923, some of the greatest leaders and wealthiest businessmen met at the "Shore Hotel" in Chicago.Among them was Charles, the leader of the largest independent steel company in the United States.Schwab; Samuel, chairman of the world's largest utility company.Insall; Howard, leader of the largest gas company.Hopson; Eva, president of the International Match Company.Kruger, the International Match Company was one of the largest companies in the world at the time; Leon, president of the Bank for International Settlements.Fraser; Richard, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.Whitney; Arthur, the two greatest stock speculators.Cotton and Jess.Livermore; Albert, member of Harding's cabinet, 29th President of the United States.Fur. Twenty-five years later, nine of them died in this way: Schwab died penniless after spending 5 years in debt; Insall died abroad after bankruptcy; Kruger and Cotton also died Yu broke; Hopson went mad; Whitney and Albert.Full nearly went to prison; Fraser and Livermore went bankrupt and committed suicide.

I doubt anyone can tell what happened to these people.If you look at the time, 1923, it was the eve of the 1929 market crash and the Great Depression, which hit these people and their lives hard.The key point is this: we live in more turbulent times today than in the past, and I imagine there will be more ups and downs in the next 25 years than those people have faced.I think too many people still focus too much on money instead of their greatest asset - their education.If people are flexible, keep an open mind and keep learning, they will grow richer day by day through these changes.If money can solve all problems, I am afraid that these people will have a difficult life.Knowledge solves problems and creates wealth, and money that is not earned through financial knowledge will quickly disappear.

Most people don't realize that in life, it's not how much money you make but how much money you leave behind.We've all heard about the poor guy who wins the lottery, gets rich all of a sudden, then gets poor again, and they get $1 million and they're right back where they started.Or the story of a professional athlete who made millions at 24 but was sleeping under a bridge at 34.This morning, when I was writing this book, there was such a news in the newspaper: a young basketball player, a year ago he had millions of dollars, but now, he said that his friends, lawyers, accountants With his money taken, he's stuck working a minimum wage job at a car wash.

He is only 29 years old.He got fired from the car wash for refusing to take off his championship ring while the car was being cleaned, so he was in the papers.The basketball player is suing the car wash, complaining of a tough job and discrimination from people, and that the ring is the only thing he has left and that taking it away would break him. In 1997, I knew a lot of other would-be millionaires were going crazy.It's almost the end of the century, and I'm glad to see people getting richer, but I still want to remind you that in the long run, it's not how much money you make, it's how much money you keep that matters, and how long it lasted.

So when people ask me, "Where do I start" or "Tell me how to get rich quick," they're bound to be disappointed by my answers.I just told them what my rich dad said to me when I was a kid: "If you want to get rich, you need to learn financial literacy." This thought was constantly on the back of my mind during the days I spent with my rich dad.It can be said that my highly educated dad already recognized the importance of reading, while my rich dad emphasized the need to master financial knowledge. If you're going to build the Empire State Building, the first thing you need to do is dig a deep hole and lay a solid foundation.If you just want to build a small house in the suburbs, you only need to use 6-inch thick cement slabs.Most people, when they're trying to get rich, try to build the Empire State Building on 6-inch slabs of concrete.

Our school system was built in the days of agricultural civilization, and in some ways it hasn't improved much, and kids leave school without a single iota of financial basics.One day, when people were sleepless on the brink of debt, they dreamed of the American Dream and decided that the solution to their financial problems was to get rich quick. And so began the work of building the skyscraper.We went fast, but instead of building the Empire State Building, we built a Leaning Tower.The sleepless night is here again. As adults, Mike and I have options because we had a solid foundation of financial literacy as children.

Accounting is probably the most tedious subject in the world right now, and probably the most confusing.But it is probably the most important discipline if you want to be rich in the long run.The question is, how do you take this tedious and obscure subject and teach it to your kids?The answer is: Simplify it and teach it first with graphs. Rich dad gave Mike and me a solid foundation of financial knowledge.Since we were just kids at the time, rich dad created an easy way to teach us.For several years he just drew pictures and used words.Mike and I figured out the simple diagrams, the terminology, and what they mean for money.Over the next few years, rich dad started adding numbers.Today, Mike has mastered more complex and difficult accounting analysis, because he has a multi-billion dollar company to run, he must master these methods.

I'm less complicated because my "kingdom" is smaller, but we all stem from the same simple foundation.In the next few pages, I'll give you some of the same simple diagrams as the ones Mike's dad invented for us.Simple as these diagrams were, the two children built a strong foundation for great wealth. Rule 1. You must understand the difference between assets and liabilities, and buy assets whenever possible.If you want to be rich, you must know this.This is Rule No. 1, and the only one, and it sounds too simple, but most people don't realize how deep this rule is, and most people suffer because they don't know the difference between an asset and a liability. Struggling with financial problems.

"The rich get assets, and the poor and middle class get debt, but they think those are assets." When rich dad explained these concepts to Mike and me, we thought he was kidding us.That's the answer we two kids under 10 were waiting to hear about the secret to getting rich.The answer is so simple that we have to think long and hard about it. "What's an asset?" Mike asked. “Leave it alone now,” said rich dad, “just remember what I said above. If you can understand those words, your lives will be organized and free from financial problems. It is It is often overlooked because of its simplicity."

"You're saying that all we need to understand is what assets are, and get them, and then we'll be rich, right?" I asked. Rich dad nodded and said, "It's that simple." "Since it's so easy, why doesn't everyone get rich?" I asked. Rich dad laughed and said, "Because people don't really understand the difference between assets and liabilities." I asked again: "How can adults be so stupid? If this truth is so simple and so important, why don't people understand it?" Rich dad then spent a few minutes explaining to us what assets and liabilities are. As an adult, I found it difficult to explain to other adults what was an asset and what was a liability.why? Because adults are smarter.Most of the time, this simple idea is not grasped by most adults because they have different educational backgrounds, they are taught by other highly educated professionals such as bankers, accountants, real estate agents, financial planners, etc. teach.The difficulty is that it is difficult to ask these adults to give up their existing concepts and become as simple as children.Highly educated adults often find it humiliating to study such a simple concept. Rich dad believed in the "KISS" principle, which stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid".So he deliberately simplified the curriculum for the two children, and this made the foundation laid by the two children even stronger. What caused the confusion of ideas?Or why such a simple truth is so difficult to grasp?Why would anyone buy something that is actually a liability? The answer lies in what kind of basic education he received. We usually put a lot of weight on the word "knowledge" rather than "financial literacy".However, general knowledge cannot define what is an asset and what is a liability.In fact, if you really want to get carried away, just look up the definitions of "assets" and "liabilities" in the dictionary.I know that the above definition is clear to a trained accountant, but it may not make sense to the average person.Yet we adults are often too vain to admit that we don't understand the implications. To the children, rich dad said, "It is not words that define assets but numbers. If you can't read numbers, you can't discover and identify assets. ""In accounting," he continued, "the key is not the numbers, but what the numbers are telling you.Numbers are not words, but like words, it can tell you what it wants to tell you. " “A lot of people read and don’t quite understand what they read, hence the term reading comprehension. People have different needs and abilities when it comes to reading comprehension. For example, I recently bought a new VCR , with a manual on how to use the video recorder. Actually all I wanted to do was record my favorite TV show on Friday night, but I almost went crazy reading that manual. VCRs are more complicated than that. I can read each word, but when they are connected, I don't understand what they are saying.I got an 'A' for recognition but an 'F' for comprehension, the same way most people understand financial entries. " "If you want to be rich, you have to read and understand numbers." I heard this a thousand times from my rich dad, as did "the rich get assets and the poor and middle class get liabilities". Here's how to distinguish between assets and liabilities.Most accountants and financial professionals would disagree with this definition, but these simple drawings are the start of a solid financial foundation for two young children. In order to teach two children under the age of 10, rich dad simplified everything, using as many pictures as possible and as little words as possible, and did not include numbers for many years. The picture above is an income statement, often called an income statement.It is often used to measure income and expenses and money in and out.The diagram below is a balance sheet, which is used to illustrate assets and liabilities.Many beginners in economics are confused by the connection between the income statement and the balance sheet, which is crucial to understanding them. 'The root cause of many people's long-term financial difficulties is that they never understand the difference between assets and liabilities, and the cause of misunderstanding is the words used to define them.If you want to know what ambiguity is, just look up the words "asset" and "liability" in the dictionary. Of course, the definitions in the dictionary are useful for trained accountants, but for ordinary people, this kind of definition is too professional and rigorous. When you read the words in those definitions, it is difficult to understand the meaning of them when they are strung together. true meaning. So as I said earlier, rich dad just told the two kids the following: "An asset is something that puts money in your pocket."great!These words are simple and practical. Now using a diagram to define assets and liabilities, it may be easier to illustrate my definition in words: an asset is something that puts money in your pocket. A liability is something that takes money out of your pocket. That's all you need to know.If you want to be rich, just keep buying assets throughout your life; if you want to be poor or middle class, just keep buying people liabilities.It is precisely because people do not know the difference between assets and liabilities that people often buy liabilities as assets, causing most people in the world to struggle with financial problems. The root cause of the problem is the inability to read financial statements or understand the meaning of numbers.If a person is in financial trouble, it means that there is something, either numbers or words, that he cannot read, or that he has misunderstood something.The rich are rich because they are more knowledgeable about something than those who are struggling financially, so financial literacy is important, including an understanding of words and numbers, if you want to get rich and keep your wealth. The direction of the arrows in the diagram shows the flow of cash, or "cash flow."The numbers themselves have little meaning, just as the words themselves have little meaning, what is important is what the numbers or words express.In financial reporting, the reading of the numbers is to discover the situation, to understand the flow, where the money is going. In 80% of households, the financial statements present a picture of working ahead and hard, not because they are not earning money, but because they are buying liabilities rather than assets. The reason why I started with the situation of the rich in the United States is to debunk a misconception that money can solve all problems.Because so many people think so, I often get worried when I hear people ask me "how to get rich quick and where to start".I also often hear people say, "I'm in debt, so I have to earn money." But more money often doesn't solve the problem, and it can actually make it worse.Money often reveals the weaknesses in our human nature, and money cannot cover up our ignorance.This is why it is common for someone to receive a large windfall, such as an inheritance, salary increase, or winning the lottery, only to lose it very quickly - and some even end up in a worse financial situation than he was before he got the money .The money just makes the flow of your cash flow diagram more visible in your head, and if your cash flow diagram is to spend all your income, then the most likely outcome will be increased income as well as increased spending.As the saying goes: "Money fools people". I have said many times that it is very important that we go to school to gain knowledge and professional skills, and we need to learn to use professional skills to earn a living. When I was in high school in the 60s, if someone did well in school, immediately someone thought that bright student was going to be a doctor, without asking the student if he wanted to be a doctor.It is said that the profession of doctor reflects the best professional treatment level at that time. Physicians today also face enormous financial challenges that none of us want to face: control of the industry by insurance companies, health care regulations, government interference, lawsuits of all kinds, and so on.So kids these days want to be basketball stars. like teague.Woods, a golfer, a computer bug, a movie star, a rock star, a beauty queen, or a Wall Street trader, rather than being a doctor or something else, because these are "professions" that parents don't see as professions Seems to be more famous. Richer and more prominent.This is also why it is so hard to encourage today's kids to go to school, knowing that professional success is no longer fully correlated with academic performance, even though the two once were. At the same time, as students leave school without acquiring financial skills, thousands of educated people pursue professional success only to find that they are still struggling financially.They work hard, they don't get anywhere, they're educated not how to make money, but how to spend it, which creates what's called a financial attitude -- what do you do with your money?How to prevent others from taking money from you?How long can you hold the money?How do you make money work for you?Most people don't understand why they are in financial trouble because they don't understand cash flow.A person can be highly educated and successful, but also be financially illiterate.Such people tend to work harder than they need to because they know how to work hard but don't know how to make money work for them. The Story of Getting Rich Dreams Turned into Nightmare A newly married, highly educated newlyweds live in a cramped rented apartment and soon realize they are saving money because two are spending about the same as one. The problem is, the apartment is overcrowded, so they decide to save money and buy their dream house so they can have kids.Now that they have two incomes and are starting to focus on their careers, their income is starting to increase, and as their income increases… For most people, the first expense is taxes.Many people think it's the income tax, but for most Americans, the highest tax is the Social Security tax.As an employee, what appears to be a combined Social Security tax and Medicare tax of about 7.5% is actually 15% because the employer has to pay 15% of Social Security for you.The point is that the employer will not pay you with his own money. In fact, what he pays is what you deserve.In addition, you have to pay income tax on the Social Security tax deducted from your paycheck, which you never received because it went directly to Social Security through withholding. This is the best description for this young couple: With their income increasing, they decided to buy a home of their own.Once they have a house, they have to pay taxes—property taxes, and then they buy new cars, new furniture, etc., to go with the new house. Finally, they suddenly find themselves in debt on their mortgages and credit card loans. They fell into the trap of "rat race".Soon after the baby was born, they had to work harder.The cycle continues, and the more money they earn, the more taxes they pay, and they have to max out their credit cards.That's when a lender called and said their biggest "asset" - the house - had been appraised, and because their credit history was so good, the company could offer a "bill consolidation" Loans, long-term loans secured against their homes, that would help them pay off high-interest consumer loans on other credit cards, and even better, the interest on such home mortgages would be tax-free.They felt so lucky that they immediately agreed with the loan company and paid off the credit card with the loan.They feel relieved that, on the surface, their debt load has been reduced, but in reality they have simply shifted their consumer loans to mortgages.They spread the debt over 30 years to pay.That's a really smart thing to do. A few days later, neighbors called to ask them to go shopping and said Memorial Day store was on sale, and they said to themselves, "We're not going to buy anything, just go and see." But once they found what they wanted, They still couldn't bear to pay again with the credit card that had just been paid off. I've always met these young couples with different names but the same predicament.They come to me and say, "Can you tell us how to make more money?" Their spending habits keep them looking for more money. They don't even know that their real problem lies in their choice of spending and that's the real reason they're struggling.And that ignorance lies in a lack of financial literacy and a failure to understand the difference between assets and liabilities. No amount of money will solve their problems, and nothing will save them other than changing their financial mindset and spending patterns.A friend of mine says over and over to people who are in debt: "If you find you're in a hole, stop digging." When I was a kid, my dad said that the Japanese focus on three powers: the sword, the gem, and the mirror. The sword symbolizes the power of the weapon.The Americans have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on weapons and are the world's super military power. Gemstones symbolize the power of money.As the adage goes: "Remember the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules." The mirror symbolizes the power of self-knowledge.In the eyes of the Japanese, self-knowledge is the most precious of the three powers. The poor and middle class let the power of money control them more.They get up and work without asking themselves what it means to do it; they work for money every day without really understanding money.So most people let money control them and fight them. If they had a mirror, they might look into the mirror and ask themselves, "Does this make sense?" But often, people don't trust their own inner wisdom, and just go with the flow and follow what others say.They do things because other people do, and they obey without asking.For "payment in installments", "your house is your asset", "your house is your largest investment", "debt can be tax deductible", "find a stable career". Words such as "don't make mistakes" and "don't take risks" are accepted and questioned. Many people think that speaking in public is worse than death.According to psychiatry, fear of speaking in public is due to fear of being excluded, fear of standing out, fear of being criticized, fear of making mistakes, fear of being ejected.In short, it is the fear of being different that prevents people from thinking of new ways to solve problems. That's why my educated dad said "the Japanese value the power of the mirror most" because only when they look in the mirror can they find the truth that the reason most people talk about "stability" is out of fear .Other things can also be seen through the mirror, such as sports, social relationships, career and money. It is this fear, the fear of being excluded, that makes people obey and not question widely accepted beliefs or popular trends: "Your house is an asset," "Use one loan to end other liabilities," "Work hard", "promote", "I'll be vice president someday", "save money", "I'll buy a bigger house after a raise", "mutual funds are the safest", etc. Most people's financial woes are caused by following the crowd, simply following other people.So we all need to look in the mirror from time to time and trust our inner wisdom and not just fear. When Mike and I were 16, we had trouble at school.We're not bad kids, we're just starting to stay away from the crowd.We worked for Mike's dad on weekends and after school, and when we were done we would spend hours sitting and listening to his dad's meetings with bank managers, lawyers, accountants, brokers, investors, managers, and employees.Mike's dad left school at 13 and now commands and commands a group of well-educated men.They defer to him and dread him when he expresses displeasure on an issue. Rich dad was not a follower, he was an independent thinker. He abhors the phrase "we have to do this because everyone else does," and he abhors the word "can't."If you want him to do something, one effective way is to say to him, "I don't think you can do this." Mike and I learned a lot from the various meetings our rich dad held, even more in some ways than we could have learned in school, including college.Mike's dad didn't have a high school education, but he was financially literate and ultimately successful.He has said to us over and over again: "A smart man always hires someone smarter than him." So, Mike and I often have the privilege of spending hours listening to and learning from smart people. So it was difficult for Mike and I to follow the traditional dogma taught by our teachers, and that was where the problem came in.Mike and I frowned when the teacher said, "If you don't get good grades, you won't do well in society."We see how this kind of school procedure can stifle creativity when we are told to follow the established procedure and not to deviate from it.We begin to understand why rich dad said that schools are places that produce good employees but not good employers. Mike and I often ask our schoolteachers why what we're taught isn't practical, or why we don't learn about money and how it moves.To the latter question, we often get the answer that money is not important, if we excel in study, money will come naturally. The more we learn about the power of money, the more distance we become from our teachers and classmates. My highly educated dad never put pressure on my grades, which surprised me at times, but we argued over money.I think when I was old, I already had more basic financial knowledge than my parents.Because I read a lot and listened to auditors, corporate lawyers, bankers, real estate agents, and investors, while Dad only talked to teachers every day. A not so pleasant argument arose one day when Dad told me that our house was his largest investment.I told him at the time that I didn't think a house was a good investment. The picture below reflects the different views of my rich dad and poor dad on the house issue. One thinks his house is an asset, and the other thinks it is a liability. I also remember drawing the diagram below to show Dad where his cash flow was going, and I also pointed out to him the ancillary expenses that came with owning the house.The bigger the house, the bigger the expenses, and the cash will keep flowing out. Today, I am still challenging the notion that a house is an asset.I know that for many people, a house is their dream and greatest investment, and that owning a home is better than nothing, but I wanted to replace this dogma with another thought. My wife and I also like big, funky houses, but we know that's not an asset, it's a liability because it keeps money out of our pockets. Therefore I make this argument.I don't want everyone to agree with me, because houses are, after all, where people's feelings rest.In addition, the obsession with money can reduce financial sanity, and my personal experience tells me that money can make decision-making emotional. 1. As for the house, I would point out that most people spend their lives toiling for a house that they don't really own.In other words, most people buy a new home every few years, using a new 30-year loan each time to pay off the previous loan. 2. Even though people get tax-free benefits from the interest on their home mortgages, they still have to pay off the installments before they can pay for various expenses with their after-tax income. 3. Property tax.My wife's parents are paying up to $100O a month in property taxes on their house, a tax they will pay when they retire, and this tax makes life stressful for them, and they often feel compelled to move separated. 4. Home values ​​don't always go up. In 1997, a friend of mine had a $1 million house. Today his house is worth $700,000. 5. The biggest loss is opportunity loss.If all your money is invested in the house, you're going to have to work hard because your cash is constantly flowing out of your expenses rather than into your assets, typical middle-class cash flow pattern.What should be the correct approach?If a young couple puts more money into their asset portfolio early on, they'll have an easier life in the years to come, especially if they're sending their kids off to college.Because the investment in the asset item will make their assets continue to increase, automatically covering expenses.Investing first in a big house is nothing more than taking out a mortgage to pay for escalating expenses. In summary, deciding to own a very expensive house instead of starting securities investment early will have an impact on one's financial life in the following three aspects: 1. Lost the opportunity to increase value with other assets. 2. The capital that could have been invested will be used to pay for various high, long-term expenses of the house. 3. Lost educational opportunities.People often list their homes, savings, and retirement plans among their assets. Because they don't have the money to invest, they don't invest, which prevents them from gaining investment experience and never becoming the "sophisticated investor" recognized by the investment community.And the best investment opportunities are often given to those "sophisticated investors" first, and then they pass on to those who are prudent and cautious. Of course, they have already taken most of the benefits when they change hands. The financial situation of my educated dad is the best illustration of the financial situation of someone who lives a "rat race" life.They are always living within their means, and it is impossible to invest at all.As a result, their liabilities, such as mortgages, credit card loans, are always greater than their assets. Rich dad's financial statements also showed why the rich keep getting richer.The income generated by the asset project can more than cover the expenses, and the remaining income can be reinvested in the asset side.With the accumulation of investment, assets will increase, and income will increase accordingly, thus forming a virtuous circle. The result: the rich get richer! Why is the middle class always finding itself struggling financially?The main income of the middle class is wages, and when wages increase, taxes increase, and more importantly, their propensity to spend also increases with income. They reinvest in the house as the main asset instead of investing in real assets that generate income. This idea of ​​a house as an asset and the financial philosophy that more money means you can buy a bigger house or spend more are the foundations of today's debt-ridden society.Excessive spending drags families into a spiral of debt and financial uncertainty, even at a time when people are doing great jobs and growing incomes, and this risky life is due to a lack of financial literacy caused by education. The economic downturn in the 1990s and the mass unemployment showed how fragile the middle class was financially. Corporate pension plans are suddenly replaced by 401K plans, the Social Security system is clearly in trouble and can no longer provide a source of livelihood for retirement, and panic is spreading among the middle class.Today, it is a good thing. Many people realize this problem and start buying mutual funds. The growth of investment has largely driven the gradual recovery of the stock market, and more and more mutual funds have been created to meet the needs of the middle class. Investment needs. Mutual funds are popular because they carry little risk.The average fund buyer is too busy paying taxes and loans, saving for kids' college, paying off credit cards, etc. to research how to invest, so they rely on mutual fund management experts to help them invest.And, because mutual funds invest in multiple projects, they feel risk is "diversified." This educated middle class subscribes to the ''diversification of risk'' phrase put forward by fund managers, and they want to play it safe and avoid risk. But the real reason still lies in the lack of necessary financial literacy education in the early years, which is also the reason why the ordinary middle class is forced to avoid risks.They have to play it safe because their economic position is weak: their balance sheets have never been balanced, they carry a lot of debt and have no real assets that can generate income.Their source of income is only wages, and their lives are completely dependent on their employers. 所以当名副其实的“关系一生的机会”来临时，这些人无法抓住机会，他们必须保证安全，因为他们负担着高额的税和债务。 正如我在本部分开始时所说的，最重要的规则是弄清资产与负债之间的差别。一旦你明白了这种差别，你就会尽力去只买入能带来收入的资产，这是你走上致富之路的最好办法。不断地这样做，你的资产就会不断增加。同时还要注意降低你的负债和支出，这会让你有更多的钱投入资产项。很快，钱会多到可以让你进行一些投机性的投资了，这些投资能产生从100％到无限的回报，5000美元的投资很快就能翻到1百万或更多。这种中产阶级称为“太冒险”的投资实际上并无风险，只是因为你缺乏某些很重要的财务知识而不知道究竟该怎样去看待这些投资机会。只要你拥有足够的财务知识，你就不必害怕去“冒险”。 作为一个自己有房子的雇员，你努力工作的结果如下：1.你为别人工作。如大多数人为工资而工作一样，你的努力使雇主或股东致富，你的工作和成功将使雇主成功并且可以提早退休。 2.你为政府工作。政府在你还未看见工资时就已拿走了一部分，努力工作只是使政府的税收增加。大多数人都在为政府工作。 3.你为银行工作。缴税后，你的下一笔最大支出该是偿还抵押贷款和信用卡贷款了。 问题是如果你只懂得工作努力，上面三方从你那儿拿走的劳动成果也就会越多。你需要学会怎样才能使你的努力更多地、更直接地为你和你的家人带来益处。 一旦你决定把精力集中于创建自己的事业，你该怎样确立目标呢？对大多数人而言，他们的目标是保住他们的职业并依赖工资取得他们想要的资产。 随着资产的增加，他们应怎样衡量自己的成功呢？何时他们才能意识到他们是富人且拥有财富？如同我有自己的资产和负债定义一样，我也有自己对于财富的定义。实际上这是我从一个名叫巴克敏斯特。菲莱的人那儿借用的。有人把他叫作骗子，而另一些人则称他为天才，几年前围绕他在建筑业有不少的流言。他在1961年曾申请了一种圆顶结构专利，在申请中，菲莱讲了一些关于“财富”的话。起初这个定义的确令人迷惑，但是读过后，你就开始有感觉了。他是这样定义的：财富就是支持一个人生存多长时间的能力，或者说如果我今天停止工作，我还能活多久？ 不像净资产被定义为资产和负债间的差额那样，尽管这种定义常常充斥于人们关于支出的废话以及关于某物值多少钱的观点中。财富的这一定义为发展一种新的真实准确的衡量方法创造了可能性，现在我能衡量并且的确知道我经济独立的目标已实现到哪一步了。 净资产通常包括那些非现金资产，就像你买回后堆在车库里的材料。财富则衡量你的钱正在挣多少钱，以及你的财务生存能力。 财富是将资产项下产生的现金流与支出项下流出的现金流进行比较而定的。 让我们来看个例子。比如说我的资产每月可产生1000美元，可我每月却要支出2000美元，那我还有什么财富可言呢？ 让我们回到巴克敏斯特。菲莱的定义，用他的定义，我还能活几天呢？假定一个月30天，按这个定义，我只能活半个月。 当我每月从资产项可得2000美元时，那我就有财富了。 当然我并不富有，可我有财富了。现在每个月我从资产项得到的现金流与支出等量。 如果我想增加支出，我首先必须增加资产项产生的现金流来维持我的财富水平。注意，这时我不再依赖工资，如果我辞职了，我每月还能用资产项产生的现金流维持支出，也就是说我仍能够生存。 我的下个目标是从资产中得到多余现金再进行投资。流入资产项的钱越多，资产就增加得越快；资产增加得越快，现金流入得就越多。只要我把支出控制在资产所能够产生的现金流之下，我就会变富，就会有越来越多除我自身劳动力收入之外的其他收入来源。 随着这种再投资过程的不断延续，我最终走上了致富之路。 请记住下面这些话：富人买入资产；穷人只有支出；中产阶级买他们以为是资产的负债。 那么我该怎样开始我的事业呢？请听麦当劳的创立者怎么说。