My husband and I haven't always made the best decisions financially, but we made choices we thought were best for the family. I quit working to be a full-time parent when our children were little, for example. But my husband was working at a dead-end job that had absolutely no chance for advancement and no chance for pay raises either (that's what you get when you're a low level staffer at a university). So we built up credit card debt. Not for frivolous stuff (we are adamant about not buying today's whim with credit cards) but for things like car repairs, appliance repairs and the like.
The kids got older, I went back to work part time, and slowly but surely the debt got paid down. I never missed a payment, never was late. But the two of us still were not making enough money to be comfortable.
I started my own business and did quite well, in terms of dollars per hour--but the work was extremely irregular and I could not count on a steady income. We had just bought our first house after 22 years of renting and we had no money in the bank at all. Zero. So, back to work I went at the first job I could find, minimum wage at a big box store. Worked my way up to supervisor in six months. Once again worked on paying off the credit card bills (and once again they were for repair work and other essentials, not for trivial junk). Got a better job somewhere else. Paid off a lot of the debts with my new higher salary. Had to take early retirement from that job due to hellish working conditions. Now we're back in debt again as I search for yet another job. My husband now makes more money than he ever has, for a different company, but they're in the same boat as everyone else, no money available for raises. We are getting by on his paycheck but that's all.
I don't know what the answer is. It all seems to be on my shoulders (I pay the bills) and I'm depressed. I hate the thought of another miserable retail job but there doesn't seem to be anything much out there, in California in the horrible economy. I sure wish someone would show me the way. I've learned that I can manage and can pull us through most any financial crisis, but my ability to cope is being eroded day by day.
Dear Robert,
I am a scarddy cat. I hated failures. I did not want to make any mistakes.
Sure enough,my expectation was not focused on lessons, then the lessons came to me.
My first marriage was not a good one. But thru it, I learned who I am and whom I want to be with. Now, my husband is the perosn I have manifested. We share everything together.
There are other mistakes in my life and I have turned them into lessons. Thanks to you, of course. I understand the power of words and with this knowledge, I tell myself everyday is a new lesson for me. Surprisingly, I thrived with this idea.
You are so great in enouraging people to look into sleves for answers and turn every day challenges into life lessons.
My name is Ryo & i lived with a wife & a son. During 2008 until now we're in the biggest financial problem because we've done somethings wrong in managing our & others money. As our main business is to managed others money through stock - option - & forex market. Wow ... we realize that it is not easy to start all over again with debts but the things that we learned is priceless. We never learned this in our school but yet here we are ... We do believe & pray that God will help us through this process. We will not give up because our faith tells us that this is the new beginning & we will came out as a winner. Yes i do agree with the process where all of must must be loyal to process, there is no quick way to the top (The Straws & Sticks Houses). Right now we're building our Bricks House, confirmed ...
God Bless Us All
My biggest setbacks have been "easy credit". I've fallen into that pit several times. I've learned that compounding interest is more than just an interesting math problem. Now I'm working on ways to get the compounding effect working for me instead of against me.
Greetings to you Sir Kiyosaki n' everyone too from Ecuador.
I've worked like electrician for a 15 years n' of that I've built my suburb store, mi home (10x8m 1 floor)n' enter to FOREX MARKET 1 year ago.
But no matter how hard I tried within the forex market, testing many techniques, many reports, many graphs; I lost in a lapse of 6 months. Now I'll concentrate on your advices because I also want to be rich.
Having jumped into building a property portfolio and trading options 5 yrs ago I am now bankrupt, a route I did not want to go down however I am there now. I am starting to build my plans to be financial independant, investing slowly and wisely, I have learned a lot about managing and investing money over the 5 years and I am determined to achieve those goals within the next 5 years. I am using spare income to invest in silver and also to learn properly about share trading. My goal is to generate passive income from the markets and from property which I will purchase again...
My wife Patricia and me Marcos, we started with my wife a sign company in Paraguay, but as we have bad debt on the credit card we decide to put all this debt on a credit card of a banc that charged just 10% anual on interest bank.
In this way we have a leverage, without doing this we was paid monthly about 1000 U$S, and now we are just paying 200 U$S and of course we are looking for not have again a bad debts with credit cards.
Many thanks Mr. Robert for the books you are writing is very helpfull for my wife and me, an we want to build our house of brick too.
The pig story reminds me of a biblical scene, telling that everyone’s work will be tested with fire. Sure if we’re building our houses of straws & sticks (and cards) all will end up collapsing. There is neither reinforcement inside nor any solid foundation ever since. Therefore, we need to have a solid foundation on everything we’re doing. For me, nothing more than knowledge, understanding, & wisdom are qualified as solid foundation – in every aspect of life. And gaining this is a life-long treasure-hunting journey.
What Robert is telling us is form of a must-have knowledge, given understanding and full bucket of wisdom desperately needed for our future steps.
It is a quite a revelation to me, the pig-story cartoon I loved to watch when I was a kid contain wisdom I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.
Thank you!
I decided to downsize back in 2006 when Robert was telling everyone to and that the market was too high and would crash.
I started a small side business before leaving my job.
I moved out of my house and into a small room I rented while renting out my house.
After one month the renter did not pay his rent.
The second month he hung himself.
I knew at this point that I had a choice. To keep trying to rent out my home or give up and move back. I continued to keep going. I found a property manager to take care of things even though at a loss, it gave me time to focus on my business until they fired me 6 months later. I have not worked for an employer for 3 years now. I now own 5 properties a business that I enjoy and have Robert to thank for it all.
When its too good to be true, it may be too good to be true!
There are some people or organisations that promise very high returns in very short time. I got conned because I believed them and gave them my money, as they promised more than 100% return within 3 months. So, my advise is:
1) understand what you are doing - get the necessary education
2) invest in what you know & understand
Setbacks are all part of the game. I've learned that every business has them. It's best to get started so that you can fail quick and get on with being a success. My biggest setback was basically going bankrupt (though I never filed) and getting stung by the IRS to the tune of %500,000.00 in back payroll taxes. Basically with a business that was only doing a total of $2.7 million a year at the time with a hundred plus employees there isn't much room to earn enough to pay that back. This was the ultimate setback. I was 47 years old had been in business for 17 years and now I'm out of business with a $500,000.00 tax debt....Is it possible to learn from that kind of mistake and come back. Yes!! Through the grace and wisdom of God the father whom I put all my trust in. I was given another chance. Two Christian brothers came in contact with me and bailed me out to the tune of $350.000.00. that's how far I was in the hole not counting the I.R.S. debt. #1. The money was given with the premise that they get all of their money paid back before any profits be taken from the business. #2. That I let them teach me in the areas that I failed at (mainly cost control & money management) #3. That I promise to run the company from here on with Bibical Principles as they relate to employees, shareholders, vendors and customers. The rest is history. After just 3 short years all of the initial investment was paid back. The next year the business posted a $250,000.00 profit. The next year the business posted a $600,000.00 profit. This year is projected to be about the same. I've learned my lessons well and am now looking into investing into other businesses and hoping to make them even more profitable. Without the setback I would probably most certainly be caught up in the economic recession that has stifled so many small businesses recently. The old business was heavily dependent upon short term bank financing. The new business has no debt and finances itself. We even had enough to loan some other small businesses money when they were hurting. It takes pruning to make the bush fuller. Look at setbacks as pruning to make your financial life fuller.
Setbacks, how you overcame them, and the lessons you’ve learned.
A relative passed away and left me an income which was small, at the time, but it paid the rent. I made the mistake of mentioning it to my divorced father. He went and talked to the people who wrote the checks, and convinced them to let him use it as a tax write off.
Extra funds were given by him to them to be invested, but the amount I recieved remained the same. It is not clear what happened to the difference. It was definately not the private income that had been intended, after that happened. I am still straightening out the mess. That is what con artists apparently call a 'family special'.
I have learned to have good information and people on my side, and not to tell people what I am doing, unless it is reliably secure.
Setbacks, how you overcame them, and the lessons you’ve learned.
My grandfather left me about 7 shares of stock in a development company. The company merged with a larger company when I was about thirteen years old. Shares were exchanged at about 2 of the old stock for 1 of the new. A voucher had to be signed and returned to exchange shares.
I did not understand, at that age, how half of 7 shares was possible. I asked people on each side of my family and they did not know. For those reasons I did not send in the voucher, and the stock was forfeit.
The same grandfather left provisions for me to go to college. My parents were divorced. Without thinking, my mother agreed to let my father, who had never paid his alimony or child support, to pay for my college. That was a deadbeat mistake. I have learned to think for myself. I have also learned, whenever possible, to accept the more reliable form of help.
If the society were more financially literate, perhaps those choices would have been common knowledge, or common sense.
I've lived long enough to make quite a few mistakes. I'm in my late 40s, have lived all over the country, have been married, divorced, married again, and now separated. I've gone through college twice for 2 different degrees, both in the sciences. I've lived a life of excess and a life of very little. Through it all I'd say that a positive attitude has helped the most. When setbacks have come, I've tried to step back, take a deep breath, figure out what happened, and where to go from there. Not being financially literate most of my life, having learned money from two hard working always paycheck to paycheck parents or a miserly controlling exhusband, has not been to my benefit. I see that by not understanding money and how to have it work for me I have ended up working for it my whole life. That's not the way to go. I look back now and see that I have repeated some money habits simply because I did not know any other way. Now I am educating myself financially. I am starting all over at square negative five with debts to clear before I can be at zero. At this point I've been following the DIY plan but can see that a team will be more beneficial. Now to start assembling a team who can help me not make some of the same mistakes is one of my goals. I don't think most of us learn any lessons the easy way by watching others make mistakes or reading about them in a book. I think most of us are pretty hard headed and only learn life's lessons when it hits us square on the head and tries to knock some sense in to us. Some of us survive that hit on the head and think about what happened, others just keep on getting hit over and over. It's up to us to look around us and figure out what just happened and why.
Twice I had saved up money through a 401k; twice it went to nothing. Now, I am in the same place you and Kim were back in 1984 (although I have student loan debt as my primary obligation). I work at a fast food place, working 15 hours a week (because that is all I could be given). I've applied at other places, and I have a graduate degree.
I have vowed to myself that I will never put myself in this situation again for as long as I live (until everything freezes over). I accept all responsibility for putting myself into the situations I have. No one is to blame but me. I am thankful I have found freedom in admitting those things.
It all started when I picked up a set of drum sticks. I grew up very poor but was fortunate enough to have a Grandfather to teach me basic skills. He wanted me to be a mechanic (follow in his footsteps) and have the secure job, ect. But he also had a small drum set. He showed me the basics on it and I never looked back.
I hit my teenage years and grew up with a stepfather who spent his entire life in front of a tv screen and a Mother who had a very serious alcohol problem. Music was my only escape, and I began ditching school and learning the hard way about, you guessed it, sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
But I discovered something. There is a force out there that goes beyond anything anyone can imagine. And that force, from out of nowhere, came into my life and gave me a second chance. My probation officer at the time told me I had two choices: Spend the rest of my life in jail, or attend a program called job corps. I chose job corps.
I left home and by breaking away from all of baggage that was holding me down, I was able to regain focus. I took two trades, was in a band, and participated several times in a marine program called BTOC (Basic Training Orientation Course). Through that program I was able to channel the anger and pain deep inside towards physical fitness. The more the drill sergent pushed me, and the more the push ups and sit ups hurt, the more I wanted.
I was on my way to joining the armed forces, I had passed the physical and all I needed to do was sign the papers. Again, that force came into my life. My sense of destiny began to return and I chose another direction. I realized that music was a very powerful language and I could not turn from it's call. I went into debt. I bought a car, speakers, drum sets, lights, guitars, fog machines, you name it. All on credit, and then I quit my job. And if that wasn't enough, I ended up back in the town I started from and it wasn't long until the bottle began taking over again.
Somehow, I got out. I lost everything and since attempted several new music projects only to have them fail. I came to Southern California looking for rehearsal space. You'd think there would be tons of it here. Wrong again.
In 2006, I was in a bookstore and I saw Mr. Kiosaki's book, Rich Dad Poor Dad. I picked it up and then set it back down. I didn't like the purple cover and I had a very bad attitude towards the word Dad, father, or anything close to it. I couldn't tell you why I'd picked it up in the first place.
In my search for answers, I picked up another book and in the introduction page it recommened Robert's book. So I set that one down and bought Rich Dad's Prophecy instead.
Since then, my knowledge has exploded. My determination is reaching critical mass as I have now read several of Robert's books, own and play daily Cashflow 101 & 202. I've invested in education, new music equiptment, own half of an interest in a condo, found someone who has taught me about love and keeps me straight, almost bought my first cashflow property two days ago, and am about to put together a band that will be successful because I now know how to control my finances and I also know that no matter how bad it gets, sometimes it can be really good. And that is what you have to hold onto.
As of this moment, that force that I told you about, that sense of destiny, is all around me. And every time that force is around, my life changes. Most people would be afraid of making more mistakes, but I welcome it.
I guess the moral is, never give up on yourself. Even when you have people telling you it's hopeless. When someone tells you that, turn the other way and prove them wrong.
I inherited 75K from my grandparent's about 5 years ago and today I have nothing left. I still have regrets about losing all the money because I spent it very foolishly. I did open up a Roth IRA w/30K of it, but withdrew a little at a time and before I knew it I was back at square one. I guess the lesson I have learned is if you come into a lot of money you need to find someone you can really trust as far as giving you good advice and DON"T listen to people(especially family members or people that don't have anthing!!!) unless you really trust them.
I've learned that setbacks are really excuses for not taking responsibility for your actions. Of coarse I could list an infinite number of setbacks that I've experienced but I no longer have a reason to use the excuse of a setback to disguise my true inner abilities to live the life of my choosing.
I'm also 26 years old and currently doing an MBA. I was fortunate to learn a lot without loosing too much money or time. I keep finding from literature advices about mistakes I did, they are all out there but we don't pay as much attention until we actually go through it. Now I pay more attention to the following few things:
1. Differentiate: If your idea is not new, your competitor may have the entire market share and guess what, it is way too expensive and time consuming to make them switch to your product or service. Better make sure you are market segment is not well served by competition in the first place.
2. Exit Strategy: How are you going to exit if everything fails? You cannot go public and there might not be investors interested in your company. How are you going to liquidate a failed company? Think of all possible exit routes.
3. Bootstrapping a company with your own savings is A LOT harder than having the financial and mental capacity that bigger companies do. Spend enough time to build both mental capacity and financial capacity so that you are more flexible when you start.
4. Make sure to UNDERSTAND the risks involved before you start.
5. It is better to choose an industry that you understand very well and that you like. If you like what you are doing (as I did) you will regret nothing when you don't make as much money as you expected.
6. Market research is essential. You may have a need that you are solving with your product, but what percentage of the population also has this need? Are there any alternatives/substitutes?
7. If the plan does not intuitively look perfect in your head, spend A LOT of time figuring out the little details that you are uncertain about. You might be surprised to find that little details are major flaws of the business.
8. Interpret the statistics. Markets go up and down. Don't invest in a downwards market. Check the statistics from your government's statistical service, the IMF & World bank and other websites.
9. Identify all the assumptions in your plan one by one. It is a waste of time to proceed to the details unless you have tested all made assumptions that your business is based upon.
10. Have a solid cash flow plan. How do you plan to make money, with what costs, in how much time, will the long run profits exceed initial fixed costs and ongoing variable costs? Did you miss any costs? You can identify some of these missed costs simply by creating an organizational chart that lists all operations, roles and responsibilities and the resources needed to cover them.
There are many more, but they are all covered in the essays of previous entreprenuers. Read the failures of other people like the bible. Search the Internet for failure stories, other people's mistakes are the fastest and cheapest way to learn and build mental capacity.
I agree with not partnering with anyone, there are many gotchas. It is cheaper in the long run to hire someone rather than giving equity in exchange for work.
The problem is men pass over the same stone more than twice, even if them watch the danger! It could be cool to born “old” but in experiences and knowledge . Human beings most continually analyze what is happening around, take part actively in society issues, be aware and responsive. Maybe it will help to take better decisions to build our future but specially our present.
I think this could be one of Robert's best question, I'm 26yrs old and surely learned a lot of my very little experience building businesses so here are some of my hard learned lessons:
1. Think twice when partnering with friends, and three times when partnering with family.
2. If you do decide to partner, think "if something goes wrong, and someone wants out, what's the exit strategy" that way everyone's ass (can I write ass?) will be covered.
3. Failing to plan, doesn't necessarily means planning to fail, but it could set a difference between owning a business and owning a job.
Well for the moment, I'm just gonna say (with a laugh) it's time to break open that bottle of champagne I've been looking at for 10 years now and start with zero! The lesson I've learned thus far is to stay positive at all costs.
not enough but i do know that currently to make mistakes it is very expensive. so i limit them. i 4get the mistakes replicate what i did right and even capitalise on wat i did right during the maistake. i start small and watch others go big and crash
My husband and I haven't always made the best decisions financially, but we made choices we thought were best for the family. I quit working to be a full-time parent when our children were little, for example. But my husband was working at a dead-end job that had absolutely no chance for advancement and no chance for pay raises either (that's what you get when you're a low level staffer at a university). So we built up credit card debt. Not for frivolous stuff (we are adamant about not buying today's whim with credit cards) but for things like car repairs, appliance repairs and the like.
The kids got older, I went back to work part time, and slowly but surely the debt got paid down. I never missed a payment, never was late. But the two of us still were not making enough money to be comfortable.
I started my own business and did quite well, in terms of dollars per hour--but the work was extremely irregular and I could not count on a steady income. We had just bought our first house after 22 years of renting and we had no money in the bank at all. Zero. So, back to work I went at the first job I could find, minimum wage at a big box store. Worked my way up to supervisor in six months. Once again worked on paying off the credit card bills (and once again they were for repair work and other essentials, not for trivial junk). Got a better job somewhere else. Paid off a lot of the debts with my new higher salary. Had to take early retirement from that job due to hellish working conditions. Now we're back in debt again as I search for yet another job. My husband now makes more money than he ever has, for a different company, but they're in the same boat as everyone else, no money available for raises. We are getting by on his paycheck but that's all.
I don't know what the answer is. It all seems to be on my shoulders (I pay the bills) and I'm depressed. I hate the thought of another miserable retail job but there doesn't seem to be anything much out there, in California in the horrible economy. I sure wish someone would show me the way. I've learned that I can manage and can pull us through most any financial crisis, but my ability to cope is being eroded day by day.
Dear Robert,
I am a scarddy cat. I hated failures. I did not want to make any mistakes.
Sure enough,my expectation was not focused on lessons, then the lessons came to me.
My first marriage was not a good one. But thru it, I learned who I am and whom I want to be with. Now, my husband is the perosn I have manifested. We share everything together.
There are other mistakes in my life and I have turned them into lessons. Thanks to you, of course. I understand the power of words and with this knowledge, I tell myself everyday is a new lesson for me. Surprisingly, I thrived with this idea.
You are so great in enouraging people to look into sleves for answers and turn every day challenges into life lessons.
Thank you.
My name is Ryo & i lived with a wife & a son. During 2008 until now we're in the biggest financial problem because we've done somethings wrong in managing our & others money. As our main business is to managed others money through stock - option - & forex market. Wow ... we realize that it is not easy to start all over again with debts but the things that we learned is priceless. We never learned this in our school but yet here we are ... We do believe & pray that God will help us through this process. We will not give up because our faith tells us that this is the new beginning & we will came out as a winner. Yes i do agree with the process where all of must must be loyal to process, there is no quick way to the top (The Straws & Sticks Houses). Right now we're building our Bricks House, confirmed ...
God Bless Us All
My biggest setbacks have been "easy credit". I've fallen into that pit several times. I've learned that compounding interest is more than just an interesting math problem. Now I'm working on ways to get the compounding effect working for me instead of against me.
Greetings to you Sir Kiyosaki n' everyone too from Ecuador.
I've worked like electrician for a 15 years n' of that I've built my suburb store, mi home (10x8m 1 floor)n' enter to FOREX MARKET 1 year ago.
But no matter how hard I tried within the forex market, testing many techniques, many reports, many graphs; I lost in a lapse of 6 months. Now I'll concentrate on your advices because I also want to be rich.
Having jumped into building a property portfolio and trading options 5 yrs ago I am now bankrupt, a route I did not want to go down however I am there now. I am starting to build my plans to be financial independant, investing slowly and wisely, I have learned a lot about managing and investing money over the 5 years and I am determined to achieve those goals within the next 5 years. I am using spare income to invest in silver and also to learn properly about share trading. My goal is to generate passive income from the markets and from property which I will purchase again...
My wife Patricia and me Marcos, we started with my wife a sign company in Paraguay, but as we have bad debt on the credit card we decide to put all this debt on a credit card of a banc that charged just 10% anual on interest bank.
In this way we have a leverage, without doing this we was paid monthly about 1000 U$S, and now we are just paying 200 U$S and of course we are looking for not have again a bad debts with credit cards.
Many thanks Mr. Robert for the books you are writing is very helpfull for my wife and me, an we want to build our house of brick too.
The difference today is thatafter the wolf left, the 2 pigs that got their house blown down demanded that the Government build it back up for free!!!
The pig story reminds me of a biblical scene, telling that everyone’s work will be tested with fire. Sure if we’re building our houses of straws & sticks (and cards) all will end up collapsing. There is neither reinforcement inside nor any solid foundation ever since. Therefore, we need to have a solid foundation on everything we’re doing. For me, nothing more than knowledge, understanding, & wisdom are qualified as solid foundation – in every aspect of life. And gaining this is a life-long treasure-hunting journey.
What Robert is telling us is form of a must-have knowledge, given understanding and full bucket of wisdom desperately needed for our future steps.
It is a quite a revelation to me, the pig-story cartoon I loved to watch when I was a kid contain wisdom I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.
Thank you!
There is nothing on the Screen. Why is it I cannot read the chapter and other chapters? I hope this is NOT CONSPIRACY
I decided to downsize back in 2006 when Robert was telling everyone to and that the market was too high and would crash.
I started a small side business before leaving my job.
I moved out of my house and into a small room I rented while renting out my house.
After one month the renter did not pay his rent.
The second month he hung himself.
I knew at this point that I had a choice. To keep trying to rent out my home or give up and move back. I continued to keep going. I found a property manager to take care of things even though at a loss, it gave me time to focus on my business until they fired me 6 months later. I have not worked for an employer for 3 years now. I now own 5 properties a business that I enjoy and have Robert to thank for it all.
There are some people or organisations that promise very high returns in very short time. I got conned because I believed them and gave them my money, as they promised more than 100% return within 3 months. So, my advise is:
1) understand what you are doing - get the necessary education
2) invest in what you know & understand
Setbacks are all part of the game. I've learned that every business has them. It's best to get started so that you can fail quick and get on with being a success. My biggest setback was basically going bankrupt (though I never filed) and getting stung by the IRS to the tune of %500,000.00 in back payroll taxes. Basically with a business that was only doing a total of $2.7 million a year at the time with a hundred plus employees there isn't much room to earn enough to pay that back. This was the ultimate setback. I was 47 years old had been in business for 17 years and now I'm out of business with a $500,000.00 tax debt....Is it possible to learn from that kind of mistake and come back. Yes!! Through the grace and wisdom of God the father whom I put all my trust in. I was given another chance. Two Christian brothers came in contact with me and bailed me out to the tune of $350.000.00. that's how far I was in the hole not counting the I.R.S. debt. #1. The money was given with the premise that they get all of their money paid back before any profits be taken from the business. #2. That I let them teach me in the areas that I failed at (mainly cost control & money management) #3. That I promise to run the company from here on with Bibical Principles as they relate to employees, shareholders, vendors and customers. The rest is history. After just 3 short years all of the initial investment was paid back. The next year the business posted a $250,000.00 profit. The next year the business posted a $600,000.00 profit. This year is projected to be about the same. I've learned my lessons well and am now looking into investing into other businesses and hoping to make them even more profitable. Without the setback I would probably most certainly be caught up in the economic recession that has stifled so many small businesses recently. The old business was heavily dependent upon short term bank financing. The new business has no debt and finances itself. We even had enough to loan some other small businesses money when they were hurting. It takes pruning to make the bush fuller. Look at setbacks as pruning to make your financial life fuller.
A relative passed away and left me an income which was small, at the time, but it paid the rent. I made the mistake of mentioning it to my divorced father. He went and talked to the people who wrote the checks, and convinced them to let him use it as a tax write off.
Extra funds were given by him to them to be invested, but the amount I recieved remained the same. It is not clear what happened to the difference. It was definately not the private income that had been intended, after that happened. I am still straightening out the mess. That is what con artists apparently call a 'family special'.
I have learned to have good information and people on my side, and not to tell people what I am doing, unless it is reliably secure.
My grandfather left me about 7 shares of stock in a development company. The company merged with a larger company when I was about thirteen years old. Shares were exchanged at about 2 of the old stock for 1 of the new. A voucher had to be signed and returned to exchange shares.
I did not understand, at that age, how half of 7 shares was possible. I asked people on each side of my family and they did not know. For those reasons I did not send in the voucher, and the stock was forfeit.
The same grandfather left provisions for me to go to college. My parents were divorced. Without thinking, my mother agreed to let my father, who had never paid his alimony or child support, to pay for my college. That was a deadbeat mistake. I have learned to think for myself. I have also learned, whenever possible, to accept the more reliable form of help.
If the society were more financially literate, perhaps those choices would have been common knowledge, or common sense.
I've lived long enough to make quite a few mistakes. I'm in my late 40s, have lived all over the country, have been married, divorced, married again, and now separated. I've gone through college twice for 2 different degrees, both in the sciences. I've lived a life of excess and a life of very little. Through it all I'd say that a positive attitude has helped the most. When setbacks have come, I've tried to step back, take a deep breath, figure out what happened, and where to go from there. Not being financially literate most of my life, having learned money from two hard working always paycheck to paycheck parents or a miserly controlling exhusband, has not been to my benefit. I see that by not understanding money and how to have it work for me I have ended up working for it my whole life. That's not the way to go. I look back now and see that I have repeated some money habits simply because I did not know any other way. Now I am educating myself financially. I am starting all over at square negative five with debts to clear before I can be at zero. At this point I've been following the DIY plan but can see that a team will be more beneficial. Now to start assembling a team who can help me not make some of the same mistakes is one of my goals. I don't think most of us learn any lessons the easy way by watching others make mistakes or reading about them in a book. I think most of us are pretty hard headed and only learn life's lessons when it hits us square on the head and tries to knock some sense in to us. Some of us survive that hit on the head and think about what happened, others just keep on getting hit over and over. It's up to us to look around us and figure out what just happened and why.
Twice I had saved up money through a 401k; twice it went to nothing. Now, I am in the same place you and Kim were back in 1984 (although I have student loan debt as my primary obligation). I work at a fast food place, working 15 hours a week (because that is all I could be given). I've applied at other places, and I have a graduate degree.
I have vowed to myself that I will never put myself in this situation again for as long as I live (until everything freezes over). I accept all responsibility for putting myself into the situations I have. No one is to blame but me. I am thankful I have found freedom in admitting those things.
It all started when I picked up a set of drum sticks. I grew up very poor but was fortunate enough to have a Grandfather to teach me basic skills. He wanted me to be a mechanic (follow in his footsteps) and have the secure job, ect. But he also had a small drum set. He showed me the basics on it and I never looked back.
I hit my teenage years and grew up with a stepfather who spent his entire life in front of a tv screen and a Mother who had a very serious alcohol problem. Music was my only escape, and I began ditching school and learning the hard way about, you guessed it, sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
But I discovered something. There is a force out there that goes beyond anything anyone can imagine. And that force, from out of nowhere, came into my life and gave me a second chance. My probation officer at the time told me I had two choices: Spend the rest of my life in jail, or attend a program called job corps. I chose job corps.
I left home and by breaking away from all of baggage that was holding me down, I was able to regain focus. I took two trades, was in a band, and participated several times in a marine program called BTOC (Basic Training Orientation Course). Through that program I was able to channel the anger and pain deep inside towards physical fitness. The more the drill sergent pushed me, and the more the push ups and sit ups hurt, the more I wanted.
I was on my way to joining the armed forces, I had passed the physical and all I needed to do was sign the papers. Again, that force came into my life. My sense of destiny began to return and I chose another direction. I realized that music was a very powerful language and I could not turn from it's call. I went into debt. I bought a car, speakers, drum sets, lights, guitars, fog machines, you name it. All on credit, and then I quit my job. And if that wasn't enough, I ended up back in the town I started from and it wasn't long until the bottle began taking over again.
Somehow, I got out. I lost everything and since attempted several new music projects only to have them fail. I came to Southern California looking for rehearsal space. You'd think there would be tons of it here. Wrong again.
In 2006, I was in a bookstore and I saw Mr. Kiosaki's book, Rich Dad Poor Dad. I picked it up and then set it back down. I didn't like the purple cover and I had a very bad attitude towards the word Dad, father, or anything close to it. I couldn't tell you why I'd picked it up in the first place.
In my search for answers, I picked up another book and in the introduction page it recommened Robert's book. So I set that one down and bought Rich Dad's Prophecy instead.
Since then, my knowledge has exploded. My determination is reaching critical mass as I have now read several of Robert's books, own and play daily Cashflow 101 & 202. I've invested in education, new music equiptment, own half of an interest in a condo, found someone who has taught me about love and keeps me straight, almost bought my first cashflow property two days ago, and am about to put together a band that will be successful because I now know how to control my finances and I also know that no matter how bad it gets, sometimes it can be really good. And that is what you have to hold onto.
As of this moment, that force that I told you about, that sense of destiny, is all around me. And every time that force is around, my life changes. Most people would be afraid of making more mistakes, but I welcome it.
I guess the moral is, never give up on yourself. Even when you have people telling you it's hopeless. When someone tells you that, turn the other way and prove them wrong.
why I can not read the chapter and all other chapters?
I inherited 75K from my grandparent's about 5 years ago and today I have nothing left. I still have regrets about losing all the money because I spent it very foolishly. I did open up a Roth IRA w/30K of it, but withdrew a little at a time and before I knew it I was back at square one. I guess the lesson I have learned is if you come into a lot of money you need to find someone you can really trust as far as giving you good advice and DON"T listen to people(especially family members or people that don't have anthing!!!) unless you really trust them.
I've learned that setbacks are really excuses for not taking responsibility for your actions. Of coarse I could list an infinite number of setbacks that I've experienced but I no longer have a reason to use the excuse of a setback to disguise my true inner abilities to live the life of my choosing.
I'm also 26 years old and currently doing an MBA. I was fortunate to learn a lot without loosing too much money or time. I keep finding from literature advices about mistakes I did, they are all out there but we don't pay as much attention until we actually go through it. Now I pay more attention to the following few things:
1. Differentiate: If your idea is not new, your competitor may have the entire market share and guess what, it is way too expensive and time consuming to make them switch to your product or service. Better make sure you are market segment is not well served by competition in the first place.
2. Exit Strategy: How are you going to exit if everything fails? You cannot go public and there might not be investors interested in your company. How are you going to liquidate a failed company? Think of all possible exit routes.
3. Bootstrapping a company with your own savings is A LOT harder than having the financial and mental capacity that bigger companies do. Spend enough time to build both mental capacity and financial capacity so that you are more flexible when you start.
4. Make sure to UNDERSTAND the risks involved before you start.
5. It is better to choose an industry that you understand very well and that you like. If you like what you are doing (as I did) you will regret nothing when you don't make as much money as you expected.
6. Market research is essential. You may have a need that you are solving with your product, but what percentage of the population also has this need? Are there any alternatives/substitutes?
7. If the plan does not intuitively look perfect in your head, spend A LOT of time figuring out the little details that you are uncertain about. You might be surprised to find that little details are major flaws of the business.
8. Interpret the statistics. Markets go up and down. Don't invest in a downwards market. Check the statistics from your government's statistical service, the IMF & World bank and other websites.
9. Identify all the assumptions in your plan one by one. It is a waste of time to proceed to the details unless you have tested all made assumptions that your business is based upon.
10. Have a solid cash flow plan. How do you plan to make money, with what costs, in how much time, will the long run profits exceed initial fixed costs and ongoing variable costs? Did you miss any costs? You can identify some of these missed costs simply by creating an organizational chart that lists all operations, roles and responsibilities and the resources needed to cover them.
There are many more, but they are all covered in the essays of previous entreprenuers. Read the failures of other people like the bible. Search the Internet for failure stories, other people's mistakes are the fastest and cheapest way to learn and build mental capacity.
I agree with not partnering with anyone, there are many gotchas. It is cheaper in the long run to hire someone rather than giving equity in exchange for work.
The problem is men pass over the same stone more than twice, even if them watch the danger! It could be cool to born “old” but in experiences and knowledge . Human beings most continually analyze what is happening around, take part actively in society issues, be aware and responsive. Maybe it will help to take better decisions to build our future but specially our present.
I think this could be one of Robert's best question, I'm 26yrs old and surely learned a lot of my very little experience building businesses so here are some of my hard learned lessons:
1. Think twice when partnering with friends, and three times when partnering with family.
2. If you do decide to partner, think "if something goes wrong, and someone wants out, what's the exit strategy" that way everyone's ass (can I write ass?) will be covered.
3. Failing to plan, doesn't necessarily means planning to fail, but it could set a difference between owning a business and owning a job.
Well for the moment, I'm just gonna say (with a laugh) it's time to break open that bottle of champagne I've been looking at for 10 years now and start with zero! The lesson I've learned thus far is to stay positive at all costs.
not enough but i do know that currently to make mistakes it is very expensive. so i limit them. i 4get the mistakes replicate what i did right and even capitalise on wat i did right during the maistake. i start small and watch others go big and crash