THIS IS KEEPING YOU POOR

Kim Kiyosaki of Rich Dad Poor Dad explains the 3 different types of income as part of his Millenial Money video series

3 Tips for Eliminating Credit Card Debt

3 Tips for Eliminating Credit Card Debt

Healthy financial habits will have you sleeping like a baby

If you’ve ever woken up in the middle of the night panic-stricken about the amount of debt you have racked up, you’re not alone. Credit card debt is the second-most-common type of debt after mortgage debt (and I’m going to assume we all know that your house is not an asset and therefore your mortgage is not considered good debt, right?). In fact, the average American family owes $8,377 in credit card debt, according to personal finance site WalletHub, which analyzed credit card debt trends in 2016. That’s certainly enough to keep someone up at night.

As a reminder, there is good debt and bad debt. Good debt is debt you use to acquire assets. Bad debt keeps you trapped, pulling you back instead of moving you ahead. In most cases, credit card debt is bad debt. And that’s why you must get rid of it, because it’s serving no positive purpose in your life. Here are some suggestions for obliterating your credit card debt once and for all:

1. Pay off new credit card charges every month

Credit cards have their advantages so don’t cut them into pieces or put them in the freezer. Instead, use them as a convenience, as a record-keeping tool, and as a way to verify to other creditors your ability to be financially responsible.

From this day forward, if you so agree, do not accumulate additional credit card debt. If you charge an item to your credit card, then pay that amount off when the statement arrives. If you have credit card debt that is more than 30 days old, then pay off all newly acquired debt and put a plan in place to pay off the old credit card debt. Why?

Credit card interest is always compounding, and over time it quickly adds up. Let’s say you have $100 in debt and it accrues 20% interest every month. In your first month, you will be charged $20, which gets added to your original debt. The next month, you are again charged 20%, which now comes out to $24. So after only two months your debt has gone from $100 to $144. Yikes. That’s literally throwing money away and nobody can afford to do that.

2. Don’t charge the small stuff

It’s astounding how quickly all of our minor daily purchases add up—from your daily coffee fix to a magazine at a convenience store. And it’s becomes very easy to justify all those small purchase at the moment. Only $3 for a lip balm because I accidentally left mine at home? No problem! But at the end of the month, those purchases really do add up.

Using physical paper money creates tangible awareness of how much you’re dolling out each day. It might even cause you to reconsider some of those small purchases when you find yourself running out of cash too quickly. Starting today, try using cash for any purchases under $20 and see how your spending habits adapt.

3. Pay off existing credit card debt

Robert and I were in a great amount of bad debt years ago—around $400,000. It was incredibly stressful. Talk about sleepless nights! But we paid off all of our debt in less than 10 years, including credit cards, car loans and home mortgages.

For our credit cards, we came up with an extra $100 in income per month. How? By getting creative. We then applied that additional $100 to our monthly payment on only one of the credit cards and paid the minimum payment plus the extra money on that one credit card. While we were focused on that, we paid only the minimum amount due on all other credit cards.

Once the first card was paid off, we applied the total amount we were paying each month on that card to our next credit card. This mean we were paying the minimum amount due on the second card plus the total monthly payment we were paying on our first credit card.

Continue this process with all your credit cards—with each debt you pay off, apply the full amount you were paying on that debt to the minimum payment of your next debt. As you pay off each debt, the monthly amount you are paying on the next debt will escalate.

It is possibly to become debt-free—often within five-to- seven years—but you must make the decision to do so and start today.

Source:http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog/April-2018/3-Tips-for-Eliminating-Credit-Card-Debt.aspx 

How to Invest Using Other People’s Money

Written by Kim Kiyosaki | Thursday, November 16, 2017

Read time: 3 min

Learn my not-so-secret four-step plan for raising capital

One of my absolute favorite business strategies is using other people’s money (OPM) for my investments. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s one of the cornerstones of the Rich Dad philosophy—looking beyond the limits of your own resources and finding sources of money elsewhere.

Sadly, many people only look to their own wallets and bank accounts to fund their businesses and investments. I now know that that’s pure laziness. Don’t worry, I, too, once was lazy. So it can be cured! But how?

My Initial OPM Lesson

First, let me share the story of how I came to learn about using other people’s moneyto leverage my way to financial freedom. It was a dear friend and mentor of mine who told me that only lazy people use their own money. I explained to him that I worked really hard to make my money, and then invested it—how could that be lazy? He responded, “Wouldn’t it take more thinking and more creativity to use someone else’s money instead of your own?” Hmmm, at first that sounded completely unrealistic. But the more I wrestled with the concept in my head, the more I realized he was absolutely right.

You see, it was easy to use my own money to buy whatever asset I had my eye on, but I’d have to learn new skills and strategies to persuade someone else to part with their hard-earned money to put into my investment. Since I’ve never been afraid of hard work and learning, I decided to roll up my sleeves and figure out how to do it.

What I learned (through trial and error) was that raising capital isn’t really the mystery many make it out to be. Lenders and investors (such as banks, private organizations or individuals) simply want to know that they are going to get a healthy return on their investment. So, the key to raising money comes down to four fairly simple factors that will help demonstrate the ROI they are seeking. I’m going to help you cut right to the chase with my efficient formula:

1. Project: What is the project the lender is providing you capital for? What makes this opportunity unique and attractive? Don’t just share the positives—also explain the negatives and how you plan to overcome them.

2. Partners: Who are the key players in the project? In other words, who’s putting the deal together and what is their track record? The experience each partner brings to the table, and thus their expertise, is a big part of the equation.

3. Financing: Show the investor, as accurately as you can, how the project (either a business or investment) will make money. Be realistic and don’t avoid discussing the roadblocks ahead—every business and investment project has problems, so pretending yours won’t makes you look like an amateur. You’ll want to show how much money you’re raising in total, where the money is coming from (private parties, traditional lenders, etc.), the terms of the money being borrowed and how the money will be allocated. Hint: If you even suggest that any of the money raised will be used to pay your salary, doors will close. If you want a paycheck, then go get a job. Potential investors want to know how soon they will get their initial investment back and what their return will be, so they will use all these numbers to determine if your financing structure and terms are attractive.

4. Management: Investors want to know who’s running the day-to-day operations, because this is crucial to the ongoing success of any venture. Explain who they are, their background, how they react under pressure, etc.

I know it can seem intimidating at first, but raising capital does not have to be a long, drawn-out affair. Your pitch to investors should be short and concise. If you can clearly and confidently address each of the four aforementioned issues when looking to raise capital, then the odds of securing the financing you seek are in your favor. Now, the only thing left for you to do is deliver!

Source: http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog/November-2017/How-to-Invest-Using-Other-Peoples-Money.aspx

When’s the Last Time You Calculated Your Wealth Number?

Written by Kim Kiyosaki | Thursday, December 14, 2017

Read time: 4 min

Surprisingly, it’s time (not money) that will gauge how much you need to be financially free

Brace yourselves. I’m starting off with a question that could very well make your palms sweat and pulse race: If you (or you and your partner/spouse) stopped working today, how long could you survive financially?

If your answer is less than a month, sadly you’re not alone. According to a 2017 GOBankingRates survey, more than half of Americans (57 percent) have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts. And even worse, 39 percent have no savings at all. Now that’s a number that makes my palms sweat.

I’m sure you can see why I asked this critical question—it’s one that most people will never stop to calculate. Perhaps that’s because they feel invincible. Or maybe because it’s just too darn scary.

This is why, when the unexpected happens—like a job layoff, an illness, an accident or a divorce—so many people are not financially prepared. Unfortunately, it’s precisely at the time of the unexpected event that most people, for the first time, experience the reality of where they are and how long they can survive financially. And that’s the exact moment where you will be faced with the cold hard truth of your situation.

What Do Need to Live On, Anyways?

For most people, calculating what they want and need means thinking in terms of money. For instance, “I need $1 million to live on for the rest of my life.” And even when you talk with financial planners, they will mention your nest egg, and discuss how much money you should set aside for retirement.

However, there is a far better way to answer the question. Instead of measuring your wealth in terms of money, it makes more sense to measure your wealth in terms of time. And that, ladies, is what I call the Wealth Number.

When it comes to discovering your Wealth Number, there are two important parts to the question: “If you (or you and your partner/spouse) stopped working today, how long could you survive financially?” Let’s break them down:

1. If you stopped working today…
   That means there are no more paychecks coming your way. Something has happened and you can no longer work for a business or job. Therefore no income is coming in from those sources.
2. How long could you survive financially?
   We’re talking about survival at your current standard of living—not if you downsized your house, sold your car and rode the bus, stopped eating out, and gave up your manicures. With your current level of expenses in mind, how long would your money last?

Defining Terms

Let’s get clear on some basic definitions to make sure we’re on the same page. When it comes to calculating your Wealth Number, your money consists of your savings, CDs, retirement accounts, liquid stocks (stocks you could sell today), physical gold and silver you have in your possession—basically anything that can be converted into cash today. It does not include selling your jewelry, your furniture, or your second car, for example, because that would lower your current standard of living. It does include cash flow from dividends, rental real estate, and other investments that produce income without your effort.

Perhaps you’ve done this calculation for yourself before. Well, I encourage you to do it again now. Why? Your finances are dynamic; they are constantly changing. You may come up with a similar answer as the last time you completed this exercise, or you may be surprised by your new outcome.

Do the Math

It’s all too easy to lie to yourself (or incorrectly guestimate) about how much you actually spend on monthly expenses. So be sure to include all your expenses because you want to expand your financial means to meet the lifestyle to which you aspire, not live below your means.

Use this equation:

Your wealth number = Your available money / Your monthly expenses

Once you put these numbers into a spreadsheet and divide how much money you have available by your monthly expenses, you end up with your wealth number. What does that mean?

Your wealth number is measured in time—in this case, in months. So if your wealth number is 24, that equates to 24 months. If your number is 6, that equates to 6 months. And what does that mean? Your wealth number is the number of months you could survive if you (or both you and your partner) stopped working today.

So, what’s your number? Less than you thought? Hint: It’s rarely more than people think.

Welcome to Reality

For most, the outcome of this calculation is sobering. It brings you and your money face to face, which can be uncomfortable. But it is the most realistic and telling demonstration of exactly where you stand today financially.

For many people, their number is 3 or less. That means they could only survive without paychecks for three months or less. That means they are pretty much living paycheck to paycheck. And in some cases, people actually have a negative number, which means they are spending more every month than they are bringing in.

It really doesn’t matter what your number is. Your number is simply your number. You don’t need to make it right or wrong or continually stress over it. It is what it is. Period. Now you know something that most people will never take the time to figure out. And most importantly, now that you know, you can take action and change it if you choose.

So take a look at your finances. If you are unhappy, or even upset and sad, about that number in front of you—good. That just means it’s time to take some action. Consider enrolling in a free education workshop to learn how to build streams of long-term cash flow, or explore some free tools to help increase your financial intelligence. It’s never too late to start making some changes that will enhance your future.

Source: http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog/December-2017/When%E2%80%99s-the-Last-Time-You-Calculated-Your-Wealth-Nu.aspx

The Crypto Craze Continues

Cryptocurrencies are becoming a popular way to pay for high-end real estate

If you turn on the news, troll the Internet or stand around the water cooler, you’re likely inundated with talk of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are so exciting because they are relatively new and highly volatile.

Some analysts are predicting that digital currency is the future of the world’s financial system, while others believe it’s merely a trend that will disappear. Only time will tell, of course, but its extreme fluctuations make for some very dynamic investments.

At the time of this writing, one Bitcoin is worth $10,854.42 U.S. dollars. As such, many people are buying fractions of Bitcoins—investing $50 or $100 to get their hands on a piece of this pie.

Using Bitcoin in Real Estate

Now, you might be wondering how to pay for things using cryptocurrencies—you can’t exactly use it to pay for a manicure or your skinny latte (yet). But you can use it to buy household products on Overstock.com or a hotel room on Expedia.com. In fact, there are a slew of places jumping on this bandwagon, and you can check out all the participating companies here.

But one of the ways in which Bitcoin is being used that truly fascinates me is in—you guessed it—real estate. I recently read a news story about the owner of a $45 million mansion who is willing to accept Bitcoin as partial payment for his 9,000-square-foot home. He believes that purchasing brick-and-mortar real estate might remove some of the volatility when it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies.

Part of his logic? “According to current situation, if you buy the property with cryptocurrency, it’s difficult to identify the cost of the real estate because it fluctuates so much,” he said. “The government will have a hard time to tax or put a property value on the house you are going to sell.”

That’s an interesting way of looking at things—the value of the Bitcoins he receives for the sale of his home could increase or decrease almost immediately, essentially putting him in a position where he’s getting more or less for his home than he realized.

Now, there probably aren’t a lot of potential buyers in the market for a home with this price tag, but there are more millionaires as of late thanks to cryptocurrency gains. And these new millionaires (and some are even billionaires) are no doubt looking for ways to reinvest their gains—and old-fashioned real estate may be the ideal route to go.

A Whole New Playing Field

Clearly, converting large chunks of cryptocurrency into a less-volatile asset—like real estate—is a logical choice. And it’s happening more often than you think.

Luxury real estate agent Tony Giordano says he’s fielding more and more requests to use cryptocurrency to buy and sell property—and now asks his high-end clients if they would be willing to accept digital currency. Why? More options equals more buyers. This is especially true in the luxury market, where buyers like to maintain a low profile and avoid tax issues. Remember, cryptocurrencies are still largely unregulated.

As such, it’s also important to note that finding an escrow service that handles crypto sales (vs. traditional cash) is not easy because technology is, unsurprisingly, moving faster than government regulation. So you’ll likely have to convert Bitcoin into cash in order to buy a property.

Now might be a good time to dabble with cryptocurrencies to get a feel for the market. There’s a lot to learn about digital currencies (including that Bitcoin isn’t the only game in town), so do your research and start your journey with a small investment—$20 is enough to get your feet wet.

While you may not be in the market for high-end real estate (yet), if you play your cards right, you could easily join the ranks of the new crypto millionaires popping up all around the world. And if not, you’ll get some experience buying and selling, monitoring your investments and having fun daydreaming about achieving your financial dreams.

Source: http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog/February-2018/The-Crypto-Craze-Continues.aspx

Number of Self-Made Female Billionaires on the Rise

Written by Kim Kiyosaki | Thursday, February 15, 2018

Read time: 3 min

Let these successful women inspire you to elevate your financial life

In 2011, I wrote a blog titled “World Woefully Lacking in Female Self-Made Billionaires.” For easy reference, the disappointing statistics that supported my headline included:

• Of the top 10 wealthiest women in the world, every single one inherited their wealth from a male relative.
• Of the world’s 1,011 self-made billionaires (those who made their own money rather than inheriting it), only 14 are women.

Lately, I’ve been wondering what progress women have made over the last handful of years, and decided it was time for an update. Do you think our standing has improved?

According to Forbes:

• A record 56 self-made female billionaires were on the list in 2017, up from 42 in 2016.
• Their combined wealth of $129.1 billion means that 2017 marks the first year that the self-made-woman billionaire wealth has surpassed $100 billion.
• 25% of the world’s women billionaires are self-made (compared to 21% in 2016). This percentage has more than doubled since 2009.
• The total of 56 women includes 7 women who are billionaires in their own right, but are listed on Forbes’ World Billionaires’ ranking with their husbands with whom they started their businesses. Their fortunes have been separated for this list.

I’m happy to see we’ve made some much-needed progress on this front—the number has quadrupled since 2011. Yet, it’s not exactly a number to celebrate. Women still represent a minority percentage of all self-made billionaires.

And remember, this is a worldwide list. In case you’re wondering what this looks like when you map it on a globe, here’s the breakdown by country:

• 21 in China
• 17 in the United States
• 5 in Hong Kong
• 3 in the United Kingdom
• 1 each in Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Russia, Switzerland and Vietnam

Why the Low Numbers?

Yes, women are moving in the right direction (and in some unexpected countries, which is fantastic to see), but it’s clear that women are still lagging behind when it comes to creating wealth.

Now, I’d like for you spend a few minutes pondering why this is. Ask yourself:

• What is the reason for this huge discrepancy?
• Is the business world still stacked against women?
• Is it because most women are adverse to the idea of being extremely rich?
• Do women care more about “the mission” than making a lot of money?
• What is holding us back, and how do we get beyond it?

I wish I had all the answers, but I don’t. Here’s what I do know: Ladies, It’s Rising Time! It’s time for us to rise up to what it really takes for the reward of financial freedom. Does that mean you need to become a billionaire? Of course not. But it’s time to declare your commitment to not quit, to move beyond the obstacles in your way, and to keep moving upward, even in times of doubt. Make an agreement with yourself to do whatever it takes to reach your financial dreams. Don’t you owe it to yourself to be true to who you are and go after what you want?

I have a tremendous amount of respect for the women who have landed on this list of self-made billionaires (such as Oprah Winfrey, Sara Blakely of Spanx, and Marian Ilitch, America’s richest self-made woman, who co-founded Little Caesars with her husband). But I’d be willing to bet they didn’t make this list simply because they made all the right moves and the stars just aligned for them—I have no doubt that each one of them faced challenges and fears, yet still kept pushing forward through adversity until they reached success.

Let this be a call to action for women who are ready to take that next meaningful leap in life. If you’re ready to grow and expand beyond where you are today, if you have a vision of what you truly want in life and are willing to go after it, then this is your time. Too many women quit on their dreams and, more importantly, quit on themselves. It’s going to be hard and you’re going to make mistakes—achieving requires action and action will open doors you never anticipated. Accomplishing any valuable and meaningful goal takes all of you. Now is the best time to take your financial life into your own hands. Your financial future is up to you.