Financial Education – Rich Dad’s Conspiracy of the rich

While I do not totally agree with Robert on everything, there are some key things that I concurred and learnt from him. Below are some the things I want to share from the book:

Three Kinds of Education:

1. Academic Education: This includes the ability to read, write and solve basic math problems
2. Professional Education: This is knowledge of a trade in which to earn money. (ie. Going to medical school to become doctor)
3. Financial Education: It is not so much about how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard your money works for you. (This is the one lacking in most people)

Why Money Is Not Taught in School?

The purpose of the foundation (the General Education Board) was to use the power of money, not to raise the level of education in America, as was widely believed at the time, but to influence the direction of that education... The object was to use the classroom to teach attitudes that encourage people to be passive and submissive to their rulers. The goal was – and is – to create citizens who were educated enough for productive work under supervision but not enough to question authority or seek to rise above their class. True education was to be restricted to the sons and daughters of the elite. For the rest, it would be better to produce skilled workers with no particular aspirations other than to enjoy life – Edward Griffin (1903) on Rockefeller’s General Education Board

Key Takeaways:

Learn how to use debt: Debt is not bad. Misuse of debt is bad. Debt cam make you rich, and debt can make you poor. If you want to get ahead financially, you need to learn to use debt, not abuse it.

Learn to control cash flow: If you are in debt, your cash flows from you to others. If you are going to be financially secure, you need to learn to have more cash flowing into your pockets.

Prepare for bad times and you will only know good times: One saw the depression as an opportunity, and the other saw it as a crisis.

Real Estate Tips:

1. Invest in B-Class apartment buildings: Rent to working class people (not to the rich or the poor).
2. Buy in areas where there are jobs: The real value of real estate is related to jobs
3. Own property where there are natural or government constraints: own apartments where there is no-growth boundary around the city, or properties bordered by river or sea (nature constraint) that prohibit further growth. In another words, limited supply land for real estate (Think: Manhattan and Singapore)
4.  Stay with what we know. 

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Hope we will reach financial freedom in our own ways.