lesson number one put all your eggs in one basket everyone says diversify never put all your eggs in one basket that's total BS advice when you're just starting just look at every rich person and you'll see they got rich by focusing on one thing you think Bezos started Amazon selling everything nah just books that's it he became the book guy first then expanded into the everything store facebook focused on college kids bill Gates focused on software here's a golden rule you get rich by focusing on one thing you stay rich by diversifying but most people do the exact opposite take entrepreneurs they finally get one product working and suddenly they're like "Time to launch 17 new products." Like "Chill you just figured out something that works why mess that up?" Again success comes from obsessing over one thing one business one product one customer group one social media platform hit that first million then we can talk about diversifying andrew Carnegie knew this 100 years ago when he said "Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket." Lesson number two financial freedom is easier than you think here's the secret most people miss you don't need to be rich first to be financially free ecker says one of the students realized that if she simply rented out her flat and moved to a cheaper place her passive income from the rent would be enough to cover all her expenses plus she could even save some money and that's exactly what she did she rented her flat moved to a cheaper place and became financially free only then did she start building her business and becoming rich think of it like climbing two different ladders financial freedom is a 10step ladder while being rich is a 1,000st step climb start with the easier climb focus on creating enough passive income to cover your basics once you're not tied to a paycheck you'll have the time and freedom to focus on being rich lesson number three simple path to wealth rich Dad once said "Getting rich is actually simple you only need to do one thing buy more assets that's it if you buy more assets you will be rich." As Kiasaki explains an asset is something that puts money in your pocket and a liability is something that takes money out of your pocket sounds simple right yet most people do the opposite they fill their lives with liabilities thinking they are assets after reading the book I started paying attention to every purchase I made one of the assets I bought was a rental property which gave me $40 a month in positive cash flow at the same time I realized something surprising one of my YouTube videos had been making $40 a month as well this was a wakeup moment for me it made me realize that my YouTube videos are an asset i created them once but they put money into my pocket every month just like real estate here's the tricky part the rental property cost me $12,000 for the down payment the video it cost just a few hundred and was fun to make from then on I took YouTube seriously producing more videos and even launching channels in different languages every video became an asset bringing me closer to financial freedom lesson number four don't live below your means expand your means if you go to a financial planner he will look at your expenses and advise you to cut them so you will stop drinking lattes kiasaki says "Why don't we look at the other side of the equation and find ways to expand our means so that the price of a latte becomes nothing?" Cutting expenses is a passion killer don't kill your passion rather find ways to feed your passion always ask "How can I afford it?" Lesson number five the magic of thinking big most people can't think big they can't even picture $5 million in their bank account let's be clear thinking big won't magically make things happen but it's the first step and if you can't even start there you'll stay stuck where you are for example I studied at the Faculty of Economics and Management almost 99% of my classmates had one goal graduate and get a well-paying job at a bank or in an international company that's all they could imagine but if you thought bigger they didn't want to work in a nice company they wanted to build a nice company fast forward 12 years and guess what everyone got exactly what they aimed for thinking big shapes your future if you can't even imagine a bigger life you'll never build one lesson number six how much is your one hour worth have you ever been grocery shopping and spent several hours in several stores just to find the cheapest groceries to save 50 or 60 or have you ever waited in line for an hour just to get a free muffin if you have done this then you have a poor person mentality i'm sorry to say that but let me explain of course it's not a bad thing to save money while you're shopping but take a look at it this way if you spend an hour looking for the cheapest oranges just to save 60 that means you're valuing your time at 60 cents an hour rich people don't do that they focus on finding ways to make their hour worth $6,000 instead lesson number seven money equals life energy think about it you literally sell hours of your life to earn money the cash in your pocket isn't just paper it's hours of your life stored up seeing money as life energy completely changed how I spend it the first time I heard about this concept I was earning $5 an hour which was $40 a day every time I wanted to buy something I'd ask "How many hours of work is this?" For example a leather jacket that cost $80 wasn't just money it was two full days of my life when you see purchases this way you value your money differently lesson number eight generational wealth making money and preserving money are two different things this is extra hard these days because we keep printing more money which makes our savings worth less and less it's pretty wild if you look back in history every paper currency eventually collapsed from the Roman Daenerius to the Weimar Republic's mark and the one you use today will eventually share the same fate if that's the case then how do you preserve wealth across generations james Rickards tells an interesting story in his book Road to Ruin he met an Italian family that kept their wealth for over 800 years that's 31 generations they survived all the market cycles epidemics like the black death and even two world wars when Rickards asked their secret the answer was surprisingly simple 1/3 they kept onethird of their wealth in real estate and land one/3 in gold and one/3 in valuable art while art is confusing to me I stick to what I understand physical gold that you can hold in houses that people will always need lesson number nine to make 1 million understand the law of affection the law of affection says that to make a million you need to help a million people of course it doesn't have to be exactly a million but I think you get the point the more people you help the more money you receive for example Jeff Bezos is much richer than your barber David not because he's a better person but because he impacted more people he helped millions of buyers shop easily not just that he also helped sellers sell their products globally so the lesson is simple the more people you help the more money you make lesson number 10 you are one skill away from wealth during an interview with the journalist Robert Kiyosaki learned that she strived to become a best-selling author he realized she was a great writer and that she should pursue that she told him that she had tried but no one was interested robert advised her to take a sales course so she could promote herself but she was offended by that advice and said "I have a master's degree in English literature why would I go to school to learn to be a saleserson i am a professional i went to school to be trained in a profession so I would not have to be a salesperson i hate salespeople all they want is money robert Kiasaki gently pointed out that he was the bestselling author not the best writing author the world has many successful and talented people doctors lawyers dentists and still they struggle financially a wise business consultant once said "They are one skill away from great wealth." Lesson number 11 get rich young you might have already seen this picture this is an old couple on vacation unfortunately they are so tired they can't even enjoy their boat tour don't get me wrong I'm not making fun of this couple this serves as a reminder to me to get rich young so that we don't have to wait until retirement to enjoy wealth i'm glad that the book The Millionaire Fast Lane finally talks about this the book teaches how to get rich young the author explains the slow lane and fast lane paths to getting rich in the slow lane you have to work hard for 40 years to hopefully retire rich at 65 meanwhile the fast lane is about building a business that can run without you being there 24/7 or creating income generating assets though its name is fast it still requires several years of hard work but not as long as 40 years lesson number 12 create your own luck let's say you and I are looking for an investment property to buy i go and check 10 flats but you check 100 who do you think is going to be lucky of course you from the outside it will look like you just came across a great property and bought it but in reality you created your own luck by taking many actions the more actions you take the better your chances of getting lucky lesson number 13 mental money tricks think of your brain like folders on your computer there's a folder for savings another for investments bonuses and daily spending look we treat the same amount of money differently based on which folder it's in for example you might hesitate to spend $2,000 from your savings folder for the new iPhone but if your boss gives you a $2,000 bonus you'll probably buy that new iPhone without thinking twice this is called mental accounting and it can cost you money so here are three tips to turn this to your advantage one keep little money in your spending account and put the rest into your savings account because our mind sees a savings account as sacred we can't touch that two knowing that mental accounting is a natural human weakness casinos use chips instead of cash why because you won't see the real money leaving your pocket so do you understand how paying with a card can impact your spending use cash whenever possible three have a goal in advance for any extra income you will get for example save all your bonuses for investment lesson number 14 how to spend more on the things you love with a conscious spending plan a conscious spending plan starts with this mindset spend extravagantly on the things you love and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don't having automation for your finances enables you to have a conscious spending plan for example here's how Alex does it alex gets paid at the end of the month 5% of his paycheck goes to his retirement account 25% goes to his investment account 25% goes to his savings account then the automation he sets up automatically pays his fixed costs like internet loans and insurance the money left in his account can be used for guiltfree spending alex loves trying out different restaurants every weekend and spending on gadgets so he spends $1,000 a month on that you might think that Alex is wasting money but Alex has a conscious spending plan alex spends less on things that don't matter to him for example he doesn't subscribe to Netflix and he doesn't spend on gym memberships because he walks in the park for exercise and before spending extravagantly on the things he loves he has already saved 55% of his paycheck and paid all his bills lesson number 15 become the person who earns more if you're making $1,000 a month and want to hit $10,000 you need to start acting like someone who already earns $10,000 when you do your mindset changes soon your behavior will change you will start to think differently watch different videos and become friends with different people these will lead you to finding the ideas on how to get to $10,000 a month most people do the opposite they wait for the $10,000 to show up before changing their behavior but the truth is you have to become that person first once you do the results will follow lesson number 16 the 8020 rule in investing if you want to dive into the world of entrepreneurship and investment you must understand that many things comply with the 8020 rule seasoned investors and large companies expect that 80% of their investment decisions will fail warren Buffett admitted that he had owned shares in over 400 different companies in his lifetime but the most significant gains came from only 10 so the lesson here is this accept that not all your investment decisions will succeed and that is completely okay adopt a long-term strategy lesson number 17 do and grow rich not just think several weeks ago I was talking to a friend and we started to talk about a book called Think and Grow Rich he told me that he has seen many people reading this book but has never seen anyone actually become rich he was trying to prove that the ideas in this book don't work which I don't agree with i strongly believe that people don't get rich because they don't take any action they read the book start saying affirmations set goals visualize and that's all they do they don't take any action it's like wanting to win the lottery but not even buying a ticket now I'm not saying you should buy a lottery ticket that's just an example even something as random as winning the lottery requires action lesson number 18 know how much is enough there is a danger of never having enough people can have wealth prosperity and power but greed for more can lead them to risk it all take the story of Rajett Gupta who went from being an orphan to CEO of Mckenzian Company the value of his estate was reported to be $100 million but Gupta wanted more in 2008 during the Goldman Sachs crisis Warren Buffett invested $5 billion to save the bank as a board member of the bank Gupta knew this before the public so he secretly bought shares before they rose because of Buffett's investment he was then arrested for insider trading because of his greed and never having enough he ruined his reputation and his career you have to know how much is enough and don't compare yourself to others when you compare you still want more because there is always someone who's better than you lesson 19 the math behind investing earlier billy Susan and Kim invest $3,000 per year with a 10% annual return billy starts at 15 invests for just 5 years and stops at 19 susan starts at 19 invests for 8 years and stops at 26 kim starts at 27 and keeps investing for 39 years until she's 65 so who has more money by the age of 65 here are the numbers kim has 1.3 million within 39 years she invested $117,000 susan has 1.5 million within 8 years she invested $24,000 and finally Billy has $1.6 million within 5 years he invested only $15,000 the lowest amount among these three but his investment had the longest time to grow that's the power of starting to invest early lesson number 20 understand leverage to build wealth while you sleep if your income is tied to your time that means to earn more you have to spend more time working here's what you can do sleep less so you can work at night too then work overtime on the weekends but is there a better way yes first you need to understand leverage there are three types of leverage labor capital and products with no marginal cost of replication number one labor means you use people to make more money you only have 24 hours in a day more people means more work can be done instead of only you working day and night number two capital means you use money to make more money think of an investment the money you invest in another business will bring more money to you number three products with no marginal cost of replication think of code and media for code you create an app or software you build it once and it can be replicated for millions of people without additional costs for media think of this YouTube video i created it once but millions can watch it the same goes for an ebook there's no cost to replicate it but if you write a physical book to print another one you have to pay so leverage is the key to earning more without working more hours lesson number 21 know exactly what you want the number one reason most people don't get what they want is that they don't know what they want imagine you and your friend are ordering at a sandwich shop your friend orders "Please give me one sandwich." Well you say "I want a tuna sandwich with smoked cheese but I don't want this type of bread give me that dark bread with sunflower seeds and don't put onion put some cucumber tomato and toast it please." Guess what your friend gets a random sandwich and isn't happy you You get exactly what you asked for rich people know exactly what they want and they are committed to getting it if you want a rich life then clearly define what that rich life looks like for example I want the freedom to work when and where I want i want to take my parents on a nice vacation twice a year i want to eat at nice restaurants without looking at prices first know what you want then plan how to get it lesson number 22 mind your own business most people spend their lives making someone else richer like their boss but don't let that bother you mind your own business here doesn't necessarily mean you have to quit your job to start your own business instead it means building your asset column while keeping your day job an asset is anything that puts money in your pocket without you having to work 24/7 for it for example rental properties royalties or even mobile apps that you create after your 9 toive job which people have to pay for every month to use find and build assets that you understand and love at the same time keep your expenses low once you have built your assets let the cash flow generated by those assets pay for luxuries not your paycheck lesson number 23 don't wish for a lump sum of cash imagine owning a water well versus having a tank of water the tank no matter how big eventually runs dry the well properly maintained provides water forever real wealth isn't about having a big pile of cash it's becoming the person who can build income streams once you have that skill you'll never need to worry about running out of money just like riding a bicycle once you've learned you'll never forget it jim Ran once said "When I lost all my money I realized that I had only lost 10% the remaining 90% was the skill that would help me rebuild everything." Lesson number 24 how to spend without feeling guilty there are two tips to spend without guilt first the two times rule anytime you want to spend on something you have to take the same amount of money and invest it as well for example if you want to buy that smartwatch for $400 take another $400 and put it into your investment account two benefits you will gain from this rule first it removes the guilt of making that expensive purchase because you also make an equal-sized investment second it helps you to think twice before buying because you need to spare double the amount apart from this two times rule the second tip is to spend money on the things that maximize your long-term fulfillment let me give you my own example i spend $5 on coffee almost every day at the cafe i used to feel very guilty about it so I stopped but soon I realized that was a mistake why because first I got distracted a lot working from home i am more productive when I work at the cafe plus working at the cafe means I don't have to rent an office so you have to identify what matters most to you lesson number 25 cut costs versus increase income cutting costs is important but let's be realistic there are only a limited number of things you can cut back on sure cut costs on unnecessary items but focus more on increasing your income that's the real game changer lesson number 26 wealth is what you don't see someone may seem rich at first glance but that new iPhone and new couch might have been bought on an installment plan and you don't know how much debt that person has on his credit card wealth is the income that is saved not spent wealth is the ability to buy things if necessary without having to worry about the price tag and without relying on installment plans when people say they want to be a millionaire what they really mean is that they want to spend a million dollar but spending a million dollars is literally the opposite of being a millionaire spending money to show others how much you have is the fastest way to have less lesson number 27 how to save and enjoy money at the same time whatever amount you have in the bank that didn't happen overnight it's the result of choices you've made over the years either you spend more or save more both will be reflected in your bank account so the question is how can you save more while still spending on the things you want the answer is automate and build a system that saves invests and pays your bills while you sleep to automate your finances first you need to categorize your spending then decide the percentage for each category let's look at this example and feel free to adjust the percentage based on your income category one fixed costs let's say you put 50% toward fixed costs like rent bills and groceries category 2 investment 15% category 3 short-term savings like savings to buy a house or a vacation 15% and finally the most exciting category which is category 4 guiltfree spending 20% this is the fun stuff like eating out at fancy restaurants new clothes or whatever else you want with a system like this you can enjoy spending on what you want while still saving for the future lesson number 28 pay yourself first the first thing you need to do when you get your paycheck save at least 10% before you pay your landlord or the bank or the internet provider okay you got the idea right that's what pay yourself first means you don't have to strictly follow 10% just save any amount you can the important thing is to start with some amount so that you can start training your saving muscles imagine it like this every dollar you save is like a soldier in your personal army fighting to bring back more soldiers those new recruits they'll fight for you too bringing back even more soldiers this process will keep continuing but if you spend recklessly it's like sending your soldiers out without protection they can be killed and can't bring back more soldiers too much imagination isn't it lesson number 29 to save or to invest which one comes first to answer that question here's what you need to do first figure out how much you can save in a year for example if you save $1,000 a month that means you can save $12,000 in a year second if you invest calculate how much the return is for example if you have $10,000 to invest and you expect a 10% return that means you will get $1,000 third compare those two numbers if your savings are higher focus on saving more if the return on your investment is higher focus on investment first and if the numbers are about the same focus on both lesson number 30 become an entrepreneur growing up I bet you heard this a lot study hard get good grades and land a job at a big company but how often do you hear study hard and become an entrepreneur many people think becoming an entrepreneur is risky so they want a secure job in a company when you work for a company you have just one client your employer but when you're an entrepreneur you have multiple clients entrepreneurs are the ones who are building the economy creating new jobs developing real estate and investing the government needs entrepreneurs otherwise there would be no jobs and the government could not collect taxes robert Kiasaki strongly advises becoming an entrepreneur because taxes and laws are written in favor of entrepreneurs lesson number 31 have a 3 to6month emergency fund if you spend $4,000 every month then the amount you need to have in your emergency fund is between $12,000 and $24,000 the decision depends on the type of job you have and how secure you feel with your income if you have a stable income you can focus on saving for 3 months but if you have variable income or depend a lot on external conditions 6 months is right for you an emergency fund is only for emergencies buying a gift for your mother is not an emergency her birthday is on the same day every year so you should save for it in your budget lesson number 32 be careful with some financial experts the best investment opportunities don't need to be advertised in a brochure the best investment opportunities don't even leave the office they get consumed internally for example when a real estate agent finds the best property he doesn't advertise it on a website if he can he buys it himself or make sure that it is purchased internally by his company or colleagues around him the conclusion is this be very careful with financial experts from whom you take advice they work for a company and are paid by the company so whose interests do you think they will put first lesson number 33 how much is a 1% fee let's say your grandmother gives you and your brother $100,000 each as a gift both of you now think that you are young and don't need the money now so you decide to invest it for the long term your brother does research and he finds a company that charges a 1% fee and pays 11% interest however you don't do research and you invest with a company that charges a 2% fee and also pays 11% interest let's fast forward 30 years and see how the 1% difference in the fees impacts your earnings after 30 years your brother's total earnings will be around $1,744,000 but your earnings will be $1,326,000 as you can see everything is the same but the 1% difference in the fees leads to $418,000 fewer earnings compared to your brother in other words you lose $23.9% of your earnings because of a 1% difference in fees lesson number 34 spend money to look good don't judge a book by its cover is a nice quote but in reality people judge you based on your appearance how you present yourself impacts how you feel about yourself and also influences what others think of you let me share an interesting story at a supermarket there were two sets of grapes the first was priced at 15 cents a pound while the second was packaged in polyethylene bags and marked $2.35 the person at the weighing station explained that the only difference in price was the bag when you're properly packaged you make a stronger impression and even increase your value in negotiations lesson number 35 identify your latte factor according to David Bach regardless of the size of your paycheck you probably already make enough money to become rich a lady who attended the author's seminar complained that she was barely surviving by the end of the month so how could she become rich after examining her expenses the author found out that this lady spent around $10 every day on coffee and snacks before lunchtime after some calculations the author explained that if she invested $5 a day with 10% yearly return she could have $1.2 million by her retirement this lady had to change her latte lifestyle now you might think that this doesn't apply to you because you don't waste money like her the point is we don't realize how much we waste money on little things your latte factor is probably not a latte but it is the money you waste like eating out every day or cigarettes unused subscriptions or maybe even a second car that you don't use find your latte lesson number 36 how much should you save for example when I was studying at the university I was also working in a company since I was a student I could stay in a dorm in a shared room and eat at the university cafeteria quite cheaply this meant that I could easily save 50% of my income however once I got married and moved to a flat I could only save 3% at most this made me feel terrible because I couldn't save as much as I used to and that is one of the biggest problems with sticking to a fixed saving rate if life is dynamic then why should the saving rate be static that is why the best saving advice is save what you can if you're single and can save 40% then save 40% if you are married and have kids and can only save 2% then save 2% if you follow this advice then you will experience far less stress and far more overall happiness lesson number 37 pay off your debt how long will it take to pay off your car loan for your studies credit cards even that loan from your brother first list them down in a table in the item section write what your debt is total payoff is the remaining balance to pay off your debt use this to rank your debts from smallest to largest the debt with the smallest balance will be on top under minimum payment write down your monthly minimum payment for example your credit card has a balance of $3,000 with a minimum payment of $200 student loan balance $10,000 minimum payment $300 car loan balance $20,000 minimum payment $500 second use the debt snowball method let me explain let's say you earn $5,000 a month from that deduct your basic expenses like food rent and bills let's say you spend $1,000 on that now you're left with $4,000 then pay the minimum on all debts in this example the total minimum payment for your debts is $1,000 you now have $3,000 left use all remaining money to pay off the smallest debt first in this case your credit card by next month the credit card is gone you no longer have to pay $200 per month for your credit card anymore what's left is the student loan and a car loan repeat the process until all debts are paid off to pay off your debt faster find ways to earn extra money work overtime get a side job or sell items you don't need the key here is to live debtree but here's one tricky part your mortgage how on earth can you live debtree with a 35-year mortgage leave that out of your list for now why it's too big it may discourage you lesson number 38 why you can't quit after several failures i personally know many people who have tried to create their own business but failed and eventually gave up after three or four failures it always amazes me how these people expected to be successful after just a few tries giving up after three or four failures is like starting to go to the gym to get in shape but quitting after a few days because you didn't see any results if you want to get in shape you need to be consistent you need to change your exercise routine if it's not effective you need to try a different diet you need to try a different trainer until you find what works for you unfortunately people don't apply the same mentality when it comes to getting financially fit lesson number 39 to retire early do work that feels like play there are three ways to retire first save enough money so that the returns from your investments provide a steady income every year that is more than enough to cover all your expenses second cut your expenses to almost zero like living as a monk and third do something you love so much that it doesn't feel like work anymore in the third case imagine kids building with Lego blocks for hours they're completely absorbed having so much fun they forgot to eat lunch then imagine they get paid for it that's early retirement doing what you love because it feels like play you work not because you have to pay the bills but because you love your work so much you want to do it all the time what matters is that you're living today as you wish instead of putting off your desires for when it's financially possible lesson number 40 become the best at what you do to earn high pay become exceptional at what you do and watch opportunities chase you instead imagine this you're the world's top deep sea diver you are brave enough to dive deeper than anyone else one day someone discovers a sunken treasure ship they can't reach who are they going to call you look the person who found the treasure got lucky but that kind of blind luck is rare you on the other hand become lucky because you create your own luck by becoming the best at what you do most people wait for luck the smart ones create it by becoming exceptional