Review of Conspiracy of the Rich Book by Robert Kiyosaki

Ariel — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:00:20 +0000

Key Points from Conspiracy of the Rich

I am reading a lot of financial books right now, and I plan to provide the key take aways that I get from the books, not necessarily a full review of each chapter. In fact, I’m not even going to outline the full “8 New Rules of Money” from Conspiracy of the Rich, instead, simply the main points that I found of value and how I’m going to apply them to my life. I have seen a lot of controversial blog post about whether Kiyosaki offers sound advice or just fluff, whether he has a legitimate story for his background or not, etc. My feeling is that he offers some good big picture suggestions that you then have to spend time researching on your own and deciding what will work for yourself.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Historical Key Points:

There is a lot of information about the history of the dollar, why banks can ‘print money’ and how our government will essentially never stop the bail out cycle because its in the federal gov’t and rich classes’ best interest to bail out the big banks. The purpose of outlining his beliefs of the conspiracy is to motivate those that read his book to action. To take control of their own financial situation, make educated and sound financial decisions, and increase their financial IQ as he calls it.

Financial Education Key Points:

Key Point #1 - Invest in all four areas of investment for true diversification.

1 – Business (Owning one)

2 – Income producing investment real estate

3 – Paper Assets (Stocks, bonds, funds)

4 – Commodities (Gold, silver, oil, platinum)

This may be easier said than done, but it makes a lot of sense to me. If you simply own your home (a liability as I have found out as of late) and have a few savings and a 401k accounts, you are putting all your eggs in very limited baskets.

How I’m applying this: The items from above that I have control over now are #1, #3 and #4. I am and have been a small business owner, but I want to be more strategic about a business plan in 2010. I own stocks, bonds and funds in my 401k, but I am not happy with them. I’m going to move my Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA when I can figure out how to do it, and determine what is best to invest it in. I plan to look into and research investing in commodities because this is something that can be done with a smaller initial investment.

Key Point #2 – Learn how to sell. Him & Trump recommend doing a network marketing type of business to learn the ins and outs of selling.

How I’m applying this: Whether you agree with this point or not, it is inevitable that to be successful you have to build confidence in yourself, who you are, and what you offer. Don’t mistake confidence for arrogance or not being humble. They are different things. I’m working on building my brand for myself, and what that means. I am in the marketing profession right now, and understand that if you don’t get people’s awareness and interest in your offerings, your business will not succeed. I believe you can sell your products or services without compromising integrity, value and trust with your potential customers. That’s what I plan to do.

Key Point #3 – Derivatives. Kiyosaki discusses how money can be a derivative of your financial knowledge. He defines derivatives as simply being a off shoot of something or something that comes from something else. So, instead of selling his own books by himself, Kiyosaki sells licenses to reprint his books to many publishers, and gets a derivative of his book, the product, through royalties.

How I’m applying this: I like this concept when applying it to yourself and what you can offer the world. Stop thinking about your hourly wage and start thinking about what value you bring and how to make it into value for others. This will lead to derivatives of, well, you. I have already been thinking of ideas for some time now. Applying all or any of these iddeas, and focusing your efforts (which Kiyosaki also says is key) is the hard part!

Key Point #4 – He challenges his readers to push the boundaries that they have set in their life. He says that you shouldn’t think, look or act poor because the world treats you as you treat yourself. This concept gives me a lot to ponder. He uses examples such as: he managed to drive his dream car by bartering services. He managed to live by the ocean by trading services as well. This point was of interest to me. As humans we often don’t think of creative ways to solve our biggest problems because we are so stuck in what we know or believe. However, there is always another way, it usually just involves accepting different options, and putting yourself out there. The concept of bartering is back big time these days since so many of us are struggling financially, and cool websites like Swap Mamas and various others make it easy to do nationally or locally. When you don’t have enough money to get what you need, its a great idea to find someone willing to trade you for something you do have or can do that has value.

How I’m applying this: I have often traded my design services with others for what their business offers. This is a win-win for both of us. I’m interested in finding new, creative ways to make what I want happen in life.

Despite the fact that Kiyosaki spends a little too much time (1/2 the book) on the history, and a little too much time discussing his game, Cash Flow, I found this book to be very useful and thought provoking for my next steps towards learning and improving my financial knowledge.

What are your thoughts on Conspiracy of the Rich? What are you going to apply to your life?

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November 11, 2009 -- Financial Ignorance and Conspiracy of the Rich

Advice for the Young, Fabulous and Broke from Suze Orman

Ariel — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:18:00 +0000

Review of the Money Book Geared at Age 20 Something by Suze Orman

Orman’s book has some helpful tips, but in my opinion is much to basic for the real needs of the 20 something year olds. It feels like we’ve been typecast and I personally didn’t relate to much of it. Perhaps its geared towards a younger demographic than my 28 years.

The design of this book is simple and to the point, perhaps with the idea that “young” people don’t have the patience to read without quick tips? It has a reference to go on to her website for additional information such as calculators and feedback. (No thanks, too much work for me, if I’m reading a book, I want the info I need right there in the book). I appreciate that she was writing a book for a younger generation, but I felt that, at least for where I’m at in life, her advice was much to basic.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Some of the key points included:

Make sure you have a good FICO score
Its okay to have “some” credit card debt if you only use it to pay for necessities that you cannot otherwise cover with your measly entry-level income (helps you build credit anyway)
Stop spending money on frivolous things like going out to dinner a lot (obviously!)
Try to save up an emergency fund (not 8 months worth, she realizes that’s not realistic for those living paycheck to paycheck)

Take Charge and Make Sure You are in a Career not a Job

The point that I found most interesting is her recommendation to make absolutely sure that you are choosing a career that is what you want to spend the next 30 – 40 years doing. If you’ve picked a job just for the money, then why not use the time you have now, when the economy is down and out, to better your education. Not necessarily grad school or that type of pricey education either. The education that you can get from networking, exploring what truly interests you in your free time, and giving real thought and dedication to ensuring you have chosen a career and not a job.

I’m thankful that I love what I do. Perhaps I will move slightly in one direction or another, but I do feel that my career is headed in the right direction.

What about you? Do you think its okay to work for a job or is important to find a career, even if it means perhaps a temporarily financial set back?