The principal inspiration for my interest in money and business, and the catalyst that incentivized me to look at working and investing in a different light is Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad.  (Article continues below.) 

Like its title reads, rich people know and understand something about money that the poor and middle class do not.  If you have not read this book (which, I am sure you have heard about given its popularity), run, don’t walk, to your local bookstore and buy it. 

I read this book for the first time in 2000 during my junior year in college.  As part of my minor in business administration, I took a finance course, and the professor of the course required that we read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. 

This book changed my life. 

Up to that point, I had always strived to go to school, get good grades, graduate, find a well-paying job, save money for retirement, and work until I was 65.  I wanted to go to law school, and the thought of securing a six-figure job was very enticing.  But this book took my thought process and turned it on its head.

The notion of working in a high-paying industry for 40-some years was nice because I knew I’d make enough money to have a decent lifestyle and save enough money for a comfortable retirement.  However, Rich Dad, Poor Dad made me realize that I did not have to work for 40 years.  Period.  It opened my eyes to the possibility that, rather than devote my efforts to working for someone else as an employee, I could, instead, devote my efforts to working for myself (through investing, starting a business, etc.) and, in the process, build a much more lucrative and secure existence.  The idea that, by working as an employee, I was stuck in this “rat race” revolutionized my thinking.  A salary was nice.  A hefty six-figure salary was great.  But an investment or business that produced “passive income” was unprecedented because I would receive that income whether or not I crawled out of bed in the morning.  This idea may have been written about before, but Kiyosaki’s emphasis and elaboration of this concept was pure genius.  It is no wonder that this book still sits atop the New York Times bestseller list. 

Again, if you have not read it, I encourage you to do so.  If you have read it, read it again. 

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