Being the weekend blogger that I am, every time I come home for the weekend, I already have at least two topics outlined in my mind, ready to materialize on the virtual pen and paper. But this weekend, I came home empty-handed.
Zero. Zilch. Nada.
I was too busy at work to even think about my blogging.
But having just discovered barely an hour ago that my blog had already achieved a page rank of 2, to my pleasant surprise, of course, I felt it imperative to come up with at least one post before I pack my bags and travel back to the city for another week of work.
In Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I expressed my amazement at Robert Kiyosaki’s views on money and financial freedom. Last week, I finally came to the “The End” of the book, taking away a whole new perspective on a lot of things.
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
At my age, you can say that my mind is still fairly malleable. But hey, I’m not gullible. At least, that’s what I think I am.
I learned of Robert Kiyosaki several years back through a friend who encouraged me to join network marketing. Now one of the reasons I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad years after I tagged myself a total failure in network marketing was because I wanted to know why network marketers look to Kiyosaki as their mentor and regard his words as some sort of a Bible.
They probably got the “rat race” concept from Kiyosaki, which is true and something I can agree to.
But looking back now, the reason I was not successful as a network marketer was the fact that the network marketing culture seemed to mandate to flaunt one’s earnings – or the earnings of an upline or pioneer if one is a beginner – to encourage others to join, something that even right at the start caused me to feel uneasy, especially since the products the company was distributing were not that easy to sell given their way-off-the-charts suggested retail price. I guess it was my conscience then telling me something wasn’t right.
Now before I ruffle some feathers, let me just make it clear that I’m not saying network marketing is bad. All I’m doing is reflecting on the reasons I never became good at it. I think I know now. I joined the wrong networks.
If indeed the people I met then had read Rich Dad, Poor Dad and took the book’s message to heart, they would have realized that purchasing a brand-new house and lot or a brand-new car, especially if they were not really earning passively yet or if their passive earnings were not enough to label them financially free, might not be in line with Kiyosaki’s views.
Kiyosaki insisted to purchase assets only. Generally speaking, people would consider a house and a car assets, but Kiyosaki asserted that assets are only those that “puts money into one’s pocket.”
One thing I strongly agree with is Robert Kiyosaki’s argument that our schools are not teaching our children enough on money management.
People spend a lot of time in school learning a trade, specializing in skill sets that will render them earning a place in the working world. But our schools do not adequately teach students what to do with the money they earn.
So I guess that being the norm, it’s up to us, parents, to teach our children what they need to know about money management. But of course, before we become effective teachers, we should know what the heck we’re talking about.
Next weekend, I’ll either add another entry to my Budget 101 series or start a new one: Investing 101.
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I too have to practice a budget or money management. I need to weigh and prioritize our bills… nice post! 🙂
Impressive mash up Miss Maricel… This is really helpful… thanks a lot
This is very helpful, plus the fact that its best to teach your child money making decisions at an early age to practice wise asset management.
“People spend a lot of time in school learning a trade, specializing in skill sets that will render them earning a place in the working world. But our schools do not adequately teach students what to do with the money they earn.”—-
Why, this is well-put! that has been the big problem why many Filipinos are called poor and the government has been long blind to this reality. They keep on pointing to birth control as solution and so focus on Sex education rather than Financial literacy.
But fortunately, there has been baby steps already started to focus on this solution. This was made possible trough the efforts of a company (Pru Life UK )dedicated to the advocacy of Financial literacy among Filipinos particularly the young ones. The story is all here: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/273840/cbb/cabanatuan-pupils-start-to-learn-about-cha-ching-money-smarts
Marilyn, thank you for the very kind comment. Kudos to Pru Life for this wonderful project. Our kids need this, so they grow up to become money smart, too. 🙂