Charging Through Life

Growing up, especially when you are a teenager, most people think their parents are "lame" or don't understand anything in life. I remember sitting at the dinner table one day listening to my Dad say that, when he was my age, he thought HIS father didn't know anything either and that it wasn't until years later that he began to understand Grandpa's wisdom. I've been waiting years for the day when I look at Dad and say to myself, "hey, the old man may know something after all." Having recently turned 34, I've started to think that day would never come. That was until today.

As I've mentioned, I'm reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and really taking a hard look at conventional thinking to see if there is a different way, a better way, for me to proceed with my life. The second chapter is about "Teaching Financial Literacy" but really it's focusses on identifying and understanding the differences between assets and liabilities.

How many times have you heard that, "your home is your greatest asset"? That, my friends, is conventional wisdom and is not always true. My first condo in Long Beach certainly turned out to be an asset because it doubled in value during the time KC and I owned it, and I was able to leverage that asset to help pay for my new condo. This West Hollywood condo, on the other hand, is not turning out to be much of an asset due to the housing crisis. In fact, barring some great government loan restructuring miracle, this shabby little over-priced box of mine is going to turn into an incredible PAIN in my Asset.

Simply stated: Assets make you money, Liabilities cost you money. And as this book says, "The rich buy assets, the poor and middle-class buy liabilities."

Through various stories and simple diagrams, chapter 2 of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" explains that the rich acquire items that make the money they then use to buy the things that don't make money. If you can't yet pay for something you want, you first find a way to make the money (notice how I said "make" not "earn") to pay for it.

This is where I think my Dad may have been onto something. Growing up, we never had a ton of excess, yet we always had more than other people. Our family had a camper, a boat, even a fucking airplane! But these items were never extravagant. Our house was also not extravagant but it was comfortable and sufficient for the four of us. And like the camper, the boat, and the plane, the house was paid for! My parents never had a mortgage and were never in serious debt. I can safely say they have never seen themselves $40k in debt like I once was.

My Dad may have worked hard for a living, but it was for himself - he owned his own business. And he understood, at least on some level, how to pay for what he wanted. Growing up and being on my own in the 90's, with no financial literacy education to speak of, the lessons I learned were the exact opposite from what my Dad practiced. With my first credit card issued to me as a freshman in college, I learned that you could buy anything you wanted and make payments on it. This is how the world works and this is what I believed to be true. And it was that truth that landed me in bankruptcy court.

Our economy today is based on this line of thought. By perpetuating the conventional wisdom that 'you deserve to own this this thing (that you can't afford) because it will make you happy,' our system of debt spending continues to flourish keeping an economy, that largely doesn't create anything, moving.

At 34, having been drop-kicked to the bottom of my financial health by life's "conventional wisdom," I'm now beginning to see the spark of true wisdom in my Dad's way of thinking. You can buy anything in life that you desire, just follow these two rules:

1. understand that most 'luxury items' are liabilities and liabilities cost you money, instead of make you money like assets will do
2. ensure there are assets in-place that can pay for your liability BEFORE you purchase it

I've written before how incredible the view and feeling is when you are at life's bottom. I've got no job, no income, no insurance, no 401(k) investment, and no single "best friend." This is the time when I should be freaking the fuck out. Fear should be overpowering me and motivating me to find a new job to replace my lost income. But it's not. So what's wrong with me?

I've started reading the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and I've decided to blog about some of the lessons I learn from it (after all this is a financial blog, I should get back to the financial side of things).

Being the imaginative person I am and having only a small amount of knowledge on the subject, I'm finding, while reading this book, that my brain is in a whirlwind of thought and is now busy dreaming up lifelong scenarios for me that completely go against absolutely everything I was ever taught in the past. You see, we are taught to work hard, earn a good paycheck, use the money to buy ourselves nice things, and invest with what's left over. But, seriously, when has that formula ever worked for anybody? You simply end up making a lot more money for someone else, receive a paycheck that's been attacked by taxes, insurance, retirement and Social Security before it ever reaches your hands. You then take that smaller check and spend nearly all of it on basic essentials: food, clothing and shelter. With what is left over you spend buy yourself a little happy in the form of some luxury items (oh, BTW, you're taxed on all these things that you are buying). The majority of people are left now in the negative, actually owing someone for the purchases they've made. Very Very few are left after this with anything to keep for themselves. There is but only one thing left for a person to do.... go back into the office and repeat the entire cycle.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you "The Rat Race."

I was programmed from birth to be part of that system. I was conditioned to be a cog in that system. Through education, society, family, and propaganda I was taught that by being part of this cycle I would be successful and happy. But I haven't been! I've been working at a company since I graduated college in 1999. I've gone from company to company, job to job and all it ever got me was $40k in-debt and a bankruptcy. In all these jobs, I've never been really educated or taught a trade. I've never been motivated or rewarded for my efforts. And these jobs have never produced satisfaction or life fulfillment. As I put together a resume that is suppose to highlight these eleven years of corporate life, I find it to be empty and devoid of any real accomplishment. And I fear the next sub-standard job I'm suppose to be looking for right now will be just more of the same.

I have a fear of my future. I have a fear of the unknown.

Now this fear is to be expected; and anyone in my situation would have the exact same emotions. The difference is, most people with this fear would turn to the next job and try in-vain to re-enter "The Rat Race." I don't think I want to do that.

There's a passage in this book that got me thinking about this topic:

If the fear of not having enough money arises, instead of immediately running out to get a job to earn a few bucks to kill the fear, try instead asking the question, 'Will a job be the best solution to this fear over the long run?'"

I've had corporate jobs for eleven years now and after eleven years I'm at rock bottom. I'm where I should be right out of college. OK, sure you could argue that I have a condo and a car and marketable skills. But if I were to continue doing what I'm doing, what evidence I do have to suggest a different outcome? NONE. And if I were to get back into the game expecting a different result, well then that's the definition of insanity.

My imaginative mind is spinning once again with possibilities. I'm working hard to throw away conventional thinking and wisdom so that I may find a creative solution that, while may not be safe, will be satisfying. And I think that is the biggest obstacle; to defy conventional thinking and ignore conventional advice opting instead to be creative and risky.

Fear motivates people. For most, it motivates them into doing what they've been conditioned to do; to do what is safe. Fear motivates people to work for money. I'm gong to try and flip everything around. I'm going to try and make money work for me.