Being an engineer and an IT professional, finance has never been my forte.
I used to think that money is a ’haath ki mail’. It’s here today, gone tomorrow. I earnestly believed that only hardwork and application would make me rich. I never looked at the holistic picture by taking other factors which go in building a solid financial foundation. Little did I realize my concepts about money were somewhat garbled. I used to find myself constantly trying to keep up my income just to cover the ever-increasing expenses.
But one day I chanced upon ’Rich Dad, Poor Dad’. The title really struck me and I fell in the trap of the clever marketing title maybe like the other few millions who made this book a bestseller. For a freshman like me to finances, this book was an eye-opener. It’s a very basic book for anybody who wants to be good in money-matters. I would even believe it’s a worthwhile book for guys having a financial background. Sometimes one tends to forget the most elementary things in life which has to be reinforced by some means. This book might provide just that and much more.
For me it was a start-to-finish book in one reading mainly because of the gripping narration by the author. The author talks about his two Dads; one is his real poor Dad and the other is his friend’s rich dad. Both the Dads came from different school of thoughts. Poor Dad emphasizes on getting good grades which would help getting a good job and hence ensuring a secured future. Rich Dad, on the other hand, emphasis on learning all the financial intricacies which go in starting a business or making the right investment choices. He emphasizes throughout the value of investing and creating assets for oneself by starting young and taking calculated risks. No prizes for guessing that Mr. Kiyosaki has considered his Rich Dad as his role model.
The conventional education system which according to the author, teaches how to learn more and more of less and less and those working for corporations saying that they live in a false world by working for corporations and end up paying taxes to the government and having little or no money left in the way of savings or investments by the time they retire. To quote him, ’Those who have jobs earn, pay taxes and then spend from whatever little remains and those in businesses Earn, spend and then pay taxes on whatever is left’.
But there are some things which didn’t go down well with me. Mr. Kiyosaki almost looks down upon the values of good education, degree and getting a lucrative job. For him, JOB is just an acronym for ’Just over Broke’! I don’t think its appropriate to deem the age old system a tenuous way to get rich. Many people enjoy excelling in jobs and get highly paid too. They don’t see any reason to start their own firm. Having said that, he also states that there is nothing wrong in sticking to the high paying jobs and investing a sizeable portion of the income in things which appreciates to a higher level in future and thus creating assets for oneself. He talks a lot about how to invest surplus money to get richer. But throws very little light on how to get rich in the first place. But that should not deter you from reading this one since it gives some great practical insights into how to manage money effectively so that ’You don’t have to work for money, let the money work for you’. He also dispels some myths which the large population has about making money.
All in all, here’s a book which presents to you a refreshingly different approach to finances which is a must-read for all engineers who aspire to be an entrepreneur or anybody who wants to upgrade his current financial IQ just to be money-wise.