True Wealth Empowerment

Posts Tagged ‘education’

I thought I would start off today with a quick apology .. summer was wonderful and crazy busy.  I am almost finished my first book on Win~Win Negotiation and in the process I have neglected my blog posts …

I also took time for both personal time and education time.  So it made me ask, what is your belief on the subject of Education?  Is it an expense or an investment?

       When I speak of Education, I am NOT referring to the formalized process of school, college and university, but Personal Education.  Self empowering education.  Education on any topic of Interest. 

       Education comes in many forms such as day/evening  courses, weekend events or weeklong camps…they can even be listening in to webinars or teleclasses.  

       One of my ”learning events” was a teleclass that was brought to my attention through my connection to Canada’s Rich Dad, Darren Weeks.  Darren has developed a relationship with the Author of ”Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, who will soon be coming to Canada. 

       If you would like an example of what I consider to be education, listen in while Robert Kiyosaki shared his Insights Into the World Economy..

CLICK HERE to Listen to his Words of Wisdom: 

httpv://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=32240973

       This weekend, Jeff and I will be heading to Edmonton to another Educational Opportunity … Fast Track to Cash Flow’s Super Conference, where Robert will be speaking.  I can hardly wait….

       Reflecting back over the years, my personal investment in Education has given me the highest returns on both my time and money.  No matter what event I went to, no matter if it was an afternoon or week long camp, my time spent on learning, about real estate and myself, have all paid off in spades.  By far, it has been the best investment of my life.

       One of my most memorable education ventures happened in April of 2008.  Fast Track to Cash Flow, offered the opportunity to join Darren and a few other Entrepreneurs on a trip to Phoenix to attend a weekend event with Robert Kiyosaki. 

       At the time, Jeff and I were doing OK financially, but were not yet out of the rat race.  We owned 2 rental properties and had just begun to understand the link between mindset and money.

       I remember that the cost seemed EXHORBITANT as airfare, hotel and conference fees were well over $5000.00 and only one of us could afford to attend.  I drew the lucky straw and Jeff stayed home.

       What I learned cannot be written in a short blog, but a few highlights below:

       Robert Kiyosaki is the real deal.  He is forthright, honest and scared the snot out of me with his bigger than life personality and openess. 

       He was there to make sure that people learned what he wanted to share.  He genuinely cared about the outcome of the event, and took no prisoners with his style of teaching.  If you wanted to learn, get in the game.  If you wanted to waste time = get out.  Take Action and get over your fears.

       The lessons above were shared with my husband and pretty much with anyone else willing to listen.  These lessons alone helped us to grow forward; to take calcuated risk, to get MORE education, to build a team and to grow. 

       Some simple things he shared have been priceless: 

•  open your mind to opportunity
•  take notes in colored pens
•  doodle
• think creatively
• read, read, read and read some more
• build a team

      But what I really learned was priceless.  I learned that Money starts in your head…  Your beliefs around money and your willingness to challenge those beliefs can help your grow, or they can stop you in your tracks.

       My question to you is this - Is Education an Expense or is it an Investment?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

 

 

      

     The key to good, no GREAT, Real Estate Joint Venture (JV) Partnerships is good record keeping and good communication. 

       I found this audio recording with George Dube and Russell Westcott and wanted to share it with you … it is approx 45 minutes long, but FILLED with good information for both seasoned and newbie investors.

       In this audio they talk about the importance of proper financial reporting to both your investors, and the CRA, as well as on Raising Capital to grow your own investment portfolio.

       Making sure that you are properly handling the accounting and tax issues that arise when dealing in joint ventures is critical to your success in both attracting and keeping good partners.

       We attribute our own success with navigating the paper trail to having strong team members, including Lisa who owns Balanced Beans Bookkeeping; and from always continuing to grow our knowledge base by listening to people who are already successful in the areas we want to be in.

       We provide quarterly reports and pay our Joint Venture Partners on a quarterly basis, and provide full access to our books for any partner that would like to visit our office. Timely book keeping, clear records and an easy to use filing system have helped us to not only grow our business, but to keep stress at a minimum.

      I strongly encourage you to Click below to connect through to George Dube’s blog and then listen in as Russell Westcott, of the Real Estate Investment Network (REIN), interviews George Dube of Dube & Cuttini Accountants, and then to take an Action that will get you on the right track to raising capital and keeping your Investors for the long term.

Click here for the Audio

      I love to hear your comments on this audio or with any questions that you have.   Additionally, if you are interested in partnering in with Jeff and I, please let us know.  We are your “no pressure” source of information on partnering.. 

We love to help others become Financially Educated and to make good choices that make sense for your circumstance. 

 To Your Financial Freedom!

Norma

True Wealth is having Money, Health & Happiness, and living life in such a way as you feel secure & happy at a level that fits your own personality.  

The first step to having money is to become Financially Literate.  What does that mean?   

The following excerpt was taken from the Blog by Robert Kiyosaki at www.RichDad.com  He is one of the people that I listen to and has been a large part of our own success.  In his blog he shared 15 Lessons on what he would include in a school system that would teach financial literacy.  Even if you’re not in school anymore, these would be valuable things for you to study and learn on your own as part of your journey towards financial literacy.  Learn about them here and then share what YOU think is important to know and learn!

The history of money

It’s important to understand how money works, and part of doing that is by studying how it’s worked in the past. Money has progressed over the centuries from something pretty simple like bartering to something pretty complicated like derivatives. It’s gone from being an object to an idea, so it’s not tangible and intuitive. It’s important to study money to grow rich. Some dates that are important:

• 1903 – Rockefeller’s General Education Board takes over the U.S. education system
• 1913 – The Federal Reserve is formed
• 1929 – The Great Depression
• 1944 – The Bretton Woods agreement
• 1971 – Nixon takes the dollar off the gold standard
• 1974 – Congress passes the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 

Understanding your financial statement

My rich dad often said, “Your banker never asks to see your report card. A banker wants to see your financial statement—your report card when you leave school.”

To grow rich, you must know how to read and understand the three parts of your financial statement: Profit and loss statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement.

The difference between an asset and a liability

One reason many people are in financial trouble is because they confuse liabilities with assets. For instance, many people think their house is an asset when it’s really a liability. A simple definition of an asset is anything that puts money in your pocket. A simple definition of a liability is anything that takes money out of your pocket.

The difference between capital gains and cash flow

Many people invest for capital gains, meaning they’re betting on the price of something to go up. Unfortunately, today, many people are taking it in the shorts. Investing for capital gains is akin to gambling, only not as much fun. Instead of investing for capital gains, the wealthy invest for cash flow and capital gains are icing on the cake, if they do happen.

The difference between fundamental and technical investing

Fundamental investing is the process of analyzing a company’s financial performance, and that begins with understanding a financial statement. Technical investing is measuring the emotions or moods of the markets by using technical indicators. You can invest successfully doing both types of investing, but both take commitment and continued financial education.

Measuring an asset’s strength

There is no shortage of opportunities in the world of investing. The question then becomes, which investments are worth pursuing? A key component of a full financial education is understanding how to measure whether an asset is strong or not. One of the best ways to do this is to refer to the B-I Triangle which looks at an assets full properties: Team, leadership, mission, cash flow, communication, systems, legal, and product.

Know how to choose good people

Partners are crucial to business success. My rich dad used to say, “The best way to know a good partner is to have had a bad partner.” You need to learn from every interaction. A good deal can blow up if you have a bad partner. So choosing partners and team members well is crucial.

Know what asset is best for you

There are four asset classes: Business, real estate, paper assets, and commodities. To grow rich, you must study these classes, choose what is best for you, and work towards becoming an expert.

Know when to focus and when to diversify

Ideally, you’ll want to be diversified in all four asset classes, but you’ll want to focus on becoming an expert in one at a time. An old adage is that if you try to please everyone, you’ll please no one. The same could be said for investing.

Minimize risk

In investing and business, there is always an element of risk. A smart investor knows how to minimize risk by hedging. There are a number ways you can do that within each asset class. Study up on ways to minimize risk in your chosen asset class.

Know how to minimize taxes

It’s not about how much you make, it’s about how much you keep. Taxes make an unintelligent person poor. A financially intelligent person understands how to use the tax code to his or her advantage.

The difference between debt and credibility

As many of you know, there is good debt and there is bad debt. The key to using debt is knowing how to borrow wisely and how to pay back the money. Without a solid plan to pay back debt, you’ll soon have no credibility. A solid financial education will include understanding debt and how to pay that debt back.

Know how to use derivatives

Derivatives are things derived out of another object. For instance, orange juice is a derivative of an orange. My business is a derivative of my mind. Tax-free money from a refinance is a derivative of another asset, my investment property. There are many ways to use derivatives to create wealth.

Know how your wealth is stolen

There are four things that steal your wealth: Taxes, debt, inflation, and retirement. A proper financial education will stress understanding how to use these wealth-stealing forces to make money rather than lose money.

Know how to make mistakes

It’s impossible to learn without making mistakes along the way. The key is to learn the lessons of those mistakes, not to let them take you out of the game. Look at failure as a learning opportunity.

 I can tell you from experience that Jeff and I know these lessons but continue to learn more every day.  We apply them into our life on a regular basis.  These lessons also include making mistakes.  For us, we don’t look at the mistakes as devasting, nor do we dwell on them.  We look at them as Learnings, and realize that if we were not Learning along the way, we would not continue to grow our minds or our wealth.   So keep moving forward and know that every step along the way can take YOU to a better place  

What do you think?  I love you hear your comments & to share them with others …

To your success, Norma

WHO you listen to is critical in all areas of your life.  In building Wealth, Happiness, Relationships, Education, Mindsets and particularly in your own Self Worth!

If you listen to negative people, you become a negative person..What your Focus on becomes your reality.. you’ve heard many of these sayings I am sure.

 Babies are born from the womb without any prejudice or any “Can’t do” attitude.  They have no fear, they trust instinctively and go forth – one moment at a time.  They look to the people that care for them for approval and they copy what they do. 

Somewhere along the way – we lost that “Monkey see, Monkey Do” attitude. 

When it comes to building true wealth we really need to rethink about “WHO” do we listen to.., particularly in the area of Education & Money.

There is a quote I like from Robert Kiyosaki  that says “If Education made you Rich..all Teachers would be Millionaires”.  

Without intending to dis-respect school teachers (I think they are woefully overworked and under appreciated), I am mainly speaking of Higher Education institutions. 

Most University or College teachers go from being  a Full time student to being a Full time teacher in those same type of facilities.  Many people go to school to get a Business Management degree, but are they learning from people who have actually managed a business?   

Have you ever thought to ask the people you are learning from questions like these?:

- Have you ever owned and managed a successful business? 

- Why did you stop being in business?

- Did you lose or sell your business for 2 – 5 times its revenues?

What can you teach me about that is “real world learning”.., not just text book examples? 

Learning from someone who has NOT done what you aspire to do is crazy thinking!   Would you want a Dressmaker to teach you about Heart Surgery?  They both use a needle and thread??  Totally different skill sets… 

Always Question — WHO am I listening to?  Do they have the real world experience that I want to attain and to the levels I want to move towards?  Learn from those who are DOING what you want to DO.  

Get a Mentor, Find someone who has been there, done that.. and then offer to work for FREE.  Yes, for Free.  Education costs money, so figure out a way to trade your time in exchange for your ability to learn from them.   Then treat that position, the responsibility or the task, and that Mentor will all the respect and commitment they deserve.  Learn as much as you can while giving your best to them.  No task they give you will be too small, no lesson learned will be without meaning.

Give First - the lessons you learn and the education you get will become priceless in time.  

As you continue to grow, change mentors and be willing to mentor someone else – but only mentor on things you have MASTERED… 

Always ask yourself – WHO am I listening to?