Rich me Poor me

This past Monday a classmate of mine gave me an audio copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad. For those of you not familiar with the book, it is a book about a man who chronicles the money lessons he learned from his poor dad and what he was taught by his rich dad.
As I listened to advice of his poor dad, I cringed. Not because I strongly disagreed with what he was saying, but because I thought and lived the same way until very recently.
As a child, all I knew was that I was excel in school so that that I would be able to earn a respectable paycheck, earn vacation time, buy a decent home, and retire at 65. Looking back, I do not remember being exposed to any other alternative options in the mainstream arena. Option A is to graduate and land a "good job" option B was to drop out of school and become homeless. My dad, who owns a gift shop, would always tell me that I should not work for anyone else but he also did not encuorage me to open up a store like he did. He knew deep down inside that his small business was another version of a job and was subject to some of the same shortfalls as working for someone else (except with less vacation time).
So then I asked myself, how in the world am I going to be able to live the life that I should be living, without working long days to earn a decent income? Asking that question was the best thing I ever did.
Do I have the answer to the question? Partially. I am learning as I go along but the important thing is that my mind is open to the concept. I no longer fear the day when my company advises me that my position is no longer needed. Do I have the money to support myself financially if it were to happen today? Not at all. But what I do have is rich people mentality. It doesn't mean that I can snap my fingers and have money appear on my lap but it does mean that I am learning the fundamental principles of money that were never taught to me before. With that said, I intend to get dressed this morning go to work and do my job. But I go with a sense of security, not because I just because I have a job but because I have the power.

Comments

Popular Posts