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ОглавлениеWHY WE WANT YOU TO BE RICH
TWO MEN • ONE MESSAGE
The rich are getting richer, but are you?
“We are losing our middle class, and a shrinking middle class is a threat to the stability of America and to world democracy itself. We want you to be rich so you can be part of the solution…rather than part of the problem.”
– Donald J. Trump and Robert T. Kiyosaki
Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki are both concerned. Their concern is that the rich are getting richer but America is getting poorer. Like the polar ice caps, the middle class is disappearing. America is becoming a two-class society. Soon you will be either rich or poor. Donald and Robert want you to be rich.
This phenomenon—the shrinking middle class—is a global problem, but predominantly in the richer G-8 nations (in countries such as England, France, Germany, Japan, etc.)
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said, “As I have often said, this is not the type of thing which a democratic society—a capitalist democratic society—can really accept without addressing.” He went on to explain how the income gap between the rich and the rest of the U.S. population has become so wide, and is growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the stability of democratic capitalism itself.
The Problem Is Education
What did the Federal Reserve Chairman state as the main cause of the problem? In one word, his answer was education. Mr. Greenspan points out that U.S. children test above the world average levels at the 4th grade level. But by the 12th grade level, they are far behind. He says, “We have to do something to prevent that from happening.”
Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki also place the blame on the lack of education. But they focus on a different type of education, financial education. Both men are very concerned about the lack of quality financial education in America, at all levels. Both men blame the lack of financial education for the United States having gone from the richest country in the world to the biggest debtor nation in history, so quickly. A weak U.S. economy and a weak U.S. dollar (the reserve currency of the world) are not good for world stability. As is often said in other parts of the world, “When the United States sneezes, the world catches cold.”
Both Men Are Teachers
Both Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki are successful entrepreneurs and investors. Both men do business and are recognized internationally. Both men are also teachers. Both men are best-selling authors, produce educational board games, speak at financial education events, and both have educational television programs. Donald Trump has his megahit network television show, The Apprentice and Robert Kiyosaki has his television show, Rich Dad’s Guide to Wealth, on PBS, the highly acclaimed educational public television network.
Both men are teachers, not because they need more money. They are both teachers because they are concerned about the fate of you and your family, this nation and the world.
Rich people who want to make a difference typically give money to causes they believe in. But Donald and Robert are giving of both their time as well as their money. As the story goes, you can give a man a fish and feed him for a day or teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Instead of just writing checks to help the poor and middle class, Donald and Robert are teaching them to fish.
Financial Advice
There are three levels of financial advice: advice for the poor, advice for the middle class, and advice for the rich. The financial advice for the poor is that the government will take care of them. The poor are counting on Social Security and Medicare. The financial advice for the middle class is: get a job, work hard, live below your means, save money, invest for the long term in mutual funds, and diversify. Most people in the middle class are passive investors—investors who work and invest not to lose. The rich are active investors who work and invest to win. This book is about becoming an active investor—expanding your means to live a great life by working and investing to win.
Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki are best-selling authors and popular speakers because they teach people to expand their means and improve the quality of their lives, rather than work hard to live below their means. They want people to work and invest to win.
A Little History
During the Hunter-Gatherer Age of human development, humans lived in tribes and, for the most part, all people were equal. If you were the chief of the tribe, you still lived pretty much like the rest of the tribe. Chiefs did not have Lear jets, multimillion-dollar estates, and golden parachutes.
In the Agrarian Age, there evolved a two-tiered society. The king and his rich friends on one tier and everyone else (peasants) working for the king on another tier. Generally, the king owned the land. The peasants worked the king’s land, and paid the king a form of tax by giving the king a share of their harvests. The peasants owned nothing and royalty owned everything.
In the Industrial Age, the modern middle class was born in America and so was democracy.
The founding fathers of America were so impressed by the five tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy that lived in what is today known as New England that they used the tribal model as the model for our democracy. That model elected representatives, an upper and lower house, and a supreme court (made up of entirely women).
At the same time the founders of America were copying the Iroquois form of democracy, the idea of democracy and a middle class was still considered unrealistic in Europe—all while a powerful middle class and democratic society were blooming in the United States.
Today, in the Information Age, the middle class is slowly dying and so is democratic capitalism. Unlike any other time in history, there really is a very wide and growing gap between the haves and have-nots. Are we going backward, into the Agrarian Age, when there was no democracy and only two classes, or will we evolve into a new form of capitalism and democracy?
Problems on the Horizon
Just as we are only now becoming aware of the effects of global warming, we are also only now becoming aware of the effects of the loss of our middle class. Currently, most members of the middle class feel safe and secure. They are content, even though most are aware that we have problems on the horizon.
They feel safe because they believe their government will step in and take care of them and protect them. Little do they know, there is little that government can do to protect them. Governments, even the U.S. government, cannot protect their people as they once could simply because the problems are now global problems. For example, the price of oil is determined by countries outside the control of the United States. Terrorism is not a war against nations. Terrorism is a war against ideas. A terrorist can strike anywhere and disappear into the populace. And globalization, causing the loss of so many American jobs, is the problem of multinational corporations becoming richer and more powerful than many countries. This globalization has also been made more possible through the World Wide Web making communication instantaneous anywhere in the world. Communication has become possible any time any where.
On the home front, just as environmentalists are noticing that some species of frogs are disappearing, economists are noticing that pensions and health care are disappearing for the middle class and poor. In a few years, the biggest baby boom generation in history begins to retire all over the world. Most governments do not have the financial resources to keep their promises.
Businessmen, Not Politicians
People expect their elected government officials to take care of the growing problems facing the poor and middle class. Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki are not politicians (although Donald has considered running for president). They write this book as entrepreneurs, investors, and educators.
Instead of promising to solve your problems, they want you to avoid becoming a victim of the problems. Do not expect your political and government officials to provide solutions. Do not think you are entitled to a secure, prosperous and healthy life. Instead Donald and Robert want you to become rich and become part of the solution to the problems we face as a nation and the world.
Not a How-To Book
When it comes to money, many people want to be told exactly what to do. They often ask specific questions, such as, “I have $25,000. What should I do with it?” When you tell people that you do not know what to do with your money, they are happy to tell you what to do…and their recommendation is that you give your money to them.
This book is not a how-to book. Donald and Robert will not be telling you what to invest in. They will share with you how they think, why they win financially, and how they see the world of money, business, and investing.
A Matter of Vision
Most rich people do not want you to know what they know or their secrets to becoming rich. But Donald and Robert are different. They want to share their knowledge with you.
One of the definitions of leadership is vision. This book is about vision, about seeing what most people never see through the eyes of two men who have won (and occasionally lost) at the game of money. Why We Want You To Be Rich is a book about how these two men think and why they think the way they do. Through their eyes you will gain additional insight into how you can improve your financial future.
A Word of Caution
In the world of money, there is another word often used—transparency. Transparency has many definitions. Three definitions applicable to this book are:
1. Free from pretence or deceit
2. Sheer enough to be seen through
3. Readily understood
People want greater vision so they can see with their own eyes and make their own decisions. Because our educational system does not really teach people to be financially literate, people cannot see. And if they cannot see, there is no transparency. Due to this lack of vision and transparency, people are simply investing by giving their money to someone else to invest. They blindly follow the advice of “work hard, save money, invest for the long term in mutual funds, and diversify.” They work hard and follow this investment advice because they cannot see.
A word of caution: If you believe that working hard, saving money, investing for the long term in mutual funds, and diversifying is good advice then this book may not be for you.
Donald and Robert do not invest in mutual funds because mutual fund companies are not required to be transparent; they are not required to disclose their true expenses. Since most amateur investors cannot see, this fact does not bother them. Professional investors, as Donald and Robert are, require transparency in all their investments.
While the financial advice of saving money and investing in mutual funds may be good advice for the poor and middle class, it is not good advice for people who want to become rich. This book is about seeing through the eyes of two rich men and understanding a world of money very few people get to see.
How History Affects Today
This book will also discuss how history has brought us to this financial state of emergency. Some important dates are:
1971: Our money stopped being money and became a currency when it ceased being backed by gold. This is the year that “saving money” became obsolete and bad financial advice. Today, the middle class has very little in savings.
Could it be because they know that savings is an obsolete idea?
1973: The first oil shock was felt. It was a political problem. However, today the current oil shock is an actual supply and demand problem that will affect all of us. Some of us will get richer, but most of us will become poorer as a result of today’s oil shortage.
How will the current oil crisis affect you?
1974: ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act was passed. ERISA eventually led to what we now know as 401(k) plans. Few law changes have affected so many of us as this one. The 401(k) was originally an arcane subparagraph in the U.S. Tax Code originally created only for high-income CEOs and executives looking for a way to shelter a few more dollars. It became a revolution in retirement savings after the IRS ruled in 1981 that workers could use the same rule. The problem is that the 401(k) is a savings plan and not a retirement plan. Many workers who have 401(k)s will not have enough money to retire on simply because the 401(k) was designed for very high-income executives, not lower wage workers. In simple terms, the 401(k) savings plan will not be adequate for approximately 80 percent of all workers, especially those making less than $150,000 a year. Millions of middle-class workers will be downgraded to the poor class even though they have a 401(k) plan today.
Do you have a 401(k)?
1989: The Berlin Wall came down and the World Wide Web went up. In other words, communism, an economic system designed to protect the workers, failed. At the same time, in the same year, we entered the Information Age. Suddenly young Internet millionaires and billionaires were being created while baby-boom workers were losing their jobs.
Many older workers have to work for younger workers simply because they are not technically current. Instead of receiving pay raises as they did in the Industrial Age, many older workers are receiving pink slips because their years of education and experience are obsolete.
Are your skills obsolete?
1996: The Telecom Reform Act was passed. This Act allowed the world to be connected via fiber optic cable, facilitating globalization. This meant that white-collar jobs could be exported. It now makes economic sense to hire a programmer, doctor, lawyer, and accountant in countries where the costs for these services are much lower due to the lower cost of living abroad.
Are you working in an area that fiber optic cable could change?
2001: China was admitted into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Today, America and many Western nations such as the G-8 nations have become consumers rather than producers. This sets up a huge balance-of-trade problem and also takes away our factories.
Many small businesses are not able to compete with companies like Wal-Mart, who has direct lines to China’s factories.
Today in America and other Western nations, our middle class is shrinking as the middle class in China and India is growing.
Do you consume products manufactured overseas?
2004: During the Kerry-Bush debates, there was talk about the outsourcing of American jobs. But there is a bigger problem both parties avoided. There was little said about the outsourcing of American debt into the hands of foreigners.
While there is much discussion about illegal immigrants in our work force, there is a more serious immigration problem not being discussed: the amount of foreign capital that keeps the United States afloat. In 2004, 44 percent of our Treasury debt was owned by foreigners. No leading country in history has ever incurred this level of foreign debt. As a nation we cannot afford the payments to service this debt, and there is a limit to the amount of our debt the world will tolerate.
Are you able to service your own personal debt?
This book is not a political book. It will not blame Republicans or Democrats, Liberals or Conservatives. This book is about money, financial education, and the effects of a lack of financial education and money management. It is about protecting yourself from national money mismanagement. Today’s problems are bigger than our government can handle. That may be why our politicians avoid discussing the real problems.
The United States has the highest standard of living in the world. We have attained that high standard of living by becoming the greatest debtor nation in the world. The U.S. dollar is also the world’s reserve currency and so far, the world has allowed us to print as many dollars as we want. Is this a fairy tale scenario or a nightmare? Donald and Robert do not think this fantasy can last much longer. They expect a global correction on a massive scale. Unfortunately, the poor and middle class will be hurt the most. And this is why they want you to be rich.
This Book Is Not About Changing the World
This book is not about changing the world. This book is about changing you so that you do not become a victim of a changing world. The world is changing rapidly. Politicians and government bureaucracy cannot change fast enough or protect everyone from these shifts.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have joined forces to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. This is commendable as money does have the power to solve many of our world problems, such as hunger, affordable housing, and hopefully many diseases (such as cancer and AIDS).
Money Cannot Solve Poverty
The one problem money cannot solve is poverty. While there are many underlying causes of poverty, one of the causes is a lack of financial education. The problem with throwing money at the issue of poverty is that money only creates more poor people and keeps people poorer longer. This is why Donald and Robert are teachers. They know that the one true solution to worldwide poverty is financial education, not money. If money alone could solve poverty, they would donate their money. But since money cannot solve poverty, they donate their time.
As your financial education increases, you will start to recognize financial opportunities everywhere. Once you become rich, you may choose to help change the world as well. This is what Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki have done. This is why they have joined forces as teachers.
As you read this book you will see the voices of two men, from two different backgrounds, with two different perspectives, and two different voices. Robert is a story-teller and uses dialogue often in his writing. Donald is direct and to–the–point, using as few words as possible. We have used two different typefaces to emphasize their two voices (Adobe Garamond is used for Robert and Trebuchet is used for Donald).
Can you read this book with an open mind? If so, you will see the world through the eyes of these two successful men and you may expand your own mind-set about money and what is possible for your financial future.
“Yes, we did produce a near perfect Republic. But will they keep it?
Or will they in their enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom?
Material abundance without character is the surest way to destruction.
Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”
– Thomas Jefferson
