How To Catch A Lot Of Fish: Seeing The Invisible

Rich dad often said, “You cannot catch fish in clean water, You can only catch fish in muddy water.”

It is easier to give people fish than to teach people to catch fish. Why? 

Because learning to catch fish is hard. All real learning is hard.

Prosperity has made many people soft, weak, and lazy.

Many actually believe they are entitled to be rich.

Money is a drug. Without financial education, people become addicted to money. Money makes them happy. Money solves their problems. Money heals their pain. Today, billions are addicted to the “quick fix,” the “temporary high” of money. The problem is, the “highs” become “lows,” and the addicts go back to work to feed their addiction. Addicts will do anything to feed their addiction.

Corrupt money creates corrupt people. Don’t change the world, change yourself.

The reason the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing is because, without real financial education, the fish – the people – are swimming in muddy water. This is why and how the academic elites who run our legal system, banks, and Wall Street are catching a lot of fish.

What is Financial IQ?

IQ is a measure of a person’s ability to solve problems. Financial IQ is a person’s ability to solve money problems. Financial IQ is measured in money. Financial IQ can go up if the person practices.

There are six foundational words to real financial education. They are:

1.Income
2.Expense
3.Asset
4.Liability
5.Cash
6.Flow

The author says that banks never asked for your report card. They never ask what school you went to. The banker will never ask for your GPA. The only thing the banker wants is to see the financial statement. The financial statement is the report card for the real world.

If a house is cash flowing positively, with money going into your pocket, then the house is an asset.

If a house causes cash to flow out of your pocket, the house is a liability.

In 2008, millions of people found out their homes were liabilities.

Follow the Money:

The middle class is the asset for the government, Wall Street, and the banks. Compare the cash flow of the middle class to the cash flow of the rich.

Lessons:

1. Real financial education teaches the rich to keep the cash flowing into the asset column.
2. Fake financial education keeps the cash flowing out of the pockets of the poor and middle class and into the pockets of those who print fake money, the pockets of the academic elite.
3. Fake financial education keeps the water muddy.

Infinite Return:

Using 100 percent debt to produce $25 is an example of an infinite return. It is money for nothing, money created from financial intelligence.

Stocks:

Let’s say you purchase 100 shares of a stock for $1 per share. You have invested $100. The price of the stock rises to $10 per share. The 100 shares are now worth $1,000. You sell 10 shares at $10 and receive the original $100. The 90 remaining shares are free once you have recouped your initial investment.

The primary reason why most people are not rich is because they went to school.

Why are people not rich?

In school, students are taught that mistakes make you stupid. In real life, making mistakes makes you richer. God designed humans to learn from their mistakes.

Cheating means asking for help. In school, students take tests on their own. Asking for help is cheating. In real life, business and investing are team sports. The rich have teams. The average person does not have a team.

Good grades mean you are smart. As the author discusses earlier, your banker does not care about your GPA, he is more interested in your real report card which  is your financial statement. 

Get out of debt. In real life, debt makes the rich richer.

In 1971, money became debt. Bankers love debtors because debtors make bankers richer. The richest people in the world know how to use debt to make money.

Taxes are patriotic. The American Revolution had its origins in a tax revolt, the Boston Tea Party, in 1773. In real life, the rich don’t pay taxes.

Simple does not mean easy.

Without real financial education in our schools, millions become the fish that the elites trap in their nets and webs of lies. Without real financial education, millions go to school, get a job, pay taxes, save money, buy a house, and invest in the stock market. Entrepreneurs know they must make mistakes and learn from their mistakes and that business is a team sport.

The purpose of financial literacy is to empower the mind to see what our eyes cannot see, via words. The purpose of financial education is to empower our ability to see in dirty water, aka transparency. And one reason why the latest crashes have been so big and severe is due to a lack of transparency.