Live within your means this New Year

We are on the third day of the New Year 2019. In this first entry of Business Unpacked this year, I rerun, with some modifications, an article I did in early 2017 and four days into the just ended 2018.

To many people, the New Year comes with resolutions and goals to improve their situation or plight.

To achieve their goals, some invest in further education, others in property development as well as investing in children’s education. Many of us have also landed into financial mess for “going with the flow”, especially when it comes to the schools we send our children to. Please, send your children to schools you can afford. Experience has shown that “expensive schools” do not necessarily translate into good results.

To those living in rented houses, learn to live within your financial means. Security is paramount, yes. But do not live a life of pretence. If everytime rent is due you cannot afford and have to borrow, that apartment is beyond your means.

On the social scene, some make it their New Year resolution to minimise or altogether quit consumption of alcoholic beverages and other extravagant expenses. Yet others take the New Year as their moment to invest for the future through life insurance policies, shares and many other meaningful avenues to save for the rainy day.

Please, do not ask me how many of the New Year resolutions are fulfilled. But it is worth appreciating that planning is good and achieving the objectives of the plans is an icing on the cake.

Nearly a decade ago, I read the personal finance management best-seller Rich Dad Poor Dad by one Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It is a simple but inspiring book on how one can attain financial independence.

The book is widely touted to have challenged and changed people’s perception of money and how to spend the same.

Since publication of the book, Kiyosaki became one of the popular investment and financial advisers for individuals. Today, he runs a series of Rich Dad coaching sessions online, of course at a fee.

I subscribed to the series and often gets updates on upcoming events by Kiyosaki and his team.

With the New Year still “new”, I know some are still drafting their resolutions and others are polishing them up. In this regard, I thought of sharing some investment tips from Kiyosaki to add more value to such plans.

Here is one e-mail that landed in my inbox the other day from the Kiyosaki team:

Greetings Aubrey,

How do you know if the financial advice you are getting is good/bad?

Good financial advice is priceless. Good financial advice can be the key to success.

Bad financial advice is expensive and will cost you a lot more than just money.

Your mind ultimately is your greatest asset. So, be very careful of what kind of advice you invest in it.

When someone offers you financial advice, you need to ask yourself:

“Is this person giving me advice to make me rich, or giving me advice to make themselves rich.

My rich dad said: “Most people struggle financially because they take advice from sales people, not rich people.” They take financial advice from sales people such as stockbrokers and real estate brokers. As my rich dad said: “The reason they are called brokers is because they are broker than you are.”

Be very careful who you get your financial advice from. There is a big difference between financial advice from rich people versus sales people.

To making life better,

Robert Kiyosaki

The above note should provide some food for thought. Who is your financial or investment adviser? Which are the viable avenues to invest your money?

Perhaps the following could also give you some insights. It is all courtesy of Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Coaching towards financial independence:

lOn learning: Never depend on single income. Make investment to create a second chance.

lOn spending: If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.

lOn savings: Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.

lOn taking risk: Never test the depth of a river with both feet.

lOn investment: Do not put all eggs in one basket.

lOn expectations: Honesty is a very expensive gift. Do not expect it from cheap people.

Above all, always remember that past is a waste paper, present is a newspaper, and future is a question paper. Come out of your past, control the present and secure the future.

We plan, but God fulfills. Things may not always work out according to our plans. In such situations, when bad things happen in your life, you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you or you can let it strengthen you.

In the New Year, explore more avenues of investment. Do not put all your eggs in one basket. Spread the risk.

Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year 2019.