free download links about online stock trading, forex, futures, stock investing, market, trading systems
The Tenth Investor Control - The Control of Giving It Back
back to contents page

Recently a high school classmate of mine, Dan, was passing through town and asked if we could play golf . Dan was always a great golfer and I had not played in months, so I hesitated at first. Realizing that the purpose of the game was to spend time together to renew an old friendship, rather than compete in a round of golf, I agreed to play.

While riding around on the golf cart, being humiliated by Dan's golf game, the conversation turned to what we were doing at this stage of our lives. When I told Dan that I had retired and was building businesses, one to take public and one to be held privately, he became very angry. His anger caused him to accuse me of being greedy, thinking only of myself, and exploiting the poor . After about an hour of trying to keep my cool, I could take no more. Finally I said, “What causes you to think that the rich are greedy. ”

His reply was, “Because all I see are poor people all day long. I never see rich people doing anything for them.” Dan is a legal aid attorney for people who cannot afford an attorney. “The gap between the haves and have nots is bigger than ever and it is not improving. We now have families who have no hope of ever getting out of poverty. They have lost sight of the dream that America was founded on. And guys like you make more and more money. Is that all you can think about? Build businesses and get rich? You've become just as bad as Mike's dad . . . a greedy rich man who only got richer.”

Dan's temper began to calm down as the game continued. Finally at the end of the game we agreed to meet the next day at the hotel's restaurant and I would show him something I was working on.

The next day I showed Dan the game. “What is the game board for ?” asked Dan after we were seated at the table.

Showing him the game, I explained my theory that poverty is caused by lack of education. “It is a learned condition,” I said. “It is taught at home. Since school doesn't teach you about money, you learn about it at home.”

“So what does this game teach?” Dan asked.

“It teaches the vocabulary of financial literacy, ” I said. “Words are, in my opinion, the most powerful tools or assets we as humans have, because words affect our brain, and our brains create our reality on the world. The problem many people have is that they leave home and school and never learn or understand the vocabulary associated with money…resulting in a lifetime of financial struggle.”

Dan studied the colorful game board while the waitress brought us more coffee. “So you plan to end poverty with a board game?” he asked sarcastically. “No, ” I chuckled. “I'm not that naive or optimistic. I created this game primarily for people who want to become business owners and investors. Cash flow management is a basic skill necessary for anyone who wants to be rich.” “So you created this game for people who want to be rich, not for the poor ?” Dan said, his anger rising again.

Again I chuckled at his emotional reaction. “No, no, no,” I said. “I did not create this product to exclude the poor . I'll say it again. I created this game for people who want to be rich, regardless if you are rich or poor today. ”

The look on Dan's face softened, if only a little.

“Exactly,” I said softly. “My products are designed for people who want to be rich,” I repeated again. “My products cannot help anyone, regardless of who or what their financial station in life, unless they first want to be rich. My products will not help a rich person or a middle class person unless they too want to become richer. ”

Dan sat there shaking his head. His anger was getting higher. Finally he said, “You mean I've spent all my life trying to help people and you're saying I can't help them?”

“No. I am not saying that,” I said. “I cannot comment on what you do or how effective you are. Besides that is not for me to judge. ”

“So what are you saying?” Dan asked.

“I'm saying you can't help people unless they truly want to help themselves,” I said. “If a person is not interested in becoming rich, my products are worthless.” Dan sat there quietly absorbing the distinction I was attempting to make. “In my world of law and legal aid, I often give advice to people. Many people don't take it, ” said Dan. “I see them again after a year or two and their situation is the same. They're back in jail or they're brought up again on charges for domestic violence or whatever . Is that what you're getting at? Advice alone does no good unless the people truly want to change the situations in their lives?” “That is what I am saying,” I said. “That is why the best diet and exercise plan will not work unless the person really and truly wants to lose weight. Or why it is often a waste of time and a disturbance to the rest of the class to have a student in the room that is not interested in learning a subject. It is tough to teach anyone who is not interested in learning. And that includes me. For example, I have no interest in learning to wrestle sharks. So you cannot force me to learn. But my golf game is different. I will study hard, practice for hours, and pay big money for lessons, because I want to learn.”

Dan sat there nodding his head. “I understand, ” he said.

“But I did not show you this game for the getting rich aspect,” I said. “I want to show you what rich dad taught Mike and me about being generous. About giving money back.”

For the next ten minutes I explained Phase 5 of rich dad's plan, pointing out to Dan that it was a big part of rich dad's plan to be generous, to be charitable. I said to Dan as I pointed to the game board, “Mike's dad taught us five distinct phases of wealth and money. Phase five was the responsibility of giving money back, after you made it. Mike's dad strongly believed that to make money and hoard it was a misuse of the power of money.”

“So you put Phase 5 of Mike's dad's plan on your game board?” Dan asked a little suspiciously. “Your game board not only teaches people to be rich, but it also teaches people to be generous?”

I nodded my head, “It was part of the plan. A very important part.”

Having grown up with Mike and me, Dan knew who rich dad was. He had heard about the investment plan rich dad and I had drawn up after I returned from Vietnam. Dan was aware of what I had gone through to learn to be a business owner and an investor . He had lost his temper when I spoke of Phases 3 and 4, where I was investing in other business and getting richer . He was now learning about Phase 5.

“As I said, Phase 5 is probably the most important phase of rich dad's plan and I purposely built it into this game,” I said.

“So what is Phase 5?” asked Dan. “Show it to me on the game board.”

I then pointed to the pinkish colored squares on the “Fast Track” of the board game. The board game consists of two different tracks. One circular track on the inside, known as the “Rat Race” and the outer more rectangular track known as the “Fast Track,” which is where the rich invest. “These pink squares are Phase 5,” I said, pointing to one of the squares.

“A kids library,” Dan read out loud as he read the corner square where my finger was pointing.

“A research center for cancer ,” Dan read aloud.

“And so is this square, ” I said moving my finger and pointing to another square.

“A gift of faith, ” Dan said reading the line just below where my finger was pointing.

“You mean you built charitable squares into the Fast Track?” asked Dan. “The investment track of the very rich.”

Nodding my head I said, “Yes. There are two kinds of dreams on the Fast Track. Dreams for personal indulgence and dreams for creating a better world with your excessive wealth.”

Dan shook his head slowly, saying, “You mean Mike's dad taught you and Mike to be charitable as well as rich?”

I nodded my head as I quickly pointed to all the different charitable dreams found on the Fast Track of the game board. “Rich dad said one of the most important controls an investor had was the control over returning most of the money back to society.”

“He had a reputation as a rich greedy man,” said Dan. “Many people said terrible things about him, about how greedy he was.”

“That is what most people thought,” I replied. “Yet Mike and I knew

differently. The more money he made, the more money he gave away. But he gave it away quietly.”

“I did not know that,” said Dan. “So his later years were dedicated to giving all the money he amassed back to society.”

“Well not all of it, ” I said. “He wanted to leave some for his children. The point I want to make is that many people have this belief that the rich are greedy. That belief blinds them to the truth or the reality that not all the rich are greedy. If you open your eyes, you will see that many of the very rich have made tremendous financial contributions to society. Look at what Andrew Carnegie has given back through libraries, Henry Ford through his Ford Foundation and the Rockefellers through the Rockefeller Foundation. My hero, George Soros, the founder of The Quantum Fund, is today dedicating massive amounts of money in the hopes of creating a global society and promoting greater financial understanding amongst nations. But often all we hear about are the nasty things political leaders say about him and his hedge fund.

“John D . Rockefeller not only created his charitable foundation to give away his money, he donated extensively to the University of Chicago, as many rich alumni donate to their schools. Many other ultra rich have founded their own institutions of higher learning just as Stanford founded Stanford University and Duke founded Duke University. The rich have always been very generous to higher education.”

“Vanderbilt University was founded by a very rich entrepreneur,” added Dan. “I realize that the rich create jobs and provide goods and services to make life a little better. So now you're telling me that they often give the money back to the society, ” said Dan.

“That is exactly what I am saying,” I replied. “And yet many people can only see what they think is the greedy side of the rich. I know that there are greedy rich people, but so are there greedy poor people. ”

“So your rich dad gave it back?” Dan repeated.

“Yes,” I replied. “Phase 5 made him the happiest of all the phases. Besides being charitable increased his expenses, reduced his income, and took him through the looking glass.”

“What?” stammered Dan in confusion. “What looking glass?”

“Never mind,” I said. “Just know that being generous made him happy in more ways than one.”

“What did he give to?” asked Dan.

“Since his own father died of cancer, rich dad's foundation gave tremendous amounts of money to cancer research. He also built a cancer ward on a small country hospital, so the country people could be closer to their loved ones when they were hospitalized. Being a very religious man, he also built a classroom building for his church so the church could have a larger Sunday school for kids. And he was a patron of the arts, acquiring artwork from many talented artists as well as donating money to the museums. The best thing is that his foundation is so well directed, that even after his death, it will continue to earn and donate money. Even in death he will still do a lot of good for society. The trusts and foundations he set up will be providing money for many worthy causes for years to come. ”

“He planned to have too much money in life and he planned on having too much money in death, ” said Dan.

“He definitely had a plan, ” I replied.

“So your game CASHFLOW really does include everything your rich dad taught you. He taught you how to make the money and how to give the money back,” said Dan.

“I did my best to include the important things rich dad taught me about money in the game. And the importance of giving back was one of the things he taught me,” I replied. “He taught me to control the acquisition of wealth and he taught me how to control the giving it back. ”

“I wish more people did that,” said Dan.

“Oh there will be more people giving more money back,” I said. “Just look at this Baby-boomer generation. Many were hippies in the sixties and they are fast becoming multi-millionaires today. In a few years, the revolution they were a part of will be in full force with cash flow. Many of these one-time hippies and others of that generation are very socially responsible people. What they learned from the sixties, their poor college days, will be brought to fruition in the next few years. Their ideals coupled with their wealth will be a powerful financial, political, and social force in the world. I think that they will do the charitable deeds that our government cannot afford to do today. Many rich boomers will be completing socially-responsible deeds they wanted to perform when they were poor . . . but now they're rich.”

“What makes you think they will be generous?” asked Dan.

“Because it is already happening, ” I replied. “Ted Turner pledged a billion dollars to the U.N . and chided people like Bill Gates and others for not being generous enough. In less than three years, after that challenge, Bill Gates alone has pledged $4 billion to various causes . . . and Gates is still a young man. Can you imagine how much he will be donating in his later years?”

“But wasn't that because he was on trial with the federal government?” asked Dan. “He's just giving money so he can look good?”

“Well, many of the reporters like to point that out in the articles they write about his generosity. But let me ask you this. How many reporters are giving away $4 billion dollars?” I asked quietly. “The facts are, in 1999 alone, Bill Gates has a full time staff to give away $325 million. How many reporters are giving away $325 million in 1999? So even if it took an encouraging nudge from Ted Turner, the fact remains that he is giving money away. And the fact remains that this baby-boomer generation of wealthy entrepreneurs will be pressuring each other to be generous. It will be very socially un-cool to be rich and not be generous. ”

“So Mike's dad was a generous man and he taught you and Mike to be generous.”

I nodded my head. “And even though many people in town criticized him for being rich, he continued to give quietly. Being generous made financial sense to him as well as giving him pleasure.”

“I really did not know that,” Dan said quietly and almost reverently, having perceived him differently. “And giving money away made him happy?” I nodded my head. “In the later years of his life, I saw a peace come over him that I had never seen before. He had done a lot of good during life and he would continue to do good when his life was over. His life was complete.” “He was very proud of both Mike and me,” I replied. “He also said he knew I was more like my real dad. He knew I was a teacher and he hoped I would go on to teach others as he had taught me. He wanted me to be both dads . . . a rich man as well as a teacher.”

“And was that it?” asked Dan.

“No, ” I replied. “He couldn't leave it at that. He was always afraid that I would give up along the way. He was afraid that I would not have the persistence to make my investment plan come true, which would mean my financial dreams would not come true. He was always afraid that I would join the quitters of the world, doing what was easy, rather than doing what was necessary.

“Keep going, keep minding your own business , keep being true to your dreams and all your dreams will come true,” I said quietly. “That was the last advice he gave me. ”

Bringing me back to the present, Dan asked, “So have all your dreams come true?”

“Almost,” I replied. “I still want to become the ultimate investor and we have just started our Foundation. ”

“What Foundation?” he asked.

“When Kim, Sharon and I started CASHFLOW Technologies, Inc., our mission was to ‘Elevate the financial well-being of humanity.'” “That's a pretty aggressive mission,” Dan said with his eyebrows raised. “I can see how you would say that but we accomplish our mission every day. We receive calls, letters, e-mails every day from people who have taken action to improve their financial lives. We have been overwhelmed by the response we have from the people using our products. Every time we hear from someone who has improved their financial well-being, we have accomplished our mission.” “So what about the Foundation?” Dan persisted.

“We created the Foundation for Financial Literacy so we would have a not for profit entity with which to give back. We have been so blessed by our students and customers that we wanted to give back. The Foundation will support other organizations in their efforts to teach financial literacy.

“For example, we have a high school teacher in Indiana teaching CASHFLOW 101 and 202 to his students. He has been helping us develop a curriculum that other teachers can use in the classroom. This spring he is going to send his high school students into the elementary schools to teach elementary school students using CASHFLOW for Kids. In fact, we also have the older kids teaching the younger kids in the Boys and Girls Club in Tucson, Arizona. We are so excited by the concept of ‘kids teaching other kids' that we hope to expand the program worldwide. The Foundation can help make that happen.”

“That sounds great, Robert. It's nice to see you so energized by giving, ” Dan said.

“We are still developing the Foundation and its programs. The important thing is to support learning wherever we can. Kim, Sharon and I have been very blessed with success and we want to continue to look for ways to give back through helping others teach financial literacy.”

Smarter trading The art of day trading Trading Chaos Sane Investing In An Insane World
Beat The Odds In Forex Trading Robert Kiyosaki - Rich Dad, Poor Dad
The Five Rules For Successful Stock Investing Joe DiNapoli - Trading with DiNapoli Levels
Alexander Elder - Trading for a living Forex Conquered -High Probability Systems and Strategies