A lot of the self help-Wealth type books pick on the same things, even reiterating and re-quoting what's already been written. This is the case with this book, but this book is a great example of how exceptional organization and writing can supersede that. This synthesizes wealth wisdom of old and recent better than I've seen so far. This all covers the first two parts, which is essentially the foundation of wealth building. After that, the gems are thrown. Practical processing and strategy for hiring, how to approach real estate and rental property, and a lot more. In totality, it talks about the truth of wealth building, in both a philosophical and practical way, and is the best book I can recommend to anyone on the subject from the last few years. Excellent.
Notes: Your level of income doesn't determine your level of wealth (2). If you're not building wealth, then you're depleting it. The real journey to wealth is built upon knowledge, skills, habits, and relationships that you apply to the money. Building wealth requires making a choice (7).One day you wake up. And instead of going back into the matrix, you stop.
Freedom is the power to choose and create (10). When you say yes to wealth, you're saying yes to your potential for freedom. In the absence of wealth, your choices are limited and this compromises your quality of life, work, and health. Building wealth is a way of saying "yes!" to yourself and to those things that are important to you. Wealth is just code for freedom, and freedom is the ultimate gift in life (11). If anyone suggests that your focus on building wealth is misplaced, just smile, thank them, and wish them luck.
Knowledge without action is wasted potential (14). The only time you lose is when you quit (15).
"In nearly all things, the biggest obstacles we'll ever face is ourselves (17). Staying comfortable where you are will not get you on the path to wealth (18). Wealth is built alongside some risk. And the longer you wait, the greater the stakes! *The biggest risk in life is not taking one.
Steer clear from those who think money is a dirty word.
Don't let a bad occurrence hold you back (20).
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge"- Stephen Hawking
"You build wealth by applying yourself to the task of building wealth. If you commit to building wealth, it will happen. It's that simple (22).
"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan"- Eleanor Roosevelt
Once you decide to be wealthy, the second most important step is to create a wealth vision (23). People who build wealth tend to have a plan, a focus, and a vision for the future.
The more you outsource to others, the more you create an amazing team (25). Accountability isn't about blame or finding wrong. It's about owning your circumstances and outcomes (27).
"Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can't measure something, you can't understand it. If you can't understand it, you can't control it. If you can't control it, you can't improve it."- H. James Harrington (28)
If you think of yourself as a corporation, you will naturally build greater wealth. At some point in life--when your business grows large enough--the tax and structural benefits outweigh the cost of running a corporation (a minimum of $2,000 a year). That's when you should take this step and form your version of Me, Inc. (29).
How much does your household earn a year?
What are the sources of your household income?
What is your net income after taxes?
How much do you spend on essentials?
How much do you spend on leisure or discretionary spending?
How much could you invest?
Once you've answered these questions, you can take these three basic steps to begin treating yourself like a corporation (30):
1. Learn how to create a profit-and-loss statement
2. Track your expenses each month
3. Create a personal financial statement
"If you don't have a plan for your life, the first person you meet will give you one." (33) If you want ultimate influence over where you go, then create a vision for yourself.
If you spend your life living off your paycheck, you're living off your cash flow (36). If instead you live below your means and save the extra cash, you can use that cash to buy assets. This will put you on the path to asset-based living. If you practice this discipline, you'll have cash flow from those assets. "Without building assets, you will almost certainly never become wealthy." Buy assets that will survive most down markets with positive cash flow. Accumulate as many of these intelligent assets as possible, and then when the market jumps, you will reap an unfair share of the market rise (37). "We define smart assets as those assets that are either purchased below market value or need modest improvements that add value, and that are purchased with smart debt or no debt. Debt is 'smart' when your total cash flow is greater with the debt than it would be without the debt; and, when you still have a cushion in case the asset goes down in value. You have this when your cash flow covers debt even in a market downturn."
"Always max out your tax-deferred investments." (39)
Make sure you have a personal financial statement that you keep up to date (41). Then create a Profit & Loss (P&L) or income statement. This is a list of all your income-broken into two categories: income coming from passive sources and income coming from your work or active sources. This P&L statement should also list all of your expenses.
Vertical Work-money earned through work
Horizontal Work-Income that comes from investment sources. Most people only have vertical income.
We all have the opportunity to receive multiple streams of horizontal income. Eventually, most people will have income from social security, maybe a work pension, some potential interest income from fixed income, some dividends from your 401 (k), and finally rental income from any rental properties you own. If you get this key point--that your financial future will be horizontal income--then why not build a plan today to expand your horizontal income streams? (43-44)
The concept of vertical income is something we're taught in school: Develop a skill or trade, take it to the marketplace, and earn income.
Start thinking of vertical income as a tool to create horizontal income, where vertical income minus expenses equal money left over to invest.
-Aim to have 100% of your expenses covered by your horizontal income streams (45).
-"Don't let the market take you down. Have enough equity in the property and enough free cash flow to make sure all bills can be paid and thus be safe in a declining market"
-Spend less and earn more. Be careful not to increase spending equal to your income increase
-Shift your thinking from working for money to working for wealth
-$1 of passive income equals $10 of earned income
The most important Accelerator for wealth building and life is "Take responsibility for everything in your life-good or bad (54). Having a no-excuse habit is the single greatest change you can make in your lie. Consider the possibility of removing 'have to' and 'need to' from your vocabulary (56).
Wealth attracts wealth just as poverty attracts poverty (64). Wealthy people have a mindset that's contagious. Poor people have a mindset that's contagious. If you want to build wealth, hang out with, learn from, and attract a community that supports wealth.
Your grown-up "comfort zone" and your perception of reality is killing your dreams (66). So many people set their goals low because they don't want to fail and they can't see possibility beyond the reaches of their current context. So they "dumb down" what they want in life to match what they think they can accomplish, rather than what they would really like to have if they saw a path to achieving it (67).
A powerful and expansive way to think big is to ask the question: "What do I want in my life?" (68)
See yourself as the future self you want to be (69).
There is a world of difference between thinking and saying "I can" or "I will" (which lack power), and thinking or saying "I am," "I have," or "It is" (which are very powerful). Choose your thoughts wisely. "I am" is the most powerful phrase in our language (71).
To create powerful affirmations, use the present tense, not the future. Use "I am" rather than "I will" or "I can." To increase the power of your affirmations, add action words and emotional words that resonate deep inside you. Ex: "I am enjoying my work and feeling fulfilled while I earn $450,000 a year with ease." (72)
Knowing a lot can get in the way of seeing new possibilities. The moment you "know" everything, you stop growing and evolving (75).
When you state your goals and affirmations, add "with ease." This frees you from the barrier of burden and sacrifice (80).
How do you turn the hard things into easy things and get them done? First, if you are facing something that you believe is hard, ask yourself a few questions: Is this something I really want to do? Is this something that is key to an outcome I really want? If your answer to either of these questions is "No," then don't waste your time. Just delegate it or drop it. (85)
Business decisions built from a platform of delusional optimism can be a total disaster (88). For every business venture or investment, we carefully think through 3 possible outcomes: What's the worse, best, and most probable outcome? (89)
The cash flow you are generating can generate more cash flow. But, don't start with huge expenses and expect earnings to catch up (90). "Don't over-leverage real estate to get bigger and bigger returns. Instead, make sure cash flow protects you in case of a severe market shift." For investment property, we only buy when cash flow either covers 100% of the costs or a short-term plan will create that cash flow (94). This makes our portfolios sage in a downturn. "For a personal residence, we make sure we are not living in something we could not afford if the markets changed or we had a disruption in income (lost job, client, etc).
"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master"-Robin Sharma (106)
Reframing gives us a choice about how to look at the things that happen in our lives (111). It allows us to choose the positive that exists inside of every single challenge-no matter how severe (113).
"You don't need to be a disciplined person; you just need to master a few disciplines"-Gary Keller
*Want to get to the end of your journey without regret? Learn from others. Learn their regrets. (123)
"Make your business decisions based on solid fundamentals as opposed to guesses about the future. We don't base our buying decisions on future appreciation." (126)
"If real estate has gone up 10% a year for five years, know that it could soon contract or fall. Alternatively, if the market's been "cold" for a while and no one is buying and prices are down 20-30%, know that things may well improve and plan your investments accordingly (127)
"Become an expert in real estate. Paying a seasoned home inspector $500 will tell you more about a house (a single target purchase) than you could ever know about a stock. A very good local realtor can reasonably predict what the sale price of a property would be after certain improvements, or what an apartment will rent for once it is renovated...With very little research, you can become an expert in real estate submarkets or micro-markets."
***"Great wealth isn't built by diversifying into a million different things. This means in addition to having a diversified portfolio if you want to build wealth, get really good at something that generates revenue and stick with it. For us that's real estate...Real estate is where we buy, sell, and hold to build wealth. Our target rate of return is 15% a year. If you earn 15% on your nest egg, year after year, your money doubles in 4.8 years, and then that doubled nest egg doubles again in the same 4.8 years. In addition to the return, each year we pay off more of the mortgage adding principal growth. Compare that to the long-term rate of a diversified portfolio of assets and you'll see why we don't diversify." (129-130)
If you keep learning, you will earn (132).
Look at wealth building as a process, not an event. Part of the process is chunking down your big goals into small, bite-sized ones and then adding accountability (136)
"You can't grow big if you work small and manage small." (141) Delegate the small things to grow big (142).
There are 7 Pillars of Business to understand your business and evaluate new opportunities. "If you master the Seven Pillars, you will become an A-level businessperson" (147)
Pillar 1: Client Acquisition-It's the Most Important Skill
She who controls the clients controls the business. "If you want a profitable business, focus on acquiring and retaining clients. Client acquisition is the first rule for having a successful business (148).
Pillar 2: Look for Barriers to Entry
A barrier to entry is simply what stops outsiders from entering your market (152). If you have no market protection, your business likely isn't viable, or at least won't produce great returns over time. "Look for barriers to entry that chase away most investors. If you invest the time and money to resolve the issues, you will create unique opportunity"-Eddie Kricher
Pillar 3: Magnify your Effectiveness and Power through Leverage
"Leverage is the reason some people become rich and others do not become rich."- Robert Kiyosaki
The best business is on that can run without you (157). "If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it, you almost don't have to manage them."-Jack Welch
-Develop standards in advance and stick to them (160). You might miss some great hires because they fail on certain fronts, but it is better to pass on a few good ones than to hire a single bad one.
Hiring Process (161): Find the best, find out what motivates them, hire them, create an environment that supports the new hire; if they're working out (perhaps not perfect, but on the road to meeting standards), they keep working together; if they're not working out in 90 days, fire them and start over. Get the right people, in the right positions, under the right conditions (162). Look for a track record of success. If someone sound great but has jumped from job to job and never really made it anywhere, be very cautious. Don't hire someone you need to fix (163).
-"As long as your property cash flow pays all of your bills, including the mortgage (with some cushion), then you are using a safe amount of debt (165)...If you have equity equal to or greater than 30% in every real estate asset you invest in, then you will have a cushion against a shift in the market"(166).
Normally, financial institutions secure debt in 2 ways: if the borrower fails, they can take over the property, sell it at auction, and keep the proceeds up to the amount of the loan or require a personal guarantee, meaning you personally guarantee the loan for any shortfall if the foreclosure/auction sale doesn't satisfy the entire debt. Most sophisticated investors can get something called "non-recourse" debt. This means banks cannot go after your other assets, and require only the underlying property to secure the loan (generally available only to very large investors who put enough money down so that the lender is not at risk of loss if the economy tanks and the borrower fails to pay the mortgage. "Either way, during lease negotiations you should try to get rid of personal guarantees."(167)
Pillar 4: Modeling-Identify a person or company that is doing what you are doing at a much Higher level
Don't presume that someone won't want to share. Most people love to share their successes (169).
Pillar 5: Invest in your Area of Core Competence
If you want to go far, invest in your area of competence
Pillar 6: Use the 80/20 Rule to Drill down to the Vital Few
Pillar 7: Invest in Coaches, Mentors, and Masterminds
The best accountability partner is a skilled coach who not only holds you accountable but also brings perspective and resources to the table (179). "Simply hiring someone to hold you accountable will change your results dramatically."Your life is worth that level of purposefulness (180). Get outside help. Hire a consultant, a coach, or just ask a smart friend to chat with you about best practices in your business.
"Lead with revenue. Never let your expenses get ahead of your revenues."-Gary Keller (181)
If you spend less than you earn, you can keep your business going indefinitely.
Being authentically purposeful with your goals and agenda each day will unquestionably make your life more fulfilling because you will attract people, work, and activities that are in alignment with your purpose (183). Form a community where winning in your field is the norm (186).
"Wealth does not grow all at once and it does not grow in a long, continuous straight line into the future." (201)
"Once you have erased your expensive consumer debt, learned to earn more, and have saved a bit, you can start planting money trees." Ex: A rental property would be a good example of a money tree or starting a small business, or investing in part of a multifamily property. "If it's a rental, make sure it cash flows." (202) After it takes root, then it's maintenance. The extra time you spend up front pays dividends in the end (203). Designed for the long term, cash flowing properties are sustainable in a declining market. And then when a boom comes, you will reap the benefits of your good investment decisions.
There are a lot of senior citizens on the Forbes list of wealthiest people. "There is not a better way to increase your energy and productivity than taking great care of your health." When in doubt, eat the least processed most natural options (205).
The environment we live in will either support our health or destroy it (208). Everything is energy (209). Create the environment that brings you the most energy possible.
ARE YOUR ACTIONS GETTING YOU WHERE YOU WANT TO GO AND WHAT YOU WANT IN YOUR LIFE? (215)
One of the easiest ways to accomplish multiple streams of income paid monthly is through real estate. Buy a house that has cash potential with 20-30% down. Monthly rent pays the mortgage (Consider 15-year mortgages for faster pay down). Save the profits.
To determine real estate investment cash flow: Take the gross total rent and deduct 40% for the vacancy, management fees, taxes, insurance, and repairs. With 60% left over, deduct principal and interest. The amount remaining is your cash flow.
**Target properties in the middle to lower economic zones for cash flow with room to add value. Targeting high-end properties is riskier and is more of an appreciation play (220-221).
"The number-one mistake that most people make is being too afraid to begin, or too afraid of making a mistake. In reality, they should fear doing nothing a lot more (238).