Kim Kiyosaki’s Journals

To put it bluntly, I truly believe the world would be a better place if there were more rich women. And I thought a good way to get to know each other in this first column would be to share some of my thoughts on rich women.

What Is a Rich Woman? 
I hear women say, “I’m rich in spirit,” “I’m rich in family and friends,” and “My life experiences make me rich.” And I agree with each of these interpretations. You can have a very rich life, but that alone doesn’t make you a rich woman.

A rich woman is a woman dedicated to taking control of her financial life. She isn’t depending on someone else–a husband, a boss, a family member or the government–to take care of her.

When I talk about being rich in this column, I’m talking about one thing: money. I’m talking about investing, cash flow and taking charge of your financial life.

A rich woman isn’t someone who marries just for money, and she doesn’t stay in an unhealthy marriage because she’s afraid she can’t take care of herself financially. A rich woman doesn’t goes to work day in and day out to a job she can’t stand. A rich woman doesn’t agonizes over not spending enough time with her children. And a rich woman doesn’t allow her self-esteem to shrivel because she constantly subordinates herself to her husband or boss because they control the money.

Why Be a Rich Woman? 
I write and speak this message because I believe that today, more than ever, women must take charge of their own financial lives. In my opinion, a woman can’t be free until she’s financially free.

I’m often asked, “Is there really a difference between men and women when it comes to money and investing?” The answer is: No. And yes. The how-tos of investing–how to find a good rental property, how to know when to buy and sell a stock, how to spot great business opportunities–are the same for men and women. What’s different are the issues women face in the world of money and investing. The following statistics clearly illustrate some of these issues:

• Nearly half of women over the age of 50 are single. This means that many of these women are responsible for their own financial well-being.
• One out of every two marriages ends in divorce. What is the number-one thing couples fight about? Money. And who usually ends up with the children? The woman. Now she must provide for herself–and her kids.
• In the first year following divorce, a women’s standard of living drops an average of 73 percent.
• In 2003, more women declared bankruptcy than graduated college.
• Fifty-eight percent of baby boomer women have less than $10,000 set aside for retirement.
• Of the elderly living in poverty, three out of four are women. Yet 80 percent of these women weren’t poor when their husbands were alive.

These statistics tell me that many of us women haven’t been educated about money, much less investing. We haven’t been expected to know anything on the subject. Unfortunately, too many of us, especially as we get older, are finding ourselves in dire financial consequences. This needs to change.

What the Heck Do I Know? 
Not long ago, I was absolutely clueless about money or investing. To me, investing was something smarter and wealthier people did, not something I could do. In 1989, three years after Robert and I were married, Robert said to me, “Kim, it’s time you start investing.” All I could say was, “Huh?” He then began to teach me what his rich dad taught him. Then he said, “OK, now you’re on your own.”

To make a long story short, my first investment property was a small, two bedroom, one bath house in Portland, Oregon. It cost $45,000 and required a $5,000 down payment, which I didn’t have. Robert and I were broke at the time–and about $400,000 in debt.

I looked at this rental property and was scared to death. What if the tenant moves out? What if the roof leaks? What if I lose money? What if, what if, what if. Somehow, I finally got past my fear and purchased the property. This first property gave me a whopping positive cash flow of $25 each month. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a start. And it was with this first, small property I learned the fundamentals of real estate investing.

From there I went on to purchase more single-family homes, small apartment buildings, then larger apartment buildings, commercial buildings and eventually other types of investments. Instead of $25 per month per property, my cash flow per property today ranges from $5,000 to $30,000 per month.

It’s Your Choice 
Which do you want, financial independence or financial dependence? Investing, whether it be in real estate, paper assets or businesses, isn’t rocket science. It simply takes some time and education. And I’ll talk about that in future articles.

Financial independence is about much more than money. It’s about self-esteem, dignity, better relationships and more meaning in your life. Ultimately, it’s about having the freedom to get out there and do what it is you truly want to do in life.

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Start your journey to financial independence and invest your time to educate yourself financially. Choose to become part of an organization or be around with people that is committed to your financial independence and have you what you truly want to do in your life or visit http://www.CA2020.net/ and learn more.

We’re coming up on the New Year. That means many of us will be declaring our goals for 2007. Not everyone sets goals, yet time and time again I read that a common trait among highly successful people is that they set goals.

Robert & I write down our goals at the start of every year. We often make a ceremony out of it. I find that when I am crystal clear on not only what the goal is, but more importantly why I want the have the goal, then I often end up accomplishing it.

But there is one step I’ve found, before you set your goals, that is extremely powerful and increases the likelihood of you accomplishing your new goals.

That step is:

Acknowledge and Celebrate Your Successes!

First of all, what constitutes a “success”? Anything. Anything that you want to acknowledge yourself for. It may be family-related, a business success, a physical win, a realization, “aha!” or mindset change you had. At first your list may start out slow but once you get going you’ll be amazed at the number of successes or wins you’ve experienced.

Here are the reasons for acknowledging your “wins”.
1) It puts you in a fabulous mood when you reflect back on all of your successes for the year. (Note: This should not be a once-a-year event. I recommend acknowledging your wins as often as possible.)

2) You put in a lot of effort in all that you do. If you don’t take the time to congratulate yourself then who will? Are you waiting for someone else to praise you for all you do? They may, which is always nice, but it’s more important that you acknowledge yourself.
If you never celebrate your successes – small and large – then you’ll start resenting all the work that you do, because there is no recognition of your efforts.

3) It’s difficult to get excited about setting new goals when you’ve never given yourself credit for the goals you have accomplished. I’ll be honest I don’t celebrate my wins nearly as often as I could. When I notice my enthusiasm level wane, for example, in my business, chances are I’m plowing forward without taking a few moments to say to myself, “Wow! Look at what I did!”

Once I recognize my successes then I’m revved up to take on more. By acknowledging your achievements you clear the way for more great things in your life.

So take a moment and acknowledge the heck out of yourself! You’ll love it!

-Kim Kiyosaki

It always makes me laugh when people, say, “Well, I’d rather be happy than rich!” My response is why not be both? Why would a person think that you have to be one or the other? I never understood that.

Along those lines I read a blurb in the December 4th issue of TIME Magazine.

It starts out, “Money can’t buy happiness but it can buy health”. There was a study done at Princeton University that found that the rich are healthier than the poor. The piece went on to say, “Seniors ages 55 to 64 who live below the poverty line were 6 times as likely to have a long-term condition that severely limits their activities as wealthy Americans of the same age whose earnings were at lease 7 times as high as the poverty line.

In another study the poor had a greater percentage of risk of heart attack than those with money.

So, as Robert’s Rich Dad often said, “Money may not be the most important thing in life but it affects everything that is important…and your health is very important.

So if we assume that the healthy, in general, are happier than the unhealthy (I know I’m not too pleasant when I’m sick), and the wealthy are healthier than the poor, then it seems that money certainly can affect a person’s happiness. -Kim Kiyosaki

At Rich Woman and Rich Dad we focus a lot on mindset and how your mindset affects your results. But what if, either consciously or unconsciously, you have a mindset that says, “My IQ is this much and that doesn’t change”. “I can learn new things but I can’t change my intelligence.” “I cannot get smarter”. “It is what it is and it does not change.”

According to Carol Dweck, the author of the book MINDSET – The New Psychology for Success, there are actually two types of mindsets. One, as I just mentioned, is the FIXED mindset. People with a fixed mindset believe that your intelligence, your talents, your abilities, even your personality does not change no matter what new things you learn, these things remain fixed.

The funny thing about the fixed mindset is that because these people believe they have only so much capacity they are over and over proving how smart they are. They cannot make a mistake, or heaven forbid fail, because that would show to the world that they’re not as smart as they profess to be.

The second mindset is the growth mindset. People with a growth mindset believe that everything – your abilities, your talents, your intelligence – can grow through learning and experience. These people have a thirst to learn. They love new challenges. They are inspired to stretch themselves to new boundaries.

Here’s a good example Ms. Dweck points out in her book. A study was done with young children, some with a fixed mindset and some with a growth mindset. Part one of the study was the children were all given a jigsaw puzzle to complete and they did so. In part two the children had the choice to do the same puzzle over again or do a second, more challenging, puzzle.

The children with the growth mindset all chose the harder,more challenging puzzle. The children with the fixed mindset chose to redo puzzle #1 because they knew they could it, they would have success. They did not choose the 2nd puzzle because there was a possibility they would fail.

They went with the sure thing.

Now, is it possible many of us possess both mindsets depending on the subject? Of course. I catch myself slipping into a fixed mindset in certain areas. For example, I tend to have a fixed mindset when it comes to me and art.

I tell myself, “Kim, you just don’t have the talent to be a artist. You wouldn’t know how to make the first stroke on a canvas.” And I actually believed it. After understanding the fixed and the growth mindset I realize that it’s not that I don’t have the talent it’s simply that I’ve chosen not to learn it. Big difference.

And I believe just by being aware of the two mindsets we can choose, in all types of situations, which mindset we want to operate from. For me, operating in the growth mindset is, from first-hand experience, how I do grow, how I improve my life, and, most importantly, how I get the most out of life. -Kim Kiyosaki