Hey Stefan Aarnio here. Today’s video is all about how the rich don’t work for money. Now this is chapter one in Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Great book, a book that totally changed my life when I was 22, I was graduating from university. I remember I saw a poster in the underground tunnel in the University that said, “Get rich like Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” and I thought to myself, “Man, I got a poor dad. My dad drives limos for a living. Wouldn’t it be great to have a rich dad? I wonder what that’s like.”
So, I bought this book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and the first chapter says the rich don’t work for money, and what a powerful lesson that is. I’d been raised as a middle class mentality. What does middle class mean? Middle class means go to school, get a good job. Middle class means you get that good job, you get yourself a car and a house. That’s the ticket to middle class.
By the way, if you own a house and a car, you’re a middle class man, and I remember I was living poor. I was technically poor. I didn’t own a house. I didn’t own a car and my mom was middle class, my dad was poor and I thought, “Man, I want to be rich,” and it said the rich don’t work for money and I thought, “Man, that’s amazing.”
Now what does that mean? The rich don’t work for money means that the rich are working for something else. Now the rich are working for assets, and what’s an asset? Real estate’s an asset. A business is an asset, intellectual property, a book is an asset, software is an asset. Those things are assets, gold, silver, so many different assets, but an asset really is something that pays you every month.
So, the last couple of years, I’ve been working really hard for properties I own that pay me every month. I’ve been working hard for books that sell every day and pay me every month. I’ve been working hard for businesses that sell every day and pay me every day, and those assets are things you get to keep. That’s something that you need to know. It’s not what you make, it’s what you keep and when you keep those assets, you keep those assets over time. That’s how the rich get richer and the middle class and the poor who worked for money don’t.
Now think about this. The way to get really rich in the world is all about what you keep. If you keep money, good for you, but money isn’t that valuable. Keeping assets is better. I got a property. I just had an appraisal on it, bought it years ago for $160000. Today it’s worth $650000 and it makes more money than the average Winnipegger here working every day, and that one little property got me out of the rat race, which was great, at age 23, but that property just keeps going up and up and up in value and I just keep it, keep it, keep it, keep it, keep it, and one day property like that could be totally paid off and wouldn’t that be great?
You get to keep the money or you can remortgage it, go out and buy more properties, have more cash flow, more assets. When you realize that the game is not about making money, but the game is about acquiring assets, keeping assets, and it’s about what you keep, you change how you think about the world.
I was in the jungle in Costa Rica over the winter, fasting. No food, just water in the jungle for 18 days and a voice in my head … It could have been God. It could have been the universe. It could have been my own thoughts, who knows, said, “Do less,” and this year I’ve made this year more about assets.
This year I’m acquiring another ten properties to keep forever. This year I’m putting out three books that I get to keep forever. This year I’m putting out software I keep forever. This year I’m putting out an e-commerce business I keep forever. This year I’m working on a storage deal on a warehouse. I’m going to keep that forever. So, this year for me is about keeping things forever and that’s what the rich do.
The rich work hard for assets for rich. The rich do not work hard for money. It’s attractive to work for money. It’s attractive to make a lot of money, and I’ve made millions and millions of dollars, but it’s not about what you make, it’s about what you keep and not just what you keep, but what you convert into assets and the assets are the things that paid.
So, don’t work hard for money, ladies and gents. If you want to be middle class or you want to be poor, then you can go work hard for money, but if you want to be rich, work hard for assets and keep those assets forever. I want to hear about the assets that you’re working hard for and the assets that you’re keeping. Put them down in the comments below. I want to hear some of your stories and we’ll catch up with you in the comments.
I’m Stefan Aarnio. Work hard for assets. Don’t work hard for money. We’ll see in the next video.
