Rich Dad Education Blog

Rookie: A beginner. A starter. Somebody that is just doing or trying something for the first time.

For many, the term rookie is most commonly used in sports. All of the major sports have a rookie of the year award, and the term "rookie learning curve" is often used by announcers when analyzing a play that the first-year pro could have performed better. Rookies in sports oftentimes have to endure rituals (i.e., pranks) that serve as their rite of passage into the sport. Whatever small humiliation this brings, I am sure it is eased by the large paycheck modern-day athletes receive.

The term rookie in sports is misleading, however. Take Blake Griffin, this year's NBA rookie of the year. He was a rookie by NBA standards, but this year was hardly the first year he had picked up a basketball. Blake had been dribbling and shooting for most of his life before he stepped on a NBA court. Yes, technically a rookie by NBA standards, but hardly a rookie to the game of basketball.

In the real estate world, those venturing into real estate investing for the first time truly are rookies, in every sense of the word. If you are a rookie to real estate, at no point will you have LESS knowledge about real estate than you do now. That can simultaneously be both an encouraging and demoralizing fact. As time passes, things that might feel difficult today will become second nature. While your lack of experience may be a liability today, in time, experience will become your greatest asset. This process occurs naturally as things done right on deals are repeated, and mistakes made are avoided on future deals. For a rookie to overcome inexperience, they need to simply harness the raw energy and excitement they have for their new venture, and avoid the major mistakes that rookies often make.

If these mistakes occur, you can overcome them, as the human spirit, through dedication and perseverance, can overcome nearly anything. Depending on the magnitude of the mistake, however, it may leave you financially or emotionally stretched, and less eager to put in the time to get that next deal done. Make sure you are aware of these four common mistakes new real estate investors make, and avoid your own rookie growing pains.

Mistake #1. Paying Too Much for a Property

This is listed first because this is the single biggest mistake a person new to real estate can make. New real estate investors are often very anxious to get their first deal done. This is completely understandable, but this anxiety coupled with a lack of experience can lead to disastrous results.

It is extremely important that your first deal be a good deal. There will be plenty of time over your real estate career to prove any critics you have wrong and build your wealth and cash flow. Take the time at the beginning of it to make sure your first deal is a success. Make sure the numbers work, and don't hesitate to say no and walk away if they don't. A little extra time at the start can help you avoid one of the biggest pitfalls new real estate investors make.

Mistake #2. Underestimating & Overlooking Repair Costs

Rookie exuberance can lead to mistake number one, but flat out rookie inexperience is often the culprit of mistake number two. The rookie real estate investor will run all the numbers, and everything looks perfect, except for the $10,000 in repair costs that were missed. Despite their own inexperience, it is amazing how many rookie real estate investors fail to utilize the services of a professional inspector to assess the cost of repairs.

In time, you will be able to perform a cursory evaluation of any property you are looking at, and be able to generally assess what repair work needs to be done. This eventually will help speed up the process and help you move away from deals that don't make financial sense. For now, make sure all deals are pending a final professional inspection, and then take the time to get bids from numerous contractors.

Mistake #3. Analysis Paralysis

Let's say a rookie investor makes mistake number one or two, and loses a little bit of money. Not ideal to say the least, but at least they have the experience of their first deal under their belt, have a better idea of how the process works, and are better equipped when they run across the next (and better) deal. They are in a far better position to succeed than those rookies that make mistake number three.

The rookie that makes this type of mistake spends a lot of time studying. While we should learn something new every day, this new investor substitutes education for action. There is always one more thing that they need to learn before they get to work. It is a guarantee that you can learn while you earn but you will see no profits before you start making offers. Live by the mantra improve as you go.
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Mistake #4. Rental Flubs

Those real estate investors that are attracted to the Rich Dad philosophy often gravitate to rental properties. This makes perfect sense, as rental income can provide the cash flow one needs to escape the treacherous rat race that too many of us still find ourselves in. While this is an extremely attractive investing option, it also carries with it additional potential pitfalls.

Part of the analysis to avoid mistake number one, when purchasing a property you intend to rent, include a vacancy factor and future repair fund. A surprising number of new real estate investors fail to include these, are far too conservative in their estimates, or don't save the money for these intended purposes. Eventually, you will need this rainy-day money, so be prudent, and save it for its intended purpose.

Another common mistake made by rookies is overestimating rental income. What you think it should rent for, or what your spouse thinks it will rent for, is no substitute for taking the time to learn the area where the property is located. Yes, there are things you can do to make your property more desirable, and perhaps bring in a higher rent,; however, it is far better to be surprised than disappointed, regardless of your experience in the real estate game.

Real estate investing has changed the lives of numerous people, and there is no reason that you can't be the next one. Avoid these common mistakes that many rookies in real estate make, and you may gain the momentum to get to your destination far quicker than you imagined.

Posted 08:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"Stocks inched higher today on news that a ten-legged pink elephant was seen trotting down Fifth Avenue."

The above quote is obviously fictitious, but only obvious because we are currently unaware of the existence of ten-legged pink elephants. If these creatures are ever proven to exist, and one is seen strolling down Fifth Avenue on a slow news day...well, you never know. The moral here is that news services love to attribute the daily rise and fall of the markets to news. That's what they do, whether they are correct in their analysis or not.

This is not to say that all things reported don't actually impact the marketplace. Consider the following fictitious headline:

"Stocks plummeted today on news that an asteroid was on a collision course with the eastern seaboard. The government stated they have a contingency plan, but investors remained unconvinced."

Here the plummet in the marketplace lies in the fear and uncertainty that the news event is creating. Investors are greatly influenced in the decision-making process by fear, and loathe uncertainty. As callous as it may sound, markets like to know the exact costs of disasters, both physical and economical. Without this exact figure, uncertainty and fear can feed off each other, and drive markets to places they probably wouldn't go otherwise.

The last few years have provided ample evidence to support this point. On February 26, 2007, Alan Greenspan warned of a looming recession, and the next day the Dow Jones industrial average had its biggest drop since 9-11. A year and a half later, amidst the financial crisis, the market had even a bigger drop attributed to fears that the House of Representatives would not pass a stimulus bill. The prolonged downtrend in the stock market continued to exist as long as it did because of fear and uncertainty. It only reversed course once this fear and uncertainty subsided.

None of this is to say that the fear, or the later lack of fear, was justified or correct. The financial markets could be the healthiest they have ever been, or could be on the brink of disaster. The author of this article will leave that to more talented minds than his own. The point attempted to be made here is that news services and those in the market often feed off each other, with negative news having a much quicker impact than the gradual uptick that good news brings.

News and the Technical Trader

The most disciplined technical trader finds ways to not be easily caught up in news headlines. The benefit of news headlines is minimal to this type of trader, as an adept technical trader will be able to tell you the general mood of the market by analyzing the trends that have occurred within the charts of that market. The technical trader will be able to identify when fear sets in, and track the course of it slowly subsiding, simply by analyzing the stock. A news report is not needed to tell him or her the mood of the market because, quite frankly, it shouldn't matter what the perceived mood is. The technical trader lives by a set of rules that guide their trading. One of the most basic rules that almost all traders have is trading in the direction of the trend.

So, as a technical trader, if you adhere to the basic tenets of technical analysis, then you aren't selling puts in an uptrend, and aren't buying calls in a downtrend. This disciplined trader may watch the news, may follow their favorite stock trading personality, and even politely listen to their brother-in-law as he spouts off his opinion of the next hot buy. In the end, whatever is happening in the world is secondary to what is happening on the chart.

News that Matters

While the daily dose of news from major news outlets can be read simply as entertainment by most technical traders, there is plenty of news that technical traders follow. Most of this comes in the form of economic reports and news specific to the stocks in the active trades and watchlist. Some of the larger economic reports will even have a familiar ring to non-traders, such as housing starts, existing home sales, factory orders, and consumer confidence. While this information can be analyzed in a macro sense from reading the stock chart, these reports are devoid of opinion and speculation that can give many traders a better understanding of what is happening in the market as a whole. If you are unfamiliar with economic reports, and want to start following them, simply type economic reports into the search engine of your choice. You should be able to easily find recent economic results and dates of the upcoming ones.

The news that technical traders focus the most on, however, pertains to the news that surrounds the stocks they are trading and are on their watchlist. In today's internet age, combined with the trading platforms that exist, being able to access the news of any individual company has become fairly easy. Tracking the news of the individual companies that you are following can give you a much better understanding of why the stock is behaving the way it does. It can also occasionally demonstrate trends within trends that are specific to that stock. These individual stock behaviors are never reason enough to buy, but may give enough reason to avoid the stock for a while.

One news event that all traders should follow if they don't already is the earnings reports. Earnings announcements are crucial for stocks because of the dramatic volatility they can create surrounding that stock around the time of the announcement. Some traders eagerly await these reports, and have trading strategies in place specific to earnings, while others want to know when earnings are released so they can close out their positions in advance. If you hold a stock through an overnight earnings report, it is not unheard of for the stock to open significantly lower than your stop price, and you will be stuck with the difference. If you are new to trading, it may be best to sit as a spectator through the first few earnings reports of a stock until you gain a touch more experience.

Stock traders generally enjoy following the news as it relates to the market place. This is natural as it relates to what they do for a living, and the stories are going to be more relatable and interesting to them. Don’t feel guilty when you go to your market recap page of your favorite news source. Just don't let the opinions you find therein influence what you see on the chart a few minutes later.

Posted 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Regardless of our age or station in life, we rarely welcome the word no. Whether you are a toddler wanting a toy, a young man asking a girl to dance, or an entrepreneur seeking additional capital from investors, the word no brings with it the denial of what you want in that moment. This denial often brings with it a high level of intense emotion: the child will scream, saying that they are never leaving their room, the young man will swear off love, and the entrepreneur may lose faith in their idea and even themselves.

Fear of rejection is one of the most common fears adults have. This is tragic on the individual level, and a loss on the collective level as well. How much great art, how many novels and plays will never be seen because the artist was afraid of being told no? How many great business ideas and innovations never came to pass because the person was told no once, and never pursued the idea again? If fear of rejection and failure did not exist, our world may look very different than it does now.

Don't count yourself among the fallen souls who give up on their dreams and passions because someone may tell you no. If you engage in real estate investing or other entrepreneurial endeavors, then you are likely to hear no numerous times. One of the cornerstones of real estate investing is making offers in which the entire premise is that you will be told no far more than you will be told yes. Even knowing that, there are still people who are afraid to make those first real estate offers because it might be rejected. For those that have this fear of rejection, it needs to be dealt with head on.

Increasing Your Probability of Success

If you are crippled by the fact that you may hear a no to your idea, then you need to change your mind set. Robert Kiyosaki has stated, "the more I risk being rejected, the better my chances are of being accepted." This is a diametrically opposite way of approaching the same situation that cripples those paralyzed by fear. Instead of focusing on the possibility of a no, it focuses on the possibility of a yes. Let's use an example to further illustrate this point.

An entrepreneur has a business idea that will require a certain amount of business capital in order to start. The dreams of the entrepreneur are big, have been well thought out, and now, just need a touch of capital to get going. This would-be entrepreneur has identified five sources of potential investment capital. It is very easy to calculate his chance to succeed if he is too fearful to make a presentation to these potential investors, as it is zero. This entrepreneur's chances of acceptance go up the more willing the entrepreneur is of being rejected.

Once this process starts, it generally feeds off itself. Most fears can be overcome through prolonged exposure to the source of the fear, or through repetition of the fearful act. That first no may truly be emotional and hard to deal with. The fifth no may cause frustration. However, at some point, after hearing no enough, character traits such as determination, perseverance, and tenacity start to form. In your quest in searching for that yes, as long as you don't stop trying along the way, you are likely to emerge a much stronger person than you were before. Often times the only way to get started is to put ourselves out there time and time again. Whether it is making offers in real estate or pitching your business idea to investors, you have no chance if you don't make the attempt. Search for that yes, search for that acceptance, and grow off of each no you hear.

Furthering Your Chance of Success

Human beings are not a mathematical equation nor are they a game of chance. If, on your next proposal, you do exactly what you did on the most recently rejected one, then you have done nothing to increase your chances of hearing a yes. Instead of wallowing in your rejection misery, when you get home, or to a place where you can think, analyze what might have gone wrong. A no can come for a variety of reasons, and often times turned into a yes if a couple of variables were changed. Here are a few questions to ask yourself after a rejection:

Were you clear and succinct in your proposal?
Did they like you?
Did they trust you?
Did your proposal fit their needs?
Did you stop to inquire what their investment goals were?
Based on their input, what changes could be made to increase your chances of hearing a yes next time?

Understanding, likeability, and trust have been cornerstones to business relationships for a long time. In many cases, an offer on a property receives a yes or a no simply on whether the person liked the potential investor or not. Whether the reason you heard a no was the numbers or a personality trait that transcended the numbers, take the time to analyze what went right and what went wrong. You will feel more confident the next time you go out and try again.

The Proper Mindset

Very few people read Robert Kiyosaki's books or take Rich Dad Coaching and view the world in the same way they did before embarking on the Rich Dad journey. Those that are exposed to the Rich Dad philosophy expand their mind, have a clear idea of what they want to accomplish, and engage the world in a more positive self-determining fashion. It should not be surprising when this improved mindset leads to success.

For those that are fearful of rejection, use this mindset to help overcome these fears. What do you want to accomplish, and what do you need to do to get there? When you have your destination in mind you will be far more likely to make those dreams manifest themselves in reality. In twenty years, you are likely to shake your head that you were ever intimidated by something as little as a two-letter word.

Posted 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Real Estate investing is one of the greatest means of escaping the rat race. While real estate deals come in many forms, it is oftentimes a tremendous way to generate cash flow, and allow you to eventually move from part-time investor to full-time real estate entrepreneur. The time period in which this can occur varies naturally, but the speed in which it occurs is often simply a direct result of the time and resources that an individual has to invest in the burgeoning real estate business.

No matter how much time the beginning real estate investor has to put into their new venture, it never seems to be enough. Between studying, analyzing properties, making offers, and putting together your power team, each day reaches its conclusion with the new investor wishing there was more time to accomplish the tasks at hand. Without a doubt, real estate investors can reach a point where this type of time commitment is not required, but for those at the early stages of their real estate empires, it is a time intensive process.

When you couple the nature of beginning the real estate investing process with work and family commitments that already exist, it can become a bit overwhelming. Finding work and family balance in your new ventures can become frustrating, but this frustration is lessened when you find creative ways to include your family members in your real estate ventures. Individuals that find ways to involve their family in their business can not only have a more rewarding family life but also find that their family members may bring skill sets to the table that help maximize the profitability of the project at hand.

Let's imagine that your goal was to find a property that you could rent out to generate cash flow. The following are suggestions on ways to incorporate your family in the different stages of this project. (Because every family dynamic is different, naturally this example will not be fit every family, but hopefully, it gives you ideas on how you can include your family members in whatever project you are working on.)

Finding the Property

Real estate investors spend a large amount of time looking at properties. For new real estate investors, it is often recommended that they learn the property values in one area first before moving onto other areas. While a good deal of this work will be done on the computer or with a real estate agent, there will also be a good deal of good old-fashion leg work that needs to be done.

Doing this leg work might present an opportunity to create a family activity. Nice warm days might allow for family walks while looking at properties. A car ride can also work. While on this activity, create real estate games you can play that serve the dual purpose of both entertainment and teaching your family about what you are doing. The Guess the Property Value game actually can be fairly fun for most ages as even young children like these types of activities. During the course of looking at these properties, you are ideally learning more about the real estate area you are focusing on while spending time with your family.

Fixing the Property

Whether you are buying to sell or to rent, there is a good chance that your property will need some work. While much of this work may be contracted out, there may be many projects that can be done by yourself, and much of this work may lend itself to family involvement. The trick here is to balance the work that needs to be done with areas that your spouse or teenage children may have genuine interest in.

While you can take the taskmaster approach and crack the proverbial whip, lay out the numerous tasks that need to be done and see which ones might be interesting to them. No one is going to volunteer to clean out the old bathroom or dust off the top of the fridge, so on those types of activities, don't be afraid to do those yourself. What you may find interest in are many of the more artistic/decision-making items. How you present the house goes a long way in maximizing your profit/rent, and your spouse and children may be interested in deciding which colors to use, flowers to plant, and other artistic framing activities. The key is to look at all the variety of activities that need to be done, and find what your family might genuinely like to help with. Involve them in the decision-making process so they have ownership of the project. You might discover skills in your children you didn't know they had.

Managing/Selling the Property

All of the work that goes into finding and fixing the property is just that: work. It all leads up to the point where you put the house on market or decide to rent it out for cash flow. While a great deal of the profits generated from the sale may go back into building your financial capital, if at all possible, you should try to reward your family for the joint effort that you all engaged in. By truly making it a family affair, not only will you teach your children the value of work, but that of investing. Numerous examples from Rich Dad Poor Dad should come to mind. Naturally, we all want to model our own teachings to our children after Rich Dad, and during this example of the real estate process, the best way would be to have a family meeting to decide what to do with the profits that come from the property.

Children are naturally going to want immediate gratification—that is why they are children. During this meeting, it might be an excellent opportunity to play the Cash Flow game to help illustrate what cash flow could mean to the family, and to them, in the long term. While some of these lessons may sink in quicker than others, the main purpose here is that you are spending time with your family while working on your business, and hopefully passing along a few lessons as a parent along the way.

Getting started in real estate can be a time consuming activity, but having a family should never be an excuse on why you can't succeed. Not all members of your family are going to be as excited as you, or they may not even want to be involved. It is up to you to find the right approach on how to involve your family in different aspects. For those that succeed in doing so, you will be rewarded with a great experience.

Posted 03:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently had a conversation with a veteran trader, and told him about the article I would be doing for Rich Dad Education on families and the financial markets. I have asked this trader for much advice over the years, and no matter the complexity of the question, he has always been generous with his time and provides answers for whatever questions I pose. During my recent conversation with him, I asked him if he could think of family activities that could be centered around his work in the financial markets. For the first time ever, he gave me a blank stare.

While real estate investing has been referred to as a people business, no such claim has been made about professional traders. Traders live in a cold, calculating world of numbers and probability, and oftentimes develop a lone-wolf mentality when it comes to their trading. They do the scans, they analyze the companies, they alone take the time to analyze chart after chart until it comes time to pull the trigger and make the trade. Sometimes, they ask a fellow trader's opinion on this, but more often than not, it is done alone. It is no wonder the veteran trader gave me a blank stare.

After that blank stare, the trader thought a few moments, and I asked him another question. How much time do you spend with your family now versus other jobs you have had? He replied quickly, "It's not even close, I probably spend 3-4 times more time with my family now than any 9-5 job I ever had. Not only that, but it's whenever I want. If my kid has a game, I'm there. If my wife needs help, I'm there. If the baby is crying, I'm there."

This is not true of all traders. Many traders are unorganized, undisciplined, and obsessively comb chart after chart after chart trying to find the next big trade. They obsess over their trading to the point that not only does it affect their personal life, but it affects their trading as well. They lose perspective and clarity, and turn trading from a passion to a chore.

One of the great appeals that trading for a living has for people is the flexibility it gives to the individual. Without a doubt, there is a cost that needs to be paid upfront in time in order to become adept at trading. Chart reading, identifying support and resistance, and analyzing fundamental data are not skills that happen overnight. Over time however, once the fundamentals of trading have been learned and practice becomes experience, trading can become one of the most time-efficient activities you engage in. Some traders look at their watchlist in five minutes, and can see whether there is or is not a trade to be made that day. While there are certainly days that need more time, if family matters are pressing on any given day, the trader can focus on his/her family. The calculating world of numbers will be waiting for them when they get back.

Trading indirectly allows you to spend quality time with your family in ways other occupations simply cannot. There are, however, some fun activities that you may want to try in order to teach your spouse and children what you do, and have them learn a little about your passion.

Activity One - Learning about Companies

Yes, technical traders, I know you don't need to know about the fundamentals of a company to be a successful trader. Still, learning a little more in depth about some of the companies on your watchlist has no downside, and gives you more depth as a trader. Take a few minutes a couple of times a week to investigate a company on your watchlist that you may not be familiar with. Learn more about the products and services they make, when they were founded, etc. Then, at dinner or another family time, talk to your kids about that company, and try to tie it in to products they may be familiar with. This allows your kids (and, oftentimes, spouse) to not view your trading in such an abstract sense.

Activity Two - Up Down Game

This game can be added to in complexity due to the desire/interest/age of your children. Find a fun stock that your children can relate to, and have the family guess each evening whether it will go up or down the next day. You will get more interest in this game than you might initially think, and over time, after you are right far more than your children (at least you better, on average, be right more than your children), you can pass on to those older children that are interested a few of the basic principles on why you "guess" the way you do. Feel free to create a chart to put on the fridge or wall, or a spreadsheet so the family members can follow along. A simple game that only takes a few minutes can help connect your family to what you do.

These are just a couple of suggestions on how to give your family a glimpse into the world of the lone-wolf trader. While creativity may not be the strongest trait of the number-crunching trader, don't limit yours in finding ways to spend a few minutes with your family in the trading world. Trading in the financial markets provides wonderful benefits in the form of free and flexible time that you can spend with your family. While it is unlikely that anyone in your family will want to hear a lecture on trend lines, look for opportunities to expose your spouse and kids in ways that they can connect to out in the real world.

Posted 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rich Dad Education attracts some of this most motivated people around—people that wish to better themselves and their place in life. This motivation often increases after hearing Robert or Kim Kiyosaki speak, reading one of the numerous books in the Rich Dad series, or attending a Rich Dad Education workshop. After these events, there is a fire that is set under the individual, and they can't wait to get back home and start applying what they have learned to their everyday lives. When coupled with natural motivation, the excitement that is produced from these events can produce magical results.

A problem that many encounter upon reentering their everyday lives is that their everyday lives are already pretty full. While all of our eventual goals are to exit the rat race, many of us, out of current necessity, find ourselves in a job of some type that requires X amount of time each day. The necessity that requires us to keep punching in our proverbial (and oftentimes literal) time clock come in the form of the mouths we have to feed. Children, husbands, wives, and other family members that may depend on us not only represent a financial obligation, but also a time commitment in their own right. Whether you are up with the baby at 4 a.m., attending soccer practice, or simply spending time connecting with your family, this time commitment coupled with work commitments can quickly eat up your time each day. The excitement and enthusiasm of those with family commitments can quickly dissipate, and lead individuals to use the far too common excuse: "I simply don't have the time."

The “I simply don’t have the time,” excuse has been disproven by many people with equally hectic schedules. They have found time to balance both work and family obligations, and found additional time to move toward their dreams and financial goals. Your hectic schedule is not unique to you. Most people find themselves stretched in numerous directions having to make hard choices about what they will do with their time that day. Those that find the time to do it all oftentimes simply maximize time others let slip throughout the day. Below are a few suggestions on how you might better maximize the precious time you have.

Tip One: Short Bursts

Can you imagine how much work you could get done if, for eight straight hours, nobody interrupted you? Imagine a situation where there were no distractions or obligations that required your attention. Imagine long stretches where you could simply sit down, and work on your entrepreneurial, real estate, or financial markets dreams for hours on end. Take a few moments to imagine this place of quiet productivity, and then never think about again—those with families need to readjust their work mindset.

Between work and family, there are seldom long stretches of quiet. Whether the baby needs a bottle, the dishes need washing, or your son wants a bedtime story read to him, there will always be interruptions. However, you will also find chunks of time between these activities. The key is to develop a work ethic that allows you to be highly productive during the short windows that develop throughout the day. These windows open up the opportunity for burst work sessions that may only last 15-30 minutes, but it is amazing what you can accomplish during these short stretches. These short stretches also have a cumulative effect in which they add up quickly to be large chunks of time. That two to three hours you wish you had each day to work on your new project probably exists; they simply don't occur all at once.

Tip Two: Create Family Activities Centered on Your New Business

The manner in which people pursue their escape from the rat race can take many forms. Some of these forms may be of more interest to your spouse or children than others, but there are usually ways to incorporate spending time with your family and working on your new project simultaneously. The corresponding real estate and financial market articles give numerous suggestions specific to these areas of interest in which you can maximize your family and work time by making them one.

You are only limited by your own creativity in how you do this. It is important, as you think of ideas, to realize that your partner or child (especially teenager) may be reluctant to participate, as the new project that you are so passionate about may completely bore them. Even family bonding time may seem like a chore to them. The wise individual goes to great lengths to make their family feel that it is as much of their project as it is yours. Perhaps this comes through financial incentives or through other perks that are unique to your family dynamic. In the end, if your family members feel they are contributing and share in the success of your new venture, then not only are they more likely to participate, you will also get to spend a lot more time with your family as your new venture takes off.

Tip Three: Time for Sacrifice

Any successful person often is required to sacrifice along the way. Those with families often refuse to sacrifice spending time with their partner or with their children as this is a higher priority to them. For these individuals, no amount of financial success can compare to the bonding that occurs within their family through the events that they share together. This is a noble and fulfilling approach to life.

With that said, there are countless other opportunities during the course of the day that you can sacrifice in order to help achieve your financial goals. These often come in the form of our vices, habits, and hobbies that we participate in. Whether it is that 20 minutes reading the paper and drinking coffee in the morning, or the sporting event you just have to watch, most people spend a large amount of time on areas other than work and family. Without getting preachy, the next time you want to make an excuse about lacking time, think about the amount of time you spent watching TV, on a hobby, or surfing the internet in the last 24 hours. Success requires sacrifice, and these areas are a wonderful place to start. Once you exit the rat race, you will have more time to spend on your hobbies and areas of enjoyment than you know what to do with.

Family can be one of the greatest motivational factors in life. They often provide the extra energy that we need to accomplish the tasks at hand. For those that desire to be successful, balancing our ambition with family can be done, and, often, simply requires creativity in finding ways to incorporate our family within our new projects and readjusting our work ethic. The payoff can be rich, both financially and in the memories we create.

Posted 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)