Small vs Big (Pt 2)

Chapter Two

Basically, a school is very important in the grooming and development of a complete individual. By school, I mean an association of individuals that are brought together because on one motive which is to be taught or to learn from each other. But a school cannot make one wealthy because like I wrote in the proceeding chapter, wealth creation cannot be taught. Most of the world’s best entrepreneurs are academic drop outs or academic failures. Richard Branson the Chairman of virgin group of companies for instance did not have a complete formal education because he realized that what he got from school did not conform to his ambitious.

The most intriguing part is that he started his career right from high school. Even though his first blow wasn’t very successful, he never gave up and this paid up for him as today he is the worlds largest brand maker.
A school is a place for development of talents, acquisition of skills etc. Today the school does not carry out some primary function as mentioned above but rather has gone astray. This is the reason why many Nigerian graduates are not qualified for jobs in their chosen profession. In the Nigerian society today, people without a complete formal education are all but qualified for skilled jobs. Their pay is very low, and atimes are victims of discrimination in their places of work. Also in Nigeria, the university is the only safe Haven towards solving a good job. Some positions are left vacant for only federal university graduates. Therefore with this forms of discrimination how then can someone be wealthy? Let us look at the following ways of tackling our finances in a society like ours.




- Never spend much money on liabilities; Liabilities are expenses incurred that do not contribute to the accumulation of wealth but inhibits wealth spend money on assets. On the contrary to liabilities assets are expenses incurred for the generation of further wealth. “Good investment” is a perfect example of assets.
- Avoid self-limitation. Limiting yourself mentally, reduces your productive capability. You should never tell yourself I cannot; always try to forget ahead knowing that ‘you can never be too rich no matter where you are. Task yourself mentally by asking yourself what the prospects are to achieve your set goal. Some people call themselves failures unprivileged etc because they’ve tried once or twice without success. Such names reduce you both mentally and morally they make you give up. Thomas Edison the invent our of the incandescent lamp tried nine hundred and ninety nine times without success but he was never a failure because he never gave up. Remember no one is a failure until you give up.
- Let us consider the Richest man in Babylon by George S. Clason. This is a book I never get tired of reading.

“Babylon as at the time was the richest kingdom in the world. Although a very rich nation its citizens were sinking in the seas of poverty. The king became worried and wondered why so few of the people acquired the gold. The chancellor investigated and brought back his observations that only a few of the people had the knowledge of safekeeping part of the gold they received. For others to be taught how to keep a part of the gold. Arkard, then the richest man in Babylon was called upon to handle the job and he titled his lecture “the seven cures for a lean purse”.
They are

1. Start fattening your purse. The very first he prescribed was for every ten coins earned, a tenth of it should be kept.
2. Control your expenses. To do this, you do not confuse your “needs” with your “wants or desires”. Everybody is with more wants than he can actually backup with money. A budget must be made for the necessary expenses. The budget reveals the crevasses and holes in your purse and enables you to seal them.
3. Multiply your wealth. When you have been able to control your expenses, your wealth should multiply. A man’s wealth is not the amount of money he carries about but the golden scream that continually flows into his purse. Put each coin to labouring that it may reproduce its kind and multiply your wealth, a source of continous wealth. Relating this point to today’s world, though gold is no longer in use, we still have expenses to handle. By trading part of your earned income properly, you should multiply your wealth.
4. Guard your treasures from loss. Learn to invest your income only where it is safe where your money could be recollected when desired with fair interest. Seek relevant information from very reliable sources study carefully before entrusting your money into any investment, make acquaintance with the risks involved. Here is how his first investment went.
- “My own investment was a tragedy to me at the time. I entrusted the guarded savings of a year to a brick maker named Azmur, who was traveling over the far seas to tyre and agreed to buy for me the rare jewels of the Phoenicians. These we would sell upon his return and divide the profits. As it happened, the Phoenicians were scoundrels and sold him bits of glass. My treasure was lost. Today, my training would show to me at once the folly of entrusting a bricklayer to buy jewels.
5. Make your home a profitable investment. Money lenders gladly consider the desires of men who seek homes and bind for their families. Readily, may you borrow to pay the bricklayer and builders for such commendable purposes if you can show a reasonable portion of the necessary sum which you had provided for the purpose.
After completion of the house, you can pay the money lenders with the same regularity as you were paying the Landlord. This is because each payment reduces your indebtedness to the borrower and will reduce your cost of living, making available more of your earnings for pleasure and gratification of your desires.
6. Insure a future Income. The man who because of his understanding of the laws of wealth acquires growing surplus should give thoughts to those future days. He should plan certain investments or provisions that’ll endure safely for many years, yet will be available when the time arrives which he has so wisely anticipated. There are so many ways a man may provide for his future. Summarily, his sixth lecture was on investment. By so doing, you accumulate wealth for yourself and to keep you going at a time you are unable to keep your job going.
7. Increase your ability to earn. He said “a young man came to me complaining that his income from his job was not enough to pay his expenses. There upon I told him that this being the case, he was a poor customer for the money lender, as he possessed no surplus earning capacity to repay the loan. The man told me that he had been going to his employer six times weekly to seen an increase in his wage but it has always been to no avail. According to Arkard the man possessed what was required to earn more, a proper and commendable desire. Desire must precede accomplishment. The secret of people whom today serve as our idols role models etc is their determination before anything can be accomplished. The man lacked a basic principle towards earning more which is determination. There are many channels via which an individual can earn more even without a raise in wage. He lacked knowledge. The seventh and last remedy concerns cultivating your own powers; to study and become wiser; to become more skillful; to be more determined; act big, think big and talk big. Always carryout the affairs of man change and improve because keen minded people seek grater skills that would enable them to better serve those upon whose patronage they depend. The more of wisdom we know, the more we earn. The man who seeks to learn more of his craft shall be richly rewarded. Desire should be backed up with determination. These desires must be simple and definite. They defeat their own purpose should they be too many too confusing or beyond a man’s training to accomplish.
Atimes when people are introduced to investment, they marvel and wonder where they are to get money for investment purposes. Unless you take total control of your expenses, the debt burden on you could lead you to an early demise. It is a well known fact that what an individual earns is not a major determinant of his wealth. The reason being that the money has conflicting needs. Our society is constantly changing so also our desires and needs. Certain people prefer sinking in the sea of illusions rather than have the freedom of real wealth. They choose lifestyle rather than riches. Many bosses are the ones that are caught by this problem. They always spend so much money on rather liabilities than assets. They feel investment is waste of good money. They are tied to just what they earn. Some of them rather think that very huge sums of money are required for investments without knowing that you have to start gradually and invest in good ventures. The money keeps increasing and multiplying itself. Some people blame their incapability to the fact that they are from very poor families. Research has shown that people from poor families are more hardworking than their rich counterparts. The fact is that we are on an endless treadmill where we work, generate income, expend our incomes and continue working. Robert Kiyosaki calls it the “rat rice”. It is a race where very hardworking people who choose to toil for their money and not embezzle end up with nothing to show for their labour because the income is already expended before it is received. Riches increase rather than satisfy desires. Wealth creation entails proper financial management. It is difficult for people to practice this because they consider it too risky. Remember there’s a risk in crossing the road and there’s a risk in not crossing the road. Every bit of money we get our hands on gives us the power to choose our future whether to be rich or poor. This money is a little soldier on our battlefield or wealth. Liabilities kills the soldier while assets empowers the soldier to produce more soldiers of its kind to continue battling for your financial security.

The basics towards wealth creation is paying yourself first. Something of note is that your are part of the reason other people get wealthy. Each liability bought empowers another man’s soldier to multiply. Financial intelligence according to Robert J. Kiyosaki is made up of the ability to read numbers, the science of making money from nothing, understanding market trends and the awareness of the laws and regulations governing investing. A combination os all these elements is needed to become successful in wealth creation.

Financial intelligence is necessary for the making of a good investor. Becoming a good and knowledgeable investor comes by experience most times. The media today has made very inexpensive convenient ways of educating you about financial markets.