As is the case for many blonds, the journey began before I realized it. I don’t remember why I bought “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, by Robert Kiyosaki, although I have fuzzy recollections of wandering through Borders and grabbing it either on a whim or because my accountant recommended it after I became incorporated (clearly he had encountered my type before!). In any event I had finished my bachelors at Loyola in pre-law and, sufficiently repulsed by the idea of law school, started my own business as a private music teacher. It was fall of 2007 and once I started that book I couldn’t put it down.
Rich Dad Poor Dad completely changed my perspective on how to create wealth, although this statement implies I had some idea of how to do that in the first place, which I did not. My long term financial plans were either a) work like a maniac ‘til 65 and hopefully retire with enough to last a few more years, b) marry rich or c) hope my parents died richer than they are now. Fortunately I read Kiyosaki and came up with a better plan.
I thought I was on the right track, as any charming, confident, self-employed and totally naive babe would think; I graduated college debt free, thanks to a scholarship I earned through the fabulously amazing Jack Kent Cooke Foundation; bought my first house, biggest mistake ever; and I was teaching kids how to play piano, an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable "job". My finances, however, were a bit dicey and I soon realized my plan had some flaws. Private teaching limited my profits since all income depended directly on the hours I taught; there would always be a limit to the number of students I could fit into a week and what I could reasonably charge for a lesson. Kiyosaki showed that, while I was a step ahead of an employee, a cash flowing business operating independently of my time was the better path. He also demonstrated that the true path to financial freedom is through real estate investing.
Fortunately naïveté and a general belief that I can do anything blinded me to the vastness of the mountain I was preparing to climb when I decided real estate investing was a good idea.
Kiyosaki’s book was a blinding revelation on how our economy “prepares” its youth for the rat race, but it fell short in explaining the mechanics of taking the road less trampled. How could I turn my teaching gig into a cash flowing business that wasn’t dependent on my limited time? Real estate investing sort of seemed like a broad topic, how was I supposed to start? While I finished the book with new perspective and a tenacious attitude, I did not have a plan of action. The seed of real estate investing, however, had been planted in my subconscious, which evidently had a lot of storage room because it took root and still hasn’t let go!
To see what I'm doing now, take a look at: http://www.newrichbdg.com/
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