It seems to be a very popular thing in the Personal Finance blogging community to discuss their thoughts on Robert Kiyosaki. Almost all of the blogs that I read regularly have done some sort of post on him at some time or another. I’ve read many people that love him and his writing and many people that think he’s a phony and that his work is garbage. I’ve read three of his books now and I don’t intend to do full book reviews (at least not yet) but I do want to throw out my two cents on his books and his philosophy.

I’m sort of right in the middle of the two extremes. I value his books for what they are but I’m not sure I agree with some of Kiyosaki’s decisions within his career.

I really enjoyed the books that I read by Mr. Kiyosaki. I think he is a great story teller and that the story he tells is very motivational. It was actually his book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad that drew my interest towards personal finance. A co-worker, who is a die-hard fan of his work, lent it to me and told me that it would change my life. Up to that point, I hadn’t read many personal finance books at all. Just stories and comic books. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t much of a fan of reading at all. My friend was right, however, the book did change my life. It didn’t change my life in the sense that I was now on track to financial freedom or to get out of the “Rat Race” but it did spark an interest in personal finance in general. It also gave me a new found joy in reading.

His ideas intrigued me but I was still skeptical to the methods that he used to generate wealth. In fact, after finishing the book, I still didn’t quite understand what his methods to generating wealth were. All of the sudden, I had this interest in making money and generating wealth. His book was like my gateway drug. I enjoyed it but I wanted something more. I wanted more details on how to build wealth and how to achieve financial freedom. His advice was inspirational but just not quite informative enough.

After reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad I purchased his books, Cash Flow Quadrant and Retire Rich, Retire Young. I wanted more insight in to his path to wealth. I found these books to be a whole bunch of the same. A great story, being told by a great story teller with very little concrete, how-to information. What little information he does give is all the cliches that everyone has heard for years. Don’t spend money on things you don’t need, live within your means, the greater the risk, the greater the reward, real estate can make you a lot of money, etc. etc. It’s all been said before but Kiyosaki wraps it all up in to a story about his two dads to try to make it sound like he’s speaking from personal experience.

I recently learned that the story of his two dads was based on his real life but, for the most part, wasn’t fact. It’s all a story that he made up to get his point across and to sell books. I lose a little bit of respect for him over this fact because his entire story that has inspired so many people is all based on a lie. While reading his book, I sort of already had the impression that his story was a little embellished but I didn’t realize that the entire premise was completely made up.

I lose even more respect for the guy when I see how he prices his board game. The game that he constantly discusses throughout all of his books costs about $200! That’s insane. He charges thousands of dollars to go to his seminars to further explain all the same cliches that you can get from his book. I thought he claims that all of his income is passive? I thought all of his money was generated by real estate? Why does he need to take advantage of the people who are desperately seeking the lifestyle that he enjoys by selling his products for prices that his fan base probably can’t afford? I don’t want to go off on a tangent about his, non book, products. I just don’t believe that all of his money is from his real estate practices that are “so easy that anyone can do”.

Back to his books… In conclusion, I think Kiyosaki is a great writer. His book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, will always have its place in my library. After all, it did begin my interest for personal finance. I now read Robert Kiyosaki’s books as what they are, a fictional story with a moral to it. They are like fables where the moral of the story is that anyone can get rich and quit the rat race. He writes inspirational stories that are easy to read but don’t buy them expecting to get answers on how to quit the rat race. Instead you get a vague, fictional, tale on how one man did it himself.

Want to get some other opinions on Kiyosaki?

• Brip Blap Discusses a little about him.
• The Simple Dollar Deconstructs Him.
• Consumerism Commentary Wonders if He’s a Liar?
• I Will Teach You To Be Rich Reviews Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

What do you guys think?

-M

As anybody who’s been around the blogosphere probably already knows, today is Blog Action Day. Thousands of websites are all coming together to write on the same topic; the environment. Since this is a site about making money, what better topic to discuss than making money while helping the environment.

Recycle. It’s environmentally responsible of you to recycle whether there’s money involved or not and if you are not in a position to make money on your recycling, you’ve still got to take that, morally responsible, high ground and recycle anyway.

What I have in mind for this post is to list off the various things that can be recycled. There is so much more that can be recycled that a lot of people probably don’t know about. Here’s a list:

The Obvious:

• Paper – Everyone knows by now that you can and should recycle paper. Paper comes from trees and, obviously, the destruction of the rain forests is a huge and growing problem. Recycle Old mail, computer printer paper, envelopes, construction paper, newspapers, etc. Find your local recycling center. Some places may pay by the pound.
• Plastic – Round up your 2 liter bottles, milk jugs or any plastic containers and take them to your local recycling center.
• Aluminum – Save all your cans and take them to your local recycling center. There can definitely be some money made here. Collecting a lot of cans can round you up quite a good chunk of change.
• Glass – Clear, green, blue or brown glass can all be recycled. If you take them to the local recycling center. Some places may pay by the pound for these too.

Less Than Obvious

• Telephone Books – Most phone books have instructions somewhere in the book on the steps to take to recycle them.
• Ink Cartridges – There are companies out there that will pay for your old ink cartridges. They can refill them and resell them. Here is a site to recycle ink cartridges and make some money.
• Electronic Equipment – Computer parts, IPods, Stereos etc. can be recycled and the parts can be reused to make new electronic equipment.
• Old CDs – You can resell them to a local music trader or you can recycle them.
• Cell Phones – Companies will buy these off you as well. Cellphones contain an ore called Coltan. Coltan is mined in Central Africa. Miners have been intruding in wildlife reserves and it has been affecting the animal population. Recycling your cellphone cuts down on the mining of this ore, helping protect the Central African habitat.
• Oil – Oil needs to be disposed of properly. If not, it can be very hazardous to the environment. Used oil can actually be re-refined in to a usable lubricating oil. Read more about this here.
• Paint – Paint is very hazardous to the environment if not disposed of properly. You can donate the paint to a charity organization for use in their projects such as in schools, churches or community centers. If you have no place to donate it, make sure you take it to a recycling center or someone who can properly dispose of it.
• Tires – Tires are often piled in to landfills which can cause fires that are very difficult to extinguish. Tires can actually be burned to create a fuel. More information can be found here.
• Wood – As mentioned earlier, cutting down trees leads to big problems. Recycled wood, such as pallets or scraps can be ground down and used in composite woods and create, well, basically, new wood.

There is so much more than what is listed that can be recycled. I urge everyone to get more information on the subject. Anything that you are considering throwing away, “google” it and see if it can be recycled. Everyone can make a difference to help save the environment.

-M

I’m actually out of town right now. I’ll be back tomorrow. I just wanted to take a second to turn anyone on to this new website called Mint. It’s kind of like a Quicken or MS Money but it’s online and it’s completely free and totally easy. What you will do is sign up and when you first login, you will enter the bank you use and the login and password for the bank. You will repeat that step for all your credit cards and then your set. It will display where your money’s going and give you all sorts of cool reports. There are only two complaints I have so far. 1. It does not support investment accounts yet and 2. I couldn’t put my Nissan Car Loan in. It’s hard to get an accurate picture of your total net worth with out all your debt and all of your assets listed. It’s a very cool program and it looks like it will address those issues very soon. Go Check it out at http://www.mint.com

-M

Wealthy

1. Andy Beard -Search Engine Performance, Wordpress, Niche Marketing and Affiliate Marketing Tips
2. Blogging Away Debt – A great site about making money and reducing debt
3. Blue Hat SEO – Tips for marketing and Search Engine Optimization.
4. Blueprint for Financial Prosperity – Earn More, Save More, Live More
5. Boston Girl’s Open Wallet – A single 30-something Bostonian who is seeking enlightenment and control of her Net Worth.
6. Calvin Warr – Fun marketing ideas
7. Clever Dude – Personal finance advice.
8. Consumerism Commentary – More personal finance advice.
9. Copyblogger – Copywriting tips for online marketing success
10. Daily Blog Tips – Another great site that will help you make money blogging.
11. DoshDosh – Helping You Make Money Online
12. Entrepreneurs Journey – Another great site about building wealth through blogging.
13. Finance is Personal – Finance advice posting about 3 times a day. Always fresh material.
14. FiveCentNickel – More personal finance advice.
15. FreeMoneyFinance – Another great site for personal finance advice.
16. Frugal For Life – A site about frugality and spending wisely.
17. Get Rich Slowly – Some more great business and finance advice from a fellow business owner.
18. Hannes Johnson Dot Com – Make money online marketing on the internet.
19. Home Based Business – Online home based business opportunities. Free home business ideas.
20. I Will Teach You To Be Rich – Follow his advice and he may make you rich. (The first finance blog I started reading)
21. It’s Your Money – A Site about wealth building and personal finance.
22. John Chow – This guy wants to teach you how monetize your blog (By any means necessary).
23. Kyle’s Cove – Technology, blogging, WordPress, SEO, and making money online
24. Lazy Man and Money – Another great site for more personal finance advice.
25. Make Money Online The Quick and Easy Way – Watch the journey of one women going from stay at home mom to internet millionaire.
26. Matt Cuts – Great SEO information
27. Mighty Bargain Hunter – A site about being frugal.
28. Money, Matters and More Musings – Another great site about wealth building and personal finance.
29. MsDanielle – Internet Marketing, PPC, and Online Social Networking
30. My Affiliate Journey – Affiliate marketing
31. My Money Blog – A great site about wealth building and personal finance.
32. My Personal Finance Journey – Another really good site about wealth building and personal finance.
33. My Two Dollars – A place to discuss money for the rest of us.
34. North x East – A site with a lot of blogging tips.
35. Not Made of Money -A Site about saving money and frugality.
36. One Man’s Goal – Watch one man make the journey to become a full time blogger.
37. Online Marketing Blog – A blog about online marketing.
38. Personal Finance Advice – The name says it all.
39. ProBlogger – Want to make money blogging? This site can teach you how.
40. Pronet Advertising – Read about one man’s experiences in online marketing.
41. QuickSprout – Tips for marketing and Search Engine Optimization.
42. Search Engine Land – Learn about Search Engines.
43. ShoeMoney – Another site with ideas on making money on the internet.
44. Simply Thrifty – A site about being frugal.
45. StockTradingToGo – A great resources for investing tips.
46. The Digerati Life – Personal finance advice from a great writer.
47. The Simple Dollar – All sorts of personal finance advice.
48. Young and Broke – More personal finance advice.

Healthy

49. DietHack – A great site for health related articles.
50. FatBlokeThin – Losing weight the Buddhist way.
51. HealthMad – More tips to live healthy by many authors.
52. Healthy, Fast and Cheap – A site about cooking foods that are healthy, fast and cheap.
53. Her Active Life – A great site about eating healthy and excersize (great tips for men and women).
54. He’s Fit – A great site about eating healthy and excersize (great tips for men and women).
55. Live Live… Organics & Your Health – A great site with tips on healthy living.
56. Nurture Your Life – Another great site with tips on healthy living
57. Raising a Healthy Family – The name says it all.
58. Ririan Project – Tons of great tips to live a healthier lifestyle.
59. Sexual Health Buzz – A site about staying healthy while being sexually active.
60. Spine-Health – For those people who suffer from neck and back pain (Like I often do).
61. The Diet Pulpit – Eat healthy.
62. The Final Sprint – A great health site with a major focus on running.
63. Total Wellbeing – Healthy living for the body and mind.

Happy

64. 43 Folders – Personal productivity and ways to make your life better.
65. Brip Blap – A blog about life, family, career, personal finance, career, productivity, health and the environment.
66. Dumb Little Man – A group blog of people giving tips for anything and everything.
67. Genius Types – Creative Life and Money.
68. LifeHack – Another Site about pretty litterally, everything.
69. LifeHacker – Literally, A site about everything.
70. Pick the Brain – A great site about self improvement.
71. Scott H. Young – Another great site about self improvement.
72. Steve Pavlina – Personal development for smart people.
73. The Blog of Author Tim Ferris – A great site with tons of advice about everything.
74. The Consumerist – A Site about everything to make life better.
75. The Happiness Project – The name says it all.
76. The Positivity Blog – Be happy and be positive. Great Advice.
77. The Thinking Blog – Expand Your Mind.
78. ZenHabits – A site about organizing your life and becoming a happier person.

That’s my long, comprehensive reading list. As you can see, I read a lot of blogs. Feel free to comment on who else deserves to be on the list and what not. Check out these blogs and enjoy!

-M

Joe is a health nut with a little bit of financial knowledge and I’m a finance nut with a little bit of health knowledge. Joe will pretty much focus his efforts on the health blog while I will focus on this blog. Every once in a while he’ll pop in here to post about what he’s learned and provide some financial advice and every once in a while I’ll pop in over there and provide some health advice. This will be real beneficial for the both of us because we are both taking each other under the other’s wing, so to speak. He’s teaching me about health and forcing me to pay more attention to it and I’m forcing him to pay attention to finance. Please go over and check it out when you get a chance. He’s already posted quite a few pretty quality articles. You can subscribe to Be Healthy and Relax Here.

So Here you Go:

Be Healthy and Relax

-M

Have a happy Labor Day everyone. I know Joe and I will.

-M

During this session and a few following it he proceeded to pop my neck into place and perform heating treatments. The thing he noticed, and I have always known but tried to hide from myself, is I am too stressed and tensed up. By keeping tense and feeling on edge all the time, he said that an injury like this would take much longer to heal than normal. He asked what I needed to do to take it easy and just relax. As he asked this, I began to ask myself the same question. Maybe some quiet time away from people, laying and watching TV, or even throwing down a cold one after work. All of these seemed like pretty decent, but temporary solutions to me. Realizing these ideas wouldn’t hold me over too long, I thought of a few other ideas to help me relax and just keep my stress level down. Here they are…

• Use that nose. Take some deep breaths, but through your nose. No matter what situation you’re in, you can’t get too worked up by calming your breathing. I’ve used this same technique to calm myself while running, too. Since you are limiting the amount of oxygen coming in, you are forced to slow yourself down to that level. Give it a shot!
• Maintain your surroundings. Keep the area you do work and spend most of your time clean. Giving some time to organize what’s around you can take a large load off your back. If you keep coming home to a mess, you’ll end up dreading wanting to ever come back until the problem is solved. While you’re at it, throw a new light in the room with you; By having a well-lit area you’ll be much more attentive and cheerful.
• Exercise that body. In this part I’m saying to go nuts out there and workout like mad, just get your legs moving. This isn’t supposed to be something you have to dread, it is more of a liberating time. Try to go outside if you can and go for a walk or run in a place you’ve never been before. It’ll give you a little sense of adventure while you’re at it.
• Eat healthy. Stay away from all of those fast food places as much as you can. By having a better diet, you will overall feel much more clean. With this you’ll have much more energy and recover from whatever injuries you have much quicker.
• Spend time with the right people. Take a look at what kind of attitudes your circle of friends have. You want to spend most of your time with optimistic people. Having them around will definitely rub off onto you.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff. Learn to understand that there are things in your life that aren’t worth the struggle of trying to make perfect. Hold yourself back from these annoyances and more often than not you’ll never get bugged by them again. A lot of things work out themselves.

I know when I read blogs that have an endless list of helping tips, I always become overwhelmed. My mind gets a little cluttered and I forget most everything I read. If you feel a little stressed at times, try a couple of these tips at a time until they feel like second nature… I definitely will be doing the same.

This should be a pretty obvious answer to many, but some still question themselves. In the time and age that we live in, communication is at our fingertips and we all have the ability to talk to almost anyone in the world. I believe that today’s society is much more of an outgoing group of folks. With the internet at almost every desk, we are engulfed with emails from colleagues, an array of instant messages from friends, and are hounded by the dreadful Myspace fiasco. All of these inventions have allowed us a stream of communication that we would never have had growing up 20 years ago. Even those that might not have been the most talkative in school have had the ability to build up their confidence through today’s almost anonymous communication. This might be a bit of a stretch, but I believe that this technology has opened the door for many young adults to ideas and also sparked the entrepreneurial craze within that group.

Below are a few tips that I feel help me while talking to strangers, and allow me to have a much more comfortable experience with people…

• Be Authentic. Act like you would if you’ve known the person for years and years. There’s no point of trying to be stiff and perfect behaving; With this, you might come off acting like a fake and seem unreliable.
• Be A Good Listener. We all know that people love to talk about themselves, so let them! Appear, and actually be very attentive while listening and responding when appropriate. People notice when you take the time to listen; They respect that.
• Be Positive. Who doesn’t like someone who is in a good mood and is overall fun to be around? It’s definitely a turnoff when you interact with a person that mopes around and has nothing good to say about anything. Even through the rough days, keep your head up and charge ahead. Talking to new people always gives you more of an alive feeling anyways.
• Be Well-Spoken. Our parents always told us to think before speaking… well it’s actually true! I used to have a horrible time explaining myself to others. I’ve since learned to slow it all down and allow yourself to fully think through what contribution you will have to the conversation.
• Be Educated. You don’t need to be the “All-knowing” kind of person, but have a general idea about what topics that might come up in communication. Stay informed with the news, related business ideas, sports, etc. Having a bit of knowledge in these can lead to a great conversation starter and will allow you to keep the conversation flowing when you feel that awkward silence coming.
• Be Outgoing. This isn’t always the most simple for everyone, and it definitely took me years to accomplish. By showing that you can easily engage into a conversation with someone you don’t know, it can speak a lot of a person. Knowing that you are fully comfortable, and the other person is as well, will create a very easygoing experience for the both of you. This would immediately open the door for future discussions and possible opportunities.

Using these small tips everyday can greatly appreciate your value in the business world. Networking has, and always will be one of the most essential business skills you can hold.

Lets get some interaction going right now. Here is my question: For the past year and a half or so I’ve been looking in to purchasing a home. I will be a first time home buyer and I have been doing an immense amount of research. Lately I’ve been reading a lot of arguments discussing the pros and cons of renting vs home ownership. This has really got me thinking about what the best option for me is.

The real estate market is down right now but is it down enough to justify the increased price of a mortgage, maintenance, taxes, etc.? What do you guys think? I want to hear your thoughts on homeownership vs renting.

Knowing where to begin looking for the “right” vehicle is definitely the most difficult step. While discussing my situation with a group of friends, I realized how many options immediately opened up in front of me. After this conversation, I learned that one friends’ parents owns a dealership, and two have close friends that purchase used cars for smaller shops. Getting these connections is always number one, but they could also bring many new options into your mind.

There are many advantages to owning a new car. Sometimes people just love the feeling of driving a fresh car off the lot. Maybe it’s a peace of mind knowing that you’ll be the first one to break it in and seeing what it’s all made of. Some other advantages, and disadvantages include:

• Warranty coverage: Many manufactures will cover your car for three years or longer for any defects. Upgrading what the warranty covers is always another option. The bottom line here is that you know you’re nice and covered if that new car turns out to be a “lemon”.
• Low maintenance: When driving off that lot, you’ll know that the car will not need a tune up or any other mechanic work for quite some time. For a several thousand miles, oil changes will probably be your biggest worry, and even those are sometimes covered from the dealership.
• Financing: Normally dealers will sucker you in to buying a new car with nice financing rates. I’ve heard numbers around 4-5% APR for the term to pay the car off, but beware, not everyone qualifies. In fact, only about 7% of people purchasing a new vehicle qualify for those advertised deals. Choose wisely.
• Depreciation: This is definitely a disadvantage. Once you drive off the lot, your car just lost a couple thousand dollars off the sticker price. You’ll see roughly 15% of those dollars you purchased your car with fly out the window.

Going with the Used Car

Driving away with the brand spankin’ new car doesn’t have to be the best feeling in the world, knowing that you got a great deal does! That’s what people are looking at when searching for used cars, and lucky you, there are millions of choices out there. The only limit on what kind of car you want is how much research and time you want to put into it. That is advantage number one, here are more:

• The used, new car: Many dealerships now offer pre-owned certified cars. Usually there is a slightly steeper price tag on these cars compared to those you’ll find on AutoTrader. With this deal, you’ll be able to walk away with the similar piece of mind as purchasing a new year, you’ll be covered if something goes wrong in the near future.
• Depreciation: Contrary to new cars, depreciation really isn’t much of a problem with used vehicles. If purchasing a vehicle that is a few years old, you have the sense of mind you didn’t lose thousands of dollars by driving it new off the lot. From that point on, miles and condition are what matter most. Keep that average of 15,000 miles added per year with all the routine maintenance and your car shouldn’t have a spike in depreciation.
• Passed down warranties: If you purchase a car that is still covered under the original factory warranty, then lucky you! Wherever you end up purchasing a used car, there is always the possibility of being able mooch the advantage of a pre-bought warranty. Add that into your purchasing research; it’s a huge perk!
• Look in the past: Checking out the previous life of your future purchase is key. Look into all of the history reports that are available online and see if the vehicle has been in an accident or if there are any other important factors to know before dishing out thousands of dollars. Check out a few of these sites to get started: DMV.org, CARFAX, Is It A Lemon.

Hopefully these perks and disadvantages have helped you understand the comparisons of new and used cars. Even if you’re not in the market to buy now, it’s always great to do research and get ahead before you’re in a position of scrambling to buy a new car. By writing this post, I have learned a lot with the research I’ve done. So, go and check out what’s around online and at the local dealerships, just do enough research before making that large purchase.