Learning How to Unlearn and Re-Learn about Your Finances

(Two not-so-broke girls after a 3-day Rich Dad Poor Dad seminar, Disclaimers apply.)

Another path in the future

"A book can never change your life unless you start within."

It was a no-brainer to attend a seminar about financial education and real estate investment (duh!). You had some time off and you got to have a close pal along with you to learn new stuffs. Cool. Doing one (or three days for this case) about money and real estate is not scary enough for 30-somethings with no financial background whatsoever. This is not a form of review and is purely written out of the gratitude we felt in learning about finance management.

So with as much as smart business casual outfit we can put together, we went to brave the 3-day seminar mentored by Mike “Pip” Stehlik who pretty looked like an awesome (but crazy, he told us himself) American about Canadian real estate and a bit of facts about money. Awkward small talks happened between complete strangers and at 9 am all of the lectures, discussions, and sarcastic humor went on. We had a class of about 17-20 people in a big Scotiabank Convention Center function room and it felt close-knitted enough to be able to know most of the class’ names. It was also a good thing that we had to switch sitting arrangements more (terrifying) than it was. Snicker right here. And yes, we did appreciate the (attempts on) stand-up comedy, Pip. Not to mention the Cash Flow game is an awesome tool to learn about good and bad investments.

And besides those points and the obvious repertoire between mentor and each student, we had actually been mind-blown about the “stuffs” we learned. These are only tips of the icebergs ladies and gentlemen but we are hoping it can inspire you to be curious enough to find out more (just like we were) and in a way paying it forward to somebody out there who might need options. 

You have to feel comfortable about being in debt.
We were taught to avoid death like a plague. But being in good debt that earns you positive cash flow can be a good thing. You have to learn to borrow money to invest in real estate, business, or even paper money. If you do not learn creative financing then you have no jumping point in launching you way to financial freedom.

Do not pay off your house mortgages and (sigh) get as many credit cards as you can.
Most financial planners and acquired financial common sense (that I found out are usually in the Industrial Revolution and no longer in the Information Age) would say pay off your house mortgages and do not think about your home equity line credit (HELC). Also, pay off your credit card billing statement and do not attempt to up your credit limit by any chance. Rethink and ponder. If you pay off your mortgages, your house becomes a liability and you cannot take out your HELC to use it to acquire other investment. Same goes with your credit cards too – they are the cheapest form of money you can afford and can use to dabble in say real estate.

 Being rich will cost you – a lot.
If you earn big money, you have to lose some big money and time. And if that is further advanced education on finance management and courses, personally we would not mind (financially, well it is a different stories for now). If you can work with mentors to guide you with your next steps to earn your first significant deals, what is there to fear? And if a mentor, like Pip, would help you in any way he can (he is a great guy) I’d say the price is worth paying for to be around people who can teach you to earn and keep money. And this is no rich quick scheme. The method of actually executing what you learn and building your wealth will take time and effort on your part. Everything is simple but not all of it will be easy.

Real estate is not an alien word to the average Joes and Janes – you can actually be part of it!
We often think of real estate only for people who can in the first place, afford one piece of property in the least. This is a common notion and we were fooled by it before. The five basic necessities to any human being are food, water, oxygen, clothing, and shelter. I repeat shelter. So at the end of the day, we all have someplace to rest and we call it usually a home – and home is real estate whether owned, rented, or leased. So no matter how much or so little you know about real estate – you are already involved as a real estate investor in a way.

But after hearing the possible ways you can creatively finance your way to have leverage in the industry, you can actually do it! And believe it or not, scam or not, you can actually do this by using other people’s money or with no money no credit on the line. Sounds crazy? Well, we were taught by one crazy American but we know some legit stuff now that years in schooling would not – being street smart about having, using, and keeping money.

Find solutions and the money will come.
People who are involved in real estate are judged to be unscrupulous individuals who are out to get money out of other people. But if you work your way in real estate with integrity and all legal means, you can actually help other people in their real estate problems in the long run. You will be the solutions provider and you will creatively find a solution to their real estate dilemmas so you can have a win-win situation for everybody involved. Your actual goal is to make everyone happy in the end. And always ask "how" instead of "I can't" is where it all boils down into.

How the big boys play the money game.
Corporations are there thriving in the finance industry and now we know why. The rich are there because they think differently about how to use money and fair laws in acquiring, managing, operating, and securing their companies. And so, if the rich people can actually thrive using the three-tiers of business, why can’t your future enterprise? Before we did not know how the corporate world functions and why the billionaires we know operate their empires – but with the pointers we were given, we can say we got it big boys and these girls have been given some nice wisdom nuggets.

 Always know your big WHY.

The ‘why’ part of you being financially educated is a big factor in keeping you in the path to your own financial freedom. It is your motivation to push yourself out of your ego and engage in the possibilities of improving your financial life.

Pip said with the contrarian methods that RDPD presents to the world, it can encourage people to discourage you to not try this at all or have cold feet in the commitment to putting this into practice. And sadly, the people that can discourage you are the people who tell you they love and support you. But be reminded that it is in human nature that people who love you can rob you in pursuing your dreams unknowingly because they are afraid of you being better than them and the changes that might happen if you actually not fail. So be ready to have negativity around your efforts. This is the road less traveled and you have to keep your sight on the bigger picture and keep your own positivity even if your cheering squad is not helping at all. 

So yeah, it was 3 days well spent from our part amidst the snow storms and social awkwardness. We have actually inspired ourselves to find a way to put the stuffs we learn here into practice and get the further education in our long term goals. Who knows where we will be sitting next? And before we left, unable to commit to the costly educational program as of now, we left Pip (and great team Tammy & Baz) telling him we will seek him out when we reach the top at the time when we make it BIG!

And yes, we have got a lot of side books from RDPD to read and adapt. It is a gradual unlearning and re-learning but we have to start somewhere. This is going to be a team consistent effort and we are hoping we can make it work in the next couple of years. So booyah for the initial step! Now, where do we put our purple library? (wink)