Thursday, September 28, 2006

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

I just recently finished reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It is a very motivational book and teaches you how to think outside of the box. I enjoyed how he contrasts his Rich Dad's business values (making money work for you) and his Poor Dad's ideas of working for your money. This book is not a blueprint for how to get rich, but it does give you the motivation, and the background to create your own blueprint for financial freedom. Robert Kiyosaki shares a lot of great information, but one area that I found especially interesting is what he has to say about job specialization. He pretty much says that if you specialize in a field, no matter what occupation you have, you are pretty much painting yourself into a corner. You limit yourself to that one job, and if anything happens to where that job is not needed anymore, you are out of luck because you haven't learned any other skills. I was surprised that he stated that you should learn as much as you can in your job or business and then move on to learn more ( new job, new dept, etc...). Before I was an Amateur Investor I was a chef. When I started out I would go from place to place to learn as much as I could in a certain area, and then I would move on to the next area to learn more. Whether I had to change jobs or just move to another area to learn something new I was constantly moving. In the hospitality field this is something normal, but in regular business, I thought this was something that wasn't done. I guess what he is trying to say is that you can't limit yourself, continue to learn, continue to strive to be better. Anyway this is a great book. Check it out.