In my previous article I introduced some key concepts that we will continuously come across in this series of financial literacy. I will start by reminding you of these so that we move together in this journey. I call it a journey because gaining financial literacy is a process, with many uphill’s, roundabouts as we make mistakes and learn from them and as we rally towards financial freedom. We talked about the four kinds of people (employees (E), Self-employed (S), Big business owners (B) and Investors (I)) and going forward we will concentrate from learning from the lives of the B and the I class people. You can forget everything from the last article but the following: the B class people have mastered the art of using other people’s time (OPT) while the I class people have mastered the art of using other people’s money (OPM).
Learning from the lives of the B and the I class can give us important clues on how to make it to financial freedom. Strive Masiyiwa, one of the prominent B class people in Zimbabwe, posted an article on his Facebook page that has shaped the topic of this article. He tells a story of a friend who made lots of money through his construction business but was struggling to come to terms with his current status: “broke”. After having won lucrative contracts for so many years, the man was failing to sustain his current expenses. In Strive’s words, he failed to keep his money. The million dollar question is how can one keep his or her money earned over the years? To stretch it how do you keep that dollar you have received?
Upon leaving college, I started with my first job in Mutare. My first salary came and as ambitious as I was, after reading Robert Kiyosaki’s book, I started looking for opportunities. One thing which was on top on my priority list was buying a house in town. I soon discovered that I needed to work for 10 years at my then pay rate, saving every penny of it for me to be able to buy the cheapest house. I was privileged to have met a man in Mutare who was into selling houses. The man became a close friend and as such I was kept abreast with the property prices at every corner. This realisation that my goal of acquiring a house was not possible using my salary got my mind to work. Many people are easily discouraged by this realisation, seemingly insurmountable goals. To cut the long story short on my first salary, I was clueless on how to keep the earned money. I had bills to pay. My lessons of getting to my goal was only but beginning.
Let’s go back to Strive’s story to stress a point here. He says his friend used his earned money to upgrade his house, buy a new car and send children to fancy schools. Nothing wrong with this but everything of it is premature. One has to build the financial muscle to sustain such a kind of life before embarking on it. The principle is keep as much from your earnings to increase your earning capacity. Looking at the lives of the B and the I class, one can see one common trend. These guys buy assets first. Take note that this is not an accounting definition of an asset. In accounting terms, cash at hand is an asset and so is your bank balance. In Robert Kiyosaki’s and the B and the I class people terms, assets are the things that bring in income. On the other hand, a liability takes away your income. So from these definitions one can see that Strive’s friend was not buying assets. A house you leave in is not an asset and your family car is not an asset. In other words Strive meant you can only keep your earned money by buying assets while you use the income from your assets to pay your liabilities i.e buy your house, pay for your family car and children’s fees.
The state of having to use only income from your assets to pay your liabilities is a desired state and to get there is a process. Not easy, I must say. Some would say the art of getting rich is simple, spend less that what you earn. This is part of the story and not the whole of it. In my previous article I also pointed out that we are unfortunate to live in the era of currency. Currency just loses value over time. So when you spend less that what you earn, you also need to take care of the inflation component such that your rate of increase is higher than the rate at which the currency loses value over time. Just saving in the world today is not enough. Tough world but that’s the reality.
But where do we start? A starting point as a believer before I flood you with business principles is tithes. Paying tithes is a key element in our lives in keeping what we earn. In paying our tithes, God protects the rest from weevils and devourers (Malachi 3:10-12) and blessed you will be. The first 10% of your earnings which are tithes have lessons in them. The act teaches us character, discipline and obedience, key traits to make it in the B and I class life. Step number one.
For the rest, let’s learn from the B and the I class people. Remember the question is not how much you earn. It’s about what you do with what you earn. In most cases you can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can take advantage of the wind and set a good sail. Control your spending habits. Understand the importance of delayed gratification. The issue is not about getting there, but it’s also about what you learn by getting there. It’s the process that makes you rich not the money. If you ask many of these B and I class people, they tell you stories of getting to ground zero at one point in their lives but they got up again. Without getting the lessons, you get to ground zero and stay there, overcome with the paralysing fear of losing again.
So step number two, I would say understand the subject of money first, be clear about the reasons why you want to invest. Remember the issue is not about just getting the money but its about what you become when you get the money. Remember the rich man in Mark 10 vs 24. The first asset you have to invest in is your brain. Robert Kiyosaki often says in his teachings on financial literacy: “what you know brings in cash and what you don’t know takes away cash from your pocket”. Coming to think of it, its so true. Not talking about professions here (being a mechanic, electrician, etc) but how many times do you buy something and realise you could have bought the same thing at a much lower price that you have paid. You simply lacked the information. On the subject of money, we are simply expected to know how to work with it without understanding the medium of operation. So invest in learning the subject of money, the principles that work around money, how the world is designed around money and more important how to make it work for you. Investing is not risky, what is risky is doing something that you don’t know or understand too well. So take time to learn about an area that you want to get into be it as a business (OPT) or for investment (OPM). The only asset that you may have for life is your brain. Sad our schools don’t teach this hence most is learnt by trial and error. Sad on our side of the hemisphere we usually start on this subject late and by the time we finish making mistakes and barely learning from them, half of our working life is already spent. But whatever you do start small to learn as much as you can to be able to better operate as a big concern. To avoid too many trial and errors, it’s easier to stand on someone shoulders, find a mentor who has done it in your area.
So for your small business to grow and become an asset, it has to stop revolving around you. Establishing systems in business is key. So one area to invest your brain is understanding business systems: administration, control, management, etc. That way you will be able to expand your day through OPT. Alone you have eight working hours in day but with say two other people helping you, you suddenly expand your day to 36 man hours. But for this to function properly you need systems in place. Systems that enables you to take full advantage of the extra man hours you can get to optimize your operations in any given day.
As an investor, your money is not always enough to buy and operate high yielding assets. Such is the reality. If you want to pursue life as an investor you need to master the art of using OPM to make your own money. Again build your brain asset to be able to operate in this area. For many here a temptation is to run Ponzi schemes, that’s not what I am referring to but it’s about a building a win-win situation for all parties involved. With little financial I.Q new financial information could be confusing, and seemingly of little value. So it takes your financial literacy to be able to identify investment opportunities.
For some tangible assets, people in the B’s and I’s spent most of their lives around the following:
1) Business – Acquiring a going concern or building one. This is the most difficult and requires a lot of financial intelligence. If you are currently employed and hope to start your own firm or business, learn the systems where you are now. They will become handy when you start your own business. The business we refer to here is the one that can run in your absence as if you are there.
2) Real Estate – Buying houses and properties not for resale but to keep. This is where passive money is made. Often tax free income. Remember the world is designed against the E and the S people through taxes. You however need more resources to start.
3) Paper Assets – This involves buying shares (buying a piece of others companies), bonds e.t.c. This is easiest for one to get into and out. Requires the least financial education. You however need some financial literacy to identify which companies to buy into. So you can start here and move up as you develop your financial muscle.
Again the above is a desired state for many. The question is how do you get there? I have flooded you with a lot of information in this article, I will leave it here for now. In my next article, I will be sharing with you what I have learnt so far in the above areas since leaving college and earning my first salary. I have had my roundabouts for several years, my uphills and downhills as well. Remember always start small to gain the lessons to operate as a big concern.
