Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 2: Protecting Your Money

Today, you will learn Financial IQ #2 – Protecting Your Money.  This article is part 2 of Rich Money Habits’ review on Robert Kiyosaki’s book Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money.  To read part 1 of the book review, you can checkout Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 1: Making More Money.

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 2: Protecting Your Money

In the first part of the book review you’ve learned that to earn more money, you must learn to solve money problems.  Once you have learned to solve problems and earn some money, the next thing you need to do is to protect that money from what Robert Kiyosaki calls “financial predators”.  Real world predators do not always look the part. Sometimes, they are ordinary people with well-meaning intentions.  Their job is to “legally” take money from your pocket…and your job is to “legally” have them take as little as possible.

According to the book, there are 7 financial predators you need to protect your money from.  They are:

1. Bureaucrats who legally take money from you through “taxes”
   • Taxes are your single largest expense
   • Know which type of income you’re earning money from and paying in taxes
     • Earned Income – salary, commission, etc
     • Portfolio Income – income from paper assets such as interests, dividends, etc
     • Passive Income – royalties, rental income from real-estate, licensing, etc
2. Bankers who legally take money from you through “fees”
   • Banks and credit card companies charge you with all kinds of fees, some of them you or your company might not even be aware of
   • For every dollar you have in the bank, the bank can lend out twenty dollars to your credit card.  The bank pays you 5 percent for one dollar and makes 20 percent on twenty dollars.  That is how banks make money.
3. Brokers who legally take money from you through “commissions”
   • Look for brokers who are students of their profession and invest in what they sell
     • For real-estate brokers, ask them how many properties they are invested in.
     • For stock brokers, ask them which stocks they personally invest in.
   • “Good” brokers make you rich, “bad” brokers make you poor.  Build a relationship with “good” brokers.
4. Businesses who legally take money from you through “profits”
   • Buy products that make you rich
   • Poor people buy products that make them poor, paying them for years with a very high interest rate
5. Brides and Beaus who legally take money from you through “alimony/marital asset split”
   • Get a prenuptial agreement before you marry
   • Think of your exit plan before you enter into the agreement
6. Brothers-in-law who legally take money from you through “inheritance or financial wishes”
   • Consult an estate planning specialist to plan your exit
   • Use legal vehicles such as wills & trusts to protect your wealth from death predators
7. Barristers who legally take money from you through “court & legal fees”
   • Hold assets of value in legal entities instead of your own name
   • You must buy insurance before you need it…not the moment you need it.

Rich Money Habits Review Notes:

• Protecting your money is like plugging holes.  You first need to be aware what the holes are before you can actually plan on fixing them to stop the cash from flowing out.
• Learning to protect your money is a never ending process as the rules regularly change.  The ways to protect your money yesterday may no longer be able to protect your money today or tomorrow.
• Protecting your money reduces your expenses. The more money you keep, the more money you can utilize for productive endeavors.

You’ve just read part 2 (Financial IQ #2: Protecting Your Money) of Rich Money Habits’ review on Robert Kiyosaki’s book Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money.  How about you? How are you protecting your money today?