book review – Rich Money Habits

A couple of weeks back, I received a review copy of Mark Fisher’s book “The Instant Millionaire: A Tale of Wisdom and Wealth” from Kim of newworldlibrary.com but due to busy schedule, I’ve only been able to write a review just now.

Before I say anything else, please note that I am not being paid for this review. However, I did receive the review copy of the book for FREE which is great and if you click the picture below, and buy the book from amazon, I would earn a little affiliate income.

With that out of the way, the book Instant Millionaire, is a fable (short story) of a young man who wanted to be rich and seek out to learn from an old rich man they call the instant millionaire.

The 3 ideas that struck me most when I read the book

1. The Power of Words

There’s this one scene in the book where the master was demonstrating how powerful words really are, especially the words that we tell ourselves. The scene describes the young man screaming for help in fear of losing his dear life, simply because he read a few words on a computer screen and put meaning into those words and made himself “believe” that his life was in danger even if it was actually not. Words are just words. But the meaning we put into those words spell the difference.

2. The Power of Stories

What I liked about the book is that it was written as a short story. The book is an easy reading. I managed to read the book from cover to cover in just one sitting. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I learn more when I enjoy reading. And reading a good story captures my imagination even more powerful than just a list of bullet points from a powerpoint presentation.

3. The Power of Habits

The term instant millionaire is a misnomer because in the story, the young man mapped out a plan to be a millionaire in 6 years! I don’t think many people would consider 6 years as instant! In reality, most overnight successes are actually long, long years of preparation. We only see the success, but we fail to go behind the many long hours of frustration and self-doubt before that. Success is a product of a lifetime of great habits coming into fruition.

Who should buy this book

those who want to read a good old short story of having a rich money mindset
those who loved reading the classic “who moved my cheese” and probably want to read another fable to entertain and make them think about life again
those who are looking for a different way of thinking about money

Who should NOT buy this book

those who focused on the word “instant” in the title and looking for a get rich quick scheme
those who are looking for a specific step-by-step how-to instruction guide on getting rich
those who want to become an instant millionaire and don’t want to pay the price

Overall, this is a good short story style reading book you can finish in one sitting. It does not really get into the nitty-gritty and how-to stuffs of getting rich but if you’re looking for an easy way to learn to think like a millionaire, this book is a good start.

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Every month at Rich Money Habits, we will take a deeper look at some of the best business, personal finance and investing books out there. For this month of November, we will feature Robert Kiyosaki’s book Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money. This article is part 1 of the book review which digs deeper into Financial IQ #1 – Making more money.

Increase Your Financial IQ Book Review – Part 1: Making More Money

The book starts by asking the fundamental question:

“Does money make you rich?”

Take a moment to answer that question.

Do you think money will make you rich? Do you think winning millions of dollars from lottery will make you rich? How about having a high-paying job from a lucrative profession like doctors, or lawyers, or IT professionals? Does having a lot of money make you rich?

Many people have heard stories how instant millionaires lost their millions after a few years. Or how someone who was once rich and famous had his house foreclosed. Or how a high-paying manager begged for his job back because he can no longer afford the lifestyle that he once had.

If not money, what then makes you rich? According to Robert Kiyosaki,

“…it is not real-estate, stocks, mutual funds, businesses, or money that make you rich. It is information, knowledge, wisdom, and know-how, a.k.a. financial intelligence, that makes one wealthy.”

What is Financial Intelligence?

Robert Kiyosaki describes Financial intelligence as that part of our mental intelligence we use to solve our financial problems. Financial IQ, on the other hand, is the measure of that intelligence.

What money problems do you have? Are you having the problem of “not having enough money”? Are you

using your credit card whenever you’re short on money?
constantly worrying about the rising cost of living?
paying more in taxes after an increase in income?
afraid of emergencies?
receiving bad financial advice?
waiting for the next paycheck to pay for last month’s rent?

While the rich do not have these problems, they too have their own money problems – “too much money”. Some of these are

needing to keep their money safe and invested
not knowing whether people like them or their money
looking for smarter financial advisors
raising spoiled kids
worrying about estate and inheritance planning
looking for ways to “legally” avoid paying excessive government taxes

Which problems would you rather have?

The 5 basic Financial IQs

According to Robert Kiyosaki, you need to learn the 5 basic Financial IQs to solve your money problems. These are:

Financial IQ #1: Making more money
Financial IQ #2: Protecting your money
Financial IQ #3: Budgeting your money
Financial IQ #4: Leveraging your money
Financial IQ #5: Improving your financial information

Financial IQ #1: Making more money

How do you make more money? The key according to Robert Kiyosaki is to “solve problems”. People will gladly pay you money if you solve their problems. I know I’ll be more than happy to pay you money if you can fix my broken LCD TV at a reasonable price. Would you gladly pay your doctor if they solve your ailing stomach? Would you pay your financial advisor if they can make you more money than what you pay them? Or how about paying your “star” employees “millions” whenever they bring you “billions” in income?

Solve people’s problems and make more money. As the famous quote from Zig Ziglar says

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.

Which problems do you want to solve?

Which problems do you want to solve?

Do you want to solve the problem of “hunger” by providing quality meals at an affordable price. That’s what a lot of food businesses are doing. Or do you want to solve the problem of “not having enough time to eat”. That’s what the fast and “instant” food delivery businesses are trying to solve.

What are you naturally good at? Perhaps you can use any of your skills to solve other people’s problems.

Are you good in math? Be a great financial analyst or an accountant and help people and businesses solve their financial or tax problems.

Do you like speaking to people? Become a powerful speaker. Share your message by leveraging your highly sought after skill of public speaking. Inspire people to take action and solve their problem of a dull and boring life.

Do you love making great movies? Learn to be a great director or a movie producer. People will pay you to entertain them because you are solving their problem of “not having fun”.”

Solving problems is a process

The key according to Robert Kiyosaki is realizing the fact that problems will never go away. After you solve a problem, another problem will come up. Only in this process of solving problems one after the other will you gain financial intelligence.

You have to go through the process of solving whatever money problems you are facing right now. Don’t run from it. Face it head on. Use your mind to think of ways on how to solve your money problem. As Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad says,

“You can quit when you win, but never quite because you’re losing.“

The reason instant millionaires end up poor after winning the lottery is because they want only the money but not the process of learning how to build their wealth. This is the same thing as people wanting to get paid more than the value they are providing. Their greed is making decisions for them. Some people even claim that “greed” has caused the current financial crisis that we are in right now.

The other side of the coin is also dangerous – fear. Don’t let fear hold you back. Enjoy the process of learning. Feel the fear and face it head on. This is the same reason why employees would rather gladly receive the small steady paycheck than take a chance at building their own fortune. Take a leap. Live out your dreams. As Hellen Keller says,

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

Rich Money Habits Review Notes:

What I liked about the book is that it offers other (unconventional) ways to think about money.
The book is not about financial advise, so it does not discuss any “how to” details on investing in real-estate or businesses.
There are a lot of strong comments about the book so it is NOT for everyone. My hope is that after reading the rest of the book review in the coming weeks, you’ll pick up a thing or two to help you with your money problems.

You’ve just read Rich Money Habits’ review of Robert Kiyosaki’s Financial IQ #1 – Making More Money. Now, go out, solve problems and start making more money! 🙂