Personal Development

This category includes different articles related to personal development. Those articles aim at helping you become the best version of yourself to have a better life, reach your goals, and achieve success.

24 May 2022

How to get rich with the book “Rich dad, poor dad”

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Today, I’d like to tell you about a book that radically changed my way of thinking. For me, it is without a doubt, the book to read for anyone who wants to achieve financial freedom. It is the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki. This book, released in 2001, is still recognized as one of the best personal finance books of all time and I can only agree.

The general idea of this book is that people spend many years in school but do not learn anything about money or investments. This in turn creates a lot of financial problems related to people learning to work for money instead of making their money work for them.

“Rich dad, poor dad” Introduction

As the name suggests, “Rich Dad Poor Dad” is the story of a child who is raised by two very different people. On the one hand, his biological father, who has a series of degrees and a good job with some security. On the other, the father of his best friend who did not finish school. Throughout the book, the author teaches us different lessons by comparing the situations and thoughts of his biological father (poor father) and his rich father. He uses these notions of poor and rich to explain the preferable behaviors to achieve financial freedom.

So it’s not just a theory book that will tell you what to do. It is written around the story of these two young people (the author and his best friend) who will learn to follow the footsteps of the rich father through their experiences. The latter will not simply give them the precepts to follow, he will make sure that our young people learn it through experience.

This book goes so far as to compare the ways of thinking of these two fathers. For example, the poor father will spend his life thinking that he cannot afford this or that, while the poor father will simply ask himself how he can afford it.

In the rest of this article, we will see together the important lessons that this book has taught me.

Lesson 1: The rich don’t work for money, they make their money work for them.

This is one of the first and most important lessons of the book. It is necessary and even essential to make your money work for you. We work very hard to get that money, and why can’t that money work hard for us? Work for us?

That’s why the money you earn must be invested. If you leave it in a bank account, it doesn’t earn you anything, and in the end it’s useless. You have to invest it so that this money multiplies.

I find a rather telling image is that you have to see your money as soldiers. We have to make sure that our army grows while sending it to conquer new territories that will bring us more soldiers to enlarge our army.

Tip: Make your money work for you..

Lesson 2: Develop Some Financial Literacy

The main problem with today’s economy is that schools don’t teach us the basics of getting rich. Have you ever taken a personal finance class? No, of course not… That’s kind of the point. They want to teach us to enter the world today as good employees, not as good employers.

There is never any mention of learning how to learn how to acquire assets that will generate income. And that’s the crux of the problem. We never learn in school the notions of assets and liabilities.

Here I’m going to remind you of our article on personal finance:

In order to popularize these two purely accounting terms, imagine the balance sheet as a photograph of your assets at a specific moment.

Assets are the things you own that generate money.
Liabilities represent the debts you have, which result in an outflow of money.

Added to this balance sheet, we find the income statement, the latter represents a synthesis of all the inflows and outflows of money that have taken place during a certain period. We can distinguish between:

Income: money coming in
Expenses: money going out

Once these 4 concepts are clear, I invite you to review the graph below representing the different possible situations (Poor, middle class, rich). If you wish to go into more detail about this representation, I invite you to consult our article on this subject.

Lesson 3: Mind your own business!

The idea here is that you don’t necessarily have to quit your job at first. I would even say that you should keep your job, but that you should work on your own business during this time.

For example, Robert originally sold photocopiers. But he used his income to invest in real estate. Within 3 years his business allowed him to resign and continue working in/on his own business.

This is the only way to achieve financial freedom. You have to use your earned income to acquire assets that will generate money for you.

Lesson 4: Corporate Power

It may seem pretty obvious to you reading this blog but at the time it was literally a revelation to me. The very idea that a business is an instrument that the rich use to protect themselves in some way from taxes.

If you understand this concept you will see that it is quite interesting to make a company and that the debate does not even arise:

Company	Employee
1. Earn money	1. Earn money
2. Spend money	2. Pay taxes
3. Pay taxes	3. Spend money

The company is really the ideal way for you to pay yourself first. In this way, you make the necessary expenses and only afterwards, on the remaining money, you will be taxed.

An employee, on the other hand, receives his salary from which the tax is deducted directly. It is only what is left after taxes that he can use.

Lesson 5: Work to learn, don’t work for money

Our young entrepreneurs learned this the hard way in the book. But it’s also what allowed the author to start his first business at the age of 9.

Robert and Mike (his best friend) asked Mike’s father (a rich father) to teach them how to make money. The way he teaches them is quite interesting. For 3 weeks he makes them work for a miserable salary in one of his stores. It wasn’t until Robert wanted to quit that he got his first lesson. Rich father taught them to see a job as an opportunity to learn something new. So the decision to quit a job should not be about “I’m not making enough” but rather “I’m not learning enough.”

This is also how he pushed the children to find a way to create their own source of income. This they did by setting up a kind of library for their classmates by collecting old comics. They even outsourced the management by paying Mike’s sister to do it for them. Real entrepreneurs!

Later, Robert decided to join Xerox simply to learn to overcome his fear of rejection and become a better salesman. Once he did, he quit and went back to his business.

GRAB YOUR COPY

Some key lessons from the book

You are only the image of your thoughts
Being employed is ultimately a short-term situation for a long-term problem
A slave will remain a slave, even if he is paid a fortune.
Why climb the corporate ladder when you can own a company directly?

Conclusion

The book “Rich dad, Poor dad” is simply a must-read for anyone who wants to improve their personal finances. I don’t think I can thank the author enough for everything he has done for me. It has allowed me to completely change the way I look at money.

If your goal is to achieve financial independence, then a first step should be to read this book that will help you get the right mindset.

And you, have you ever read this book? What did you think of it? Do you have any other books to recommend? Don’t hesitate to tell us about it in comments!

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16 March 2022

CHANGE YOUR LIFE – Denzel Washington Motivational Speech

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Speech by Denzel Washington at University of Pennsylvania : Transcription

I found that nothing in life is worthwhile.

Unless you take risks, nothing.

Nelson Mandela said there is no passion to be found playing small in settling for a life that’s less than the one you’re capable of living.

Now I’m sure in your experiences in school and applying to college and picking your major and deciding what you want to do with Life. I’m sure people have told you to make sure you have something to fall back on.

“Make sure you got something to fall back on, honey?”

But I never understood that concept.

Having something to fall back on.

If I’m going to fall.

I don’t want to fall back on anything except my faith.

I want to fall forward.

I figure at least this way.

I’ll see what I’m going to hit.

Fall forward.

Reggie Jackson struck out 2600 times in his career, the most in the history of baseball. But you don’t hear about the strike outs. People remember the home runs.

Thomas Edison conducted 1000 failed experiments. Did you know that? I didn’t know that.

Because the 1000 and 1st was the light bulb.

Fall forward.

Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.

You’ve got to take risks and I’m sure, you’ve probably heard that before.

But I want to talk to you about why that’s so important.

You will fail at some point in your life.

Accept it you will lose.

You will embarrass yourself.

You will suck at something.

There’s no doubt about it.

And I know that’s probably not a traditional message for a graduation ceremony.

But hey, I’m telling you, embrace it.

Because it’s inevitable.

In the acting business, you failed all the time.

Early on in my career, I auditioned for a part in a Broadway musical.

Perfect role for me I thought.

Except for the fact that I Can’t Sing.

I didn’t get the job.

But here’s the thing.

I didn’t quit.

I didn’t fall back.

I walked out of there to prepare for the next audition and the next audition and the next audition.

I prayed.

I prayed and I prayed.

But I continue to fail and fail, and fail.

But it didn’t matter because you know what is an old saying.

You hang around the barbershop long enough.

Sooner or later, you’re going.

To get a haircut.

So you will catch a.

Break and I did catch a break.

Last year, I did a play called “Fences” on Broadway

But here’s the kicker.

It was at the court theater.

It was at the Same theater that I failed that first audition 30 years prior.

The point is, every graduate here today has the training and the talent to succeed.

But do you have the guts to fail?

If you don’t fail, you’re not even trying.

I’ll say it again, if you don’t fail, you’re not even trying.

To get something you never had, you have.

To do something you never did.

So imagine you’re on your deathbed and standing around your deathbed are the ghosts representing your unfulfilled potential.

The ghost of the ideas you never acted on.

The ghost of the talents you didn’t use.

And they’re standing around your bed.

Angry, disappointed and upset.

They say we came to you because you could have brought us to life, they say.

And now we have to go to the grave together.

So I ask you today.

How many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes.

I just got back from South Africa.

Beautiful country but there are places there with terrible part of poverty that need help.

When Africa is just the tip of the iceberg, the Middle East needs your help.

Japan needs your help.

Alabama needs your help.

Tennessee needs your help.

Louisiana needs your help.

Philadelphia needs your help.

The world needs a lot and we need it from you.

We really do.

We need it from you, young people.

I mean, I’m not speaking for the rest of us up here, but I know I’m getting a little grayer.

We need it from you, the young people ’cause remember this?

So you gotta get out there.

You gotta give it everything you got.

Whether it’s your time.

Your talent, your prayers, or your treasures.

What are you going to do with what you have?

I’m not talking about.

How much you have.

Some of you are business majors, some of you are theologians, nurses, sociologists.

Some of you have money.

Some of you have patience.

Some of you have kindness.

Some of you have loved.

Some of you have the gift of long suffering.

Whatever it is, whatever your gift is. What are you going to do with what you have?

All right now, here’s my last point about failure.

Sometimes, It’s the best way to figure out where you’re going.

Your life will never be a straight path.

I began at Fordham University as a premed student.

I took a course called that Cardiac morphogenesis.

I couldn’t read it.

I couldn’t say it.

I sure couldn’t pass it.

So then I decided to go into prelaw, then journalism and with no academic focus my grades took off in their own direction.

I was a 1.8 GPA.

And the university very politely suggested that it might be better to take some time off.

I was 20 years old. I was at my lowest point

And then one day and I remember the exact day, March 27th, 1975.

I was helping my mother.

In her beauty shop, my mother on the.

Beauty shop up In Mount Vernon

And there’s there was this older woman who was considered one of the elders in the town.

And I didn’t know her personally, but I I was looking in the mirror and every time I looked through the mirror I could see her behind me, and she was staring at me.

She just kept looking at every time I looked at It she kept giving me these strange looks

So she finally took the dryer off her head and said something

She said something I will never forget.

She said young boy I have a prophecy, a spiritual prophecy.

She said you are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.

And in the years that followed, just as that woman prophesized, I have traveled the world.

And I have spoken to millions of people through my movies.

Millions who up till this day couldn’t see me I or who up till this day I couldn’t see while I was talking to them.

and they couldn’t see me they could only see the movie.

It couldn’t see the real me.

But I see you today.

And I’m encouraged by what I see.

And I’m strengthened by what I see.

Because taking risk is not just about going for a job, it’s also about knowing what you know and what you don’t know.

It’s about being open to people and to ideas.

Because the chances you take, the people you meet, the people you love, the Faith that you have.

That’s what’s going to define you.

Never be discouraged.

Never hold back.

Give everything you got.

And when you fall throughout life, remember this.

Fall forward.

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8 March 2022

How to change your life with the law of attraction

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Introduction

I recently made a discovery that changed my life. Afterwards, I realize that I have often heard about it indirectly but never really in its fundamentals. You probably understood it with the title of the article, but I am talking about the law of attraction.

So, to be honest, I had already heard about it but I considered it as something quite fantastic that people try to sell to “suckers” by promising them easy money. In short, my first impressions of this law were not very positive. But I realized that it was much more than that. Especially when I started to experience it personally.

But I kept coming back to it and eventually I gave it a chance and read up on it. I discovered Bob Proctor, via his Youtube videos but especially his book “Change Your Paradigm, Change Your Life“. The latter makes constant reference to the famous book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. This book is considered the number one reference book for success. As soon as I discovered these links, I thought that it became much more interesting and that it deserved to spend more time on it.

In this article we will answer several questions, including:

What is the law of attraction
How does the law of attraction work, But above all, how to use the law of attraction
…

What is the law of attraction?

To begin with, we can use the Wikipedia definition which will give us a good basis for our work:

the Law of Attraction is a pseudoscience based on the belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into a person’s life. The belief is based on the ideas that people and their thoughts are made from “pure energy” and that a process of like energy attracting like energy exists through which a person can improve their health, wealth, and personal relationships.
Wikipédia

The parallel is that this law is similar to the laws of physics that we all know, such as the law of gravity, etc. The idea is that the law of attraction is as strong and real as the law of gravity and therefore we cannot escape it.

What particularly struck me while listening to Bob Proctor is that he also refers to the “law of vibration“. According to him, everything is a question of vibration. This story of vibration echoes the Wikipedia definition.

Somehow, it is precisely this link between this thought of the law of attraction and science that allowed me to be even more convinced of this “phenomenon”.

Indeed, we can consider that everything is energy. It’s not me who says it, it’s none other than Albert Einstein. This is what he says in the quote below.

Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way.
Albert Einstein

If we go further in this theory, we arrive on the string theory according to which everything is composed of vibrating energy particles of very small sizes which are called “strings”. I am not going to go further in the explanations because we are not going to go into the biggest theories of the current physics.

The general idea is to say that everything, absolutely everything is composed of tiny particles of energy that vibrate at a certain frequency.

You will have already understood that here we are absolutely not in theories that may seem to come straight from fantasies or other thoughts. Here we are talking about purely scientific and physical facts.

If we continue to push further, we could say that a change of state is possible if we go from one vibration to another. In the same way that water can become ice by reducing the vibrations just as it can become steam by increasing the vibrations.

So yes, up to now it’s a lot of theory but you probably want more concrete. Well, in one of Bob Proctor’s videos, he evokes a parallel in which you will inevitably find yourself.

The law of attraction in practice

Have you ever noticed that when you start looking to buy a new car and you decide on a certain model, you will start seeing that model everywhere you go. You’ll feel like you didn’t see them before and now that you’re interested in them, that’s all you see. You’ve seen that before, right?

What if I told you that it’s precisely because by learning about the subject, by imagining yourself driving this car and how you would feel behind the wheel, etc., you have somehow put yourself in a position where you can’t see it. You have in a way put yourself on a vibration, a frequency in parallel to these cars which allows you to pay more attention to them.

Let’s push the development even further. Let’s make the same connection with success. If you start thinking about success, imagining yourself as successful, etc., you will very quickly start to notice that you are not successful. Very soon you will start to see all the opportunities. You will be on the same frequency, vibration as these countless opportunities. And so you will start to pay attention to them.

The idea is that there are an infinite number of different frequencies and that if you want to achieve something, you have to get on the same frequency as that goal. The most important thing in this story is that these are not just nice words without any basis, all this is supported by physics even though it can’t be really experimented.

Another example that we could cite is that of self-confidence. If you lack or were lacking in self-confidence you have probably been told “fake it and confidence will come”. And as surprising as it may seem, this sentence is quite true. In fact, by faking it, in a way you are putting yourself on the corresponding frequency. In this way, you will be more alert and will notice many events or other things that will strengthen your self-confidence, etc. I would like to say that it’s magic but no, it’s physical! (Yes, I had to make that joke). But let’s see right away how the law of attraction works more concretely.

How does the law of attraction work?

It’s clear that when you read all this, you think it sounds too easy. I realize that I sound like a salesman of easy dreams, etc. But in reality it’s not as simple as that. Because in the end, the objective is clearly to “reprogram” our brain, and that’s really not easy.

All this could be summarized by a formula that I will try to explain later on:

Thoughts -> Emotions -> Actions -> Results

This image illustrates the formula and explains how the law of attraction works. I will explain it to you in detail:

Our conscious mind receives a lot of information, whether it is via our senses, our thoughts, our ideas, etc. It is also the consciousness that will accept or reject these ideas. Because whatever the thought, it is consciously that we accept it or not. For example, if you say to yourself “I am not good for anything”, etc., it is consciously that you accept it. It is consciously that you keep this thought and just let it go to the next step.
All these thoughts filtered by the conscious mind arrive directly to the Subconscious mind which, for its part, does not have any filter. It will receive the information and store it because it cannot reject it. Moreover, on the basis of these thoughts, it will extract emotions and instructions of sorts. Because it is in this part that all our programming takes place. It is on the basis of all the information and emotions received that our mental program will develop and dictate our actions, our behaviors. It is also this part that will dictate our frequency as previously mentioned.
We will act and behave, whether consciously or not, in coherence with the mental programming formed on the basis of our thoughts.
On the basis of these behaviors and actions, we will obtain certain results
These results serve as feedback and will re-feed our thoughts and continue the cycle.

Example

It’s all very well to present these explanations, but let’s look at a very specific example that will help you understand.

Let’s take the case of a person who is demoralized and says to himself a sentence that may seem very simple but that has enormous consequences as we will see. Let’s imagine a person who says to himself “I can’t do anything”.

This thought arrives in the conscious mind of the person who says to himself “I can’t do anything”, and since he continues with this thought and accepts it, it passes to the next stage and thus into the Subconscious mind.
This thought that arrives in the Subconscious mind is loaded with negative emotions that go with this kind of idea. And, as explained, the Subconscious mind cannot reject an idea. So it will accept it and integrate it into our mental programming.
Based on this programming, I see two possibilities
1. The person will not take any action (because what’s the point if he/she doesn’t get anywhere?)
2. They will try to do something but without conviction because they know deep down (at least they have told themselves enough to convince themselves) that they will not achieve anything.
Whether he does nothing or takes action and fails, the results will be similar -> Negative.
On the basis of these negative results he will draw lessons that will feed new thoughts. Obviously, these negative results will only confirm that the person is not getting anywhere.

This example may seem trivial, but this is what happens to many people. We don’t realize the importance of our thoughts and this mental programming.

How to use the law of attraction?

We have already more or less put forward some ideas on how to use the law of attraction. But we will see in more detail some ways to use it. Please note that this is a non-exhaustive list of the different ways that I have been able to identify during my research and that I personally use.

Stop thinking negatively

It may seem obvious, but one of the first steps is to stop all those negative thoughts. As you can see, these thoughts and the emotions attached to them create a vicious circle that will only make the problem worse.

The solution is to replace these negative thoughts with positive ones. So yes, it’s easy to say, but that’s really what we need to focus on. I also have a hard time with this part but it is a daily practice.

Think about your goals

This may sound a bit cliché, but it is an integral part of the law of attraction. As mentioned, in order to attract what you want, you have to be on the same frequency. We must therefore have the appropriate programming for this frequency. We know that our thoughts are “digested” by our unconscious to modify our mental programming and therefore our frequency. What would happen if we fed our unconscious with ideas and thoughts related to our goal? Well, it would adjust our programming and therefore our frequency to adapt to our thoughts and therefore our objectives.

I will use a metaphor used by Earl Nightingale that I like very much:

If we think of a ship with a captain and a crew who know very well where they must go. In the vast majority of cases, it will arrive at its destination. If, on the other hand, you moor a ship without a captain or a crew, but above all without a precise goal. Let’s just say that there is very little chance that it will get there.

Write down your goals

It may seem superfluous and I was reluctant to do it in the first place. But writing down your goals on paper apparently has real positive effects on achieving them. By writing down your goals, you are repeating these thoughts etc. to your brain once again. In this way, we are forcing this programming in a way.

As I told you, I was against it, but for a while now, I’ve been writing down my goals in a notebook every day, what I dream of accomplishing, etc. But mostly I try to imagine every night, how I would live this achievement. I try to integrate emotions. In this way, I really integrate this goal into my “program”.

Moreover, having this little daily ritual forces me to think about my goal every day and therefore to come back to “feed” my unconscious with these thoughts.

Conclusions

Throughout this article, I have tried to explain this law of attraction. But I realize that I have touched on some important points but that it is such a huge subject that this simple article could not cover everything.

Anyway, I hope that this article will allow you to discover a little more about this law and what it can do for you.

I, for one, quickly realized its effects. I have always loved video games, but let’s be honest, this hobby will not allow me to reach financial freedom. Yet I couldn’t get away from it. Well, since I put into practice my tips mentioned above, I managed to stop having these urges/needs to play. And so I can devote more time to my goals. I really feel that my mental program has been modified and I’m really happy about that. That’s why I wanted to talk about it and share this “discovery”.

Don’t hesitate to share your opinion in the comments!

Sources :

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14 August 2019

Personal development : What if you put yourself in the other’s shoes ?

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Introduction

As part of personal development, I deem it is very important to show empathy. You know, I have always been someone who quickly get angry. Indeed I was quickly upset which obviously had repercussions on my way of being and thus on my entourage.

For instance, I used to live in a flat with poor isolation. In the night, while I was trying to sleep, there was always a neighbor to make some noise. Indeed, those sounds quickly got on my nerves and I ended up focusing on those noises which cut off a good portion of my sleeping night. I was spending my nights thinking “Damn neighbors, people shows no regard”,…

Personal development

Even if it is true that a lot of people clearly show lack of respect, whether it is my neighbor or other. The error in such situation often was to address them all the blames and for several reasons :

We do not know anything about their stories

Human judge too quickly based on what he directly perceived but never try to look further, to take into consideration the view of others. Maybe in similar conditions we would have acted the same way?

The author Stephen Covey, in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” told a story definitely relevant in our analysis in order to understand the power of perception :

I was riding a subway on Sunday morning in New York. People were sitting quietly, reading papers, or resting with eyes closed. It was a peaceful scene. Then a man and his children entered the subway car. The man sat next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to his children, who were yelling, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers.
I couldn’t believe he could be so insensitive. Eventually, with what I felt was unusual patience, I turned and said, “Sir, your children are disturbing people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more?”
The man lifted his gaze as if he saw the situation for the first time. “Oh, you’re right,” he said softly, “I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.”
Suddenly, I saw things differently. And because I saw differently, I felt differently. I behaved differently. My irritation vanished. I didn’t have to worry about controlling my attitude or my behavior. My heart filled with compassion. “Your wife just died? Oh, I’m so sorry. Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?” Everything changed in an instant.
Adapted from Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (New York: Fireside, 1989), p. 30-31.

This story clearly establishes that the perceptions can be modified based on our history, our knowledge, etc. as a matter of fact, it is necessary to attempt to see the situation from the point of view of the others. In the light of their history, maybe those have all the reasons to act like they do, at least from their point of view.

In some situations, the only person to blame is you

Still in the same book, the author makes an interesting distinction between the group of concern and the group of what we can have an influence on.

Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (New York: Fireside, 1989).

Of course, we all have a set of concerns. Nonetheless, we can only have an impact on certain elements. For example, the weather can be one of your concerns as you planned a barbecue this week-end but you can absolutely do nothing about it. On the other hand, if you are concerned about your weight, you can take control and do some sports.

The true point is to focus on what we can have an influence, likewise why loose time and resources to try to modify things on which we have no influence? Not to mention that complaining about the weather won’t improve the situation. However, you can focus on the way you perceive and react to such events

Conclusion

As a conclusion, let’s take back the issue with the neighbors developed earlier. What’s the point to blame them? In such situation, we have several choices, reactions possible. For example, I could go and ask them to calm down, call the police, and many others, still I make the choice to do nothing. Therefore, it is my responsibility, my choice to prefer the consequences of not saying anything and ensure good neighborhood relationships.

The life is made of choices and we are responsible of those that we made. Then it is our duty to not put the responsibilities of our choices on others. In the same way, it is important to consider the perspective of others, to say the thing like they would do in order to understand their behaviors. That way, this would relieve you from some stress and allow for a general improvement of the life quality.

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5 March 2019

A bit a personal finance

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It’s the well-know book “Rich dad, poor dad” from Robert T. Kiyosaki which allowed me to radically change the way I see the personal finance. I highly recommend that reading to anyone willing to regain control of their finance.

Basic concepts introduction

In his book, the author presents the differences between the balance sheets and income statement of people categorized as poor, middle-class and rich. Those concepts will enable us to gain a clearer and more complete picture of the multiple ways to manage our personal finance.

In order to simplify those two accounting terms, let’s imagine the balance sheet as a picture of your wealth at a certain time.

The assets represent the goods, properties, … that you own and generate cash.
The liabilities, for their part, are the debts that you have and thus create an outflow of cash.

This approach is not precisely the way it is used in the accounting approach. However, this allows a better understanding.

Added to this balance sheet, we are going to find the income statement. The latter represents a summary of all the in-flow (income) and outflow (expense) of cash during a certain period.

Comparison and explanations

In the context of this comparison, we will analyze in the sequence the least favorable situation categorized as poor, the one of the middle class to finish with the most adequate configuration which is the rich. This graphical representation includes an arrow which represents the flow of cash.

Poor

We can immediately note the absence of certain element within the balance sheet. This category characterize with a vision tuned to the here-and-now. Indeed, if we follow the arrow, we notice that the salary represents the revenue. Once the salary received, a couple of costs come in deduction too the available amount such as the rent, the food, travel costs, clothes, etc. Once everything has been included, there generally remains little to no cash on the account.

Many of my colleagues were living that way. At the end of the month, the latter had nearly no cash available and had to pay attention to their expenses waiting to get paid. Living that way can certainly suit many people. Nevertheless, if you wish to ensure a better life quality, a better future, it is necessary to fulfill that balance sheet.

Middle class

In the middle class situation, we can observe the apparition of debts on the liabilities side of the balance sheet. Those debts, such as the mortgage credit, the credit for the car, etc. create an out-flow of money.

It’s important to point out that in the economic reality, the counterpart of such debts is, for example, a house or a car in the assets side. Those effectively belongs to us provided our repayment of the debt that we find in the liabilities. But for the good of the current exercise, we will not include those in the assets. As a matter of fact, those assets do not directly produce cash for the person to which they belong. The house is used as a home and do not create cash in-flows. In the same idea, the car is used but only creates an outflow of money.

There is still an improvement in the sense that the type “Middle class” will invest in property. The investment in a house is the first step, the car is often needed to go to work. As we can notice in the graph, the flow of cash, the expenses, will be done in a more adequate way. For example, instead of simply pay a rent, they pay in order to repay a mortgage credit of a property which after a couple decades would allow to avoid a cost. This is what distinguish the middle class from the rich in the sense that the latter will aim to, not only avoid some long term costs, but especially to ensure new cash in-flows, a supplement or even a replacement of the salary.

Rich

We finally reach the “rich” category. As previously explained, it differs by its capacity to generate passive or semi-passive income that could come in replacement of the wage. To create such passive income, it is needed to acquire some cash creating assets such as :

Real Estates : Acquiring a real property will allow to generate cash and this from two different ways. Not only the acquired property can create money from the rent but it can also increase in value over time.
Stocks : Acquiring shares of a company allows to obtain a part of the revenues of the company through dividends or a rise in the share value.
…

That way, the cash generated by the salary will mainly be used to acquire such cash-generating properties which might replace this wage. As the author explains in his book “The riches don’t work for money, they let their money work for them”. I would like to quote Warren Buffet here when he says :

Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.
Warren Buffet

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5 March 2019

A new start

Invest and Me 0

Introduction

“It’s done.”

I was still not realizing it, I just resigned.

It was an idea that I had been thinking about for a couple of months but I just did it, I felt free. After my studies, I started my career in one of the best audit firm with the goal to learn as much as possible. However, even though I had signed knowingly, I was not expecting that the consequences on my private life would be so significant. I needed to find an escape ; a life could not be reduced to that. I focused on my life and started to read books on personal development, trading, investing or everything related to business.

To a better life quality

It’s during this period that I learned that it was not by getting a good job in a large company that you will get what you desire in life. To do so, you need to think in another way, to change your way of seeing things… As Warren Buffet, one of the greatest fortunes explained in an interview :

“The best investment you can make, is an investment in yourself. The more you learn, the more you’ll earn.”
Warren Buffet

While it is true that a good financial health is needed to ensure a good life quality. This quotation should not narrow all this to finance aspect. The personal development on every other aspect can only be beneficial and ensure a better life condition. It is in the extension of this quotation that I focused on everything I could learn keeping in mind this goal to reach a better life quality.

Warren Buffet Quotation — “Money101: Q&A with Warren Buffett”. Interview with Aaron Task,finance.yahoo.com. April 8, 2013.

New path

Obviously, I did not resigned without an alternative, I had decided to start as a business banker. This choice came to me like an evidence : I had always been interested by the banking sector, everything that approach to finance (whether personal or business). More importantly, this job, although strongly sales focused, would allow me to help people. Indeed, unlike the audit where the most of the work consists in a control and relentless questions toward the client without real added value. In the banking sector, it would be possible for me to help the clients and create solutions for them in order to optimise their financing activities, etc.

Wishing to help, I decided to start this blog in order to share my findings, thoughts and other advice on how to enhance your life quality. I do not pretend to be a financial advisor, still after extensive reading I managed to develop a certain way of seeing things that could be beneficial to many people.