Start minding your own business. Keep your daytime job, but start buying real assets, not liabilities or personal effects that have no reaTvalue once youTget them home. A new car loses nearly25 percent of the price you pay for it tiie moment you drive it off the lot. It is not a true~asset even if yourpanker lets you list it as one. My $400 newli- tanium driver was worth $150 the moment I teed off. For adults, keep your expenses low, reduce your liabil- ities and diligently build a base of solid assets. For young people who have not yet left home, it is important for par- ents to teach them the difference between an asset and a liability. Get them to start building a solid asggl column be- fore they leave home, get married, buy a house, have kids and get stuck in a risky financial position, clinging to a job and buying everything on credit. I see so many young cou- pies who get married and trap themselves into a lifestyle that will not let them get out of debt for most of their work- ing years. For most people, just as the last child leaves home, the parents realize they have not adequately prepared for re- tirement and they begin to scramble to put some money away. Then, their own parents become ill and they find themselves with new responsibilities. So what kind of assets am I suggesting that you or your children acquire? In my world, real assets fall into several different categories: 1. Businesses that do not require my presence. I own tliem, but they are managed or run by other people. If I have to work there, it's not a business. It becomes my job. 2. Stocks. 3. Bonds. 4. Mutual funds. 5. Income-generating real estate. 6. Notes (IOUs). 7. Royalties from intellectual property such as music, scripts, patents. 8. And anything else that has value, produces income or appreciates and has a ready market. As a young boy, my educated dad encouraged me to find a safe job. My rich dad, on the other hand, encouraged me to begin acquiring assets tjjanjoyed. "If you don't love it, you won't take care of it." I collect real estate simply be- cause I love buildings and land. I love shopping for them. I could look at them all day long. When problems arise, the problems are not so bad that it changes my love for real es- tate. For people who hate real estate, they shouldn't buy it. I love stocks ofjsmall companies, especially startups. The reason is that I am an entxepreneur, not a corporate person. In my early yeaTsTTworieTi such as Standard Oil of California, the U.S. Marine Corps, and Xerox Corp. I enjoyed my time with those organiza- tions and have fond memories, but I know deep down I am not a company man. I like starting companies,-not run- ning them. So my stock buys are usually of small compa- nies, and sometimes I even start the company and take it public. Fortunes are made in new-stock issues, and I love the game. Many people are afraid of small-cap companies and call them risky, and they are.