But risk is always di- minished if you love what the investment is, understand it and know the game. With small companies, my investment strategy is to be out of the stock in a year. My real estate strategy, on the other hand, is to start small and keep trad- ing theproperties up for bigger properties and, therefore, delaying paying taxes on the gain. This allows the value to increase dramatically. I generally hold real estate less than seven years. For years, even while I was with the Marine Corps and Xerox, I did what my rich dad recommended. I kept my daytime job, but I still minded my own business. I was ac- tive in my asset column. IracJecLjEaLestate and small stocks. Rich dad always stressed the importance of finan- cial" literacy. The better I was at understanding the ac- counting and cash management, the better I would be at analyzing investments and eventually starting and building my own company. I would not encourage anyone to start a company un- less they really want to. Knowing what I know about run- ning a company, I would not wish that task on anyone. There are times when people cannot find employment, where starting a company is a solution for them. The odds are against success: Nine out of ten companies fajLUn five years. Of those that survive the first five years, ninejout_of every ten of those eventually fail, as well. So only if you reluTyTiaThTdesire to own your own company do I rec- ommend it. Otherwise, keep your daytime job and mind your own business. When I say mind your own business, I mean to build and keep youra£set_cohjinn_ Once a dolfaT goes into ltpneveTletTtTOme out. Think of it this way, once a dollar goes into your asset column, it becomes your em- ployee. The best thing about money is that it works 24 hours a day andean work for generations. Keep your day™ time job, be a great hard-wOTkTng~lmTployee, but keep building that asset column. As your cash flow grows, you can buy some luxuries. An important distinction is that rich_p_eople buy luxuries last, while the poor and middle class tend"tFT5uYKujies first. The poor and the middle class often buy luxury items such as big houses, diamonds, furs, jewelry or boats be- cause they want to look rich. They look rich, but in reality they just get deeper in debt on credit. The old-money peo- ple, the long-term rich, built their asset column first. Then, the income generated from the asset column bought their luxuries. The poor and middle class buy luxuries with their own sweat, blood and children's inheritance. Ajtrue luxury is a reward for investing in and develop- ingjajreaTli had extra money coming from our apartment houses, she went out and bought her Mercedes. It did not take any extra work or risk on her part because the apartment house bought the car. She did, however, have to wait for it for four years while the real estate investment portfolio grew and finally began throwing off enough extra cash flow to pay for the car.