The big problem was that my logic was my rich dad's logic. Job security meant everything to my educated dad. Learning meant everything to my rich dad. Educated dad thought I went to school to learn to be a ship's officer. Rich dad knew that I went to school to study international trade. So as a student, I made cargo runs, nav- igating large freighters, oil tankers and passenger ships to the Far East and the South Pacific. Rich dad emphasized that I stay in the Pacific instead of taking ships to Europe because he knew that the "emerging nations" were in Asia, not Europe. While most of my classmates, including Mike, were partying at their fraternity houses, I was studying trade, people, business styles and cultures in Japan, Tai- wan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Korea, Tahiti, Samoa and the Philippines. I also was partying, but it was not in any frat house. I grew up rapidly. Educated dad just could not understand why I decided come tomorrow morning, they'll still be in the same cage: great job. In the movie Jerry Maguire, starring Tom Cruise, there are many great one liners. Probably the most memorable is "Show me the money." But there is one line I thought most truthful. It comes from the scene where Tom Cruise is leav- ing the firm. He has just been fired, and he is asking the entire company "Who wants to come with me?" And the whole place is silent and frozen. Only one woman speaks up and says, "I'd like to but I'm due for a promotion in three months." That statement is probably the most truthful statement in the whole movie. It is the type of statement that people use to keep themselves busy working away to pay bills. I know my educated dad looked forward to his pay raise every year, and every year he was disappointed. So he would go back to school to earn more qualifications so he could get another raise, but again, it would be another dis- appointment. The question I often ask people is, "Where is this daily activity taking you?" Just like the little hamster, I wonder if people look at where their hard work is taking them. What does the future hold? Cyril Brickfield, the former executive director of The American Association of Retired People, reports that "pri- vate pensions are in a state of chaos. First of all, 50 percent of the workforce today has no pension. That alone should be of great concern. And 75 to 80 percent of the other 50 percent have ineffective pensions that pay $55 or $150 or $300 a month." In his book The Retirement Myth, Craig S. Karpel writes: "I visited the headquarters of a major national pension con- eve of my 30th birthday, my first shipment left Korea for New York. Today, I still do business internationally. And as my rich dad encouraged me to do, I keep seeking the emerging na- tions. Today my investment company invests in South America, Asia, Norway and Russia. There is an old cliche that goes, "Job is an acronyrnfor Just Over Broke.