Author Topic: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee  (Read 2731 times)

BOP Mustache

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Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« on: July 24, 2018, 09:48:45 PM »
Reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad got me into my interest of finance and investing as a teenager. I'm now 29 years old.

I'm just re-reading some of his books at the moment and now I'm older and have a wife and soon to be family on the way, I feel kind of like a failure while reading it as I now have no real desire to be a "B" quadrant business owner.

When I was a teenager, I thought the world was my oyster, I'd have big dreams of being the next tycoon like Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, etc but I'm actually pretty content being an employee in my career and working my way up the corporate ladder in management. As sad as it sounds, I like the thought of the security of the paycheck each month, with home expenses and a family to support. Risking it all on a business that may or may not pan out isn't my idea of providing for my wife and future children.

We own a couple of rental properties here in New Zealand and have our superannuation ticking along in the background. Life isn't too bad and we will be able to retire earlier than most if we choose to do so.

So why do I feel like a failure wanting to be an employee and not an entrepreneur?

damyst

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2018, 01:48:01 AM »
A nice feature of this dilemma is that no one is forcing you to commit eternally to one course of action or another.
If you're comfortable being an employee at this point in your life, and you're not intent on becoming the next Richard Branson, then there's absolutely no problem.
If some years down the line you get the itch to strike out on your own, you'll arguably be in a better position to do so than you were when you started out.
With a healthy stash of savings and/or passive income and/or a working spouse, the risks associated with a new venture are far lower.

marty998

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2018, 03:42:49 AM »
So why do I feel like a failure wanting to be an employee and not an entrepreneur?

Kiyosaki wouldn't sell too many books if his message was to simply get out of bed and go to work everyday.


We own a couple of rental properties here in New Zealand and have our superannuation ticking along in the background. Life isn't too bad and we will be able to retire earlier than most if we choose to do so.


You seem to have your head screwed on right. Enjoy the fruits of your good choices. I agree with @damyst - you will be in a better position to take a risk down the track, but it isn't worth putting everything you've worked hard for on the line for it.

FIPurpose

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2018, 05:31:45 AM »
We own a couple of rental properties here in New Zealand and have our superannuation ticking along in the background. Life isn't too bad and we will be able to retire earlier than most if we choose to do so.

Sounds to me like you are playing in multiple quadrants. Where most people never touch rental properties, you have decided to reinvest your E earnings into investments. (Did he have an I category?) It's been years since I've read that book, but if your savings and building your passive income then you're doing far more than just the 'E' bucket.

skeptic

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2018, 10:08:25 AM »
Sounds like you are doing great. Please don't beat yourself up for not pursuing a dream/fantasy that, on closer inspection, wasn't really what you wanted.

I know many business owners who have lost everything... not just their own money, but the money of friends and family, small local banks, their landlords and suppliers (small business owners themselves), and the money of some of their customers who placed orders that just cannot be fulfilled now. Saying "business is risky" just doesn't quite capture the pain of some failures. Even for people who are passionate and have a decent idea and skills, it's still super risky. Count yourself blessed.

Also... it sounds like you do have a business, at least in rental property. Maybe this doesn't sound glamorous or big enough? If it fits for you, sounds great.

AMandM

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2018, 10:34:06 AM »
On behalf of your family, let me say: security is golden. I'm speaking as the daughter of a man who often comments gratefully on the fact that he never missed a paycheque--he stayed in the job he got straight out of grad school until he retired. I'm also speaking as the wife of a man whose father ran his own business,  who therefore experienced financial swings as a child, and who has himself chosen a stable paycheque. Stability may not be glamourous, but it's a wonderful platform on which to base family life.

Stimpy

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2018, 10:37:43 AM »
Sounds to me like you do have a B in there.   Owning rentals (if your doing it correctly) in my opinion means your running a business.  Yes it's also technically an I BUT your making cash from renting out space to live in.  The house might be the I but the fact you have 2 rental incomes means its more B (in my opinion).

So (and I am making an assumption here) it sounds like your in 3 out of 4 squares, not bad, puts you in a VERY good position later on if you want to go more into rentals or something else.

Congrats!

Gondolin

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2018, 12:26:04 PM »
Quote
So why do I feel like a failure wanting to be an employee and not an entrepreneur?

Probably a combination of a relentless cultural pressure to “produce" and an insidious barrage of marketing entrepreneurship as the coolest, most moral way to live.

pecunia

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2018, 12:36:39 PM »
Maybe it's better to think of how good a person you are instead of "winning" in this investment thing.  There are a lot of successful business folks out there that are just nasty.  The fact they have money does not make them better people.  I don't know how it will work for them, but I was taught that one way or another they will get theirs.  Better to be poor and decent instead of one of them.

By the way, I think he was too hard on his poor ole dad.

Schaefer Light

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2018, 01:48:51 PM »
I plan to go straight from the E quadrant to the I quadrant.  Fuck running or owning a business.  I don't need that kind of stress in my life.  I'd rather just be an investor (i.e. retiree) and let my investments generate all of my income.  Much better hours than owning a business, too ;).

AnswerIs42

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2018, 02:15:12 PM »
Obligatory XKCD:


Schaefer Light

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #11 on: July 25, 2018, 02:23:42 PM »
Obligatory XKCD:


Exactly.  All of the entrepreneurs who failed miserably and went back to working for "the man" don't write books.  And the millions of folks who retired from the same company they started with don't write many books, either.

runbikerun

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Re: Robert Kiyosaki & Cashflow Quadrant- Being an "E" Employee
« Reply #12 on: July 25, 2018, 02:26:10 PM »
There's an ongoing barrage of, for want of a better word, propaganda regarding the desirability of entrepreneurship as a career choice. It's a mixture of a number of things - the promise of a winning lottery ticket if your startup becomes a unicorn, the fetishising of brutal hours and intolerable stress as a proving ground, the effort to rebrand low-paying work as independent hustle in order to save employers money on actually paying their employees properly - combining to create a consistent hum of bullshit. Entrepreneurship involves horrible hours, frequently pays shitty money, and almost by definition imposes an incredible amount of stress. It's a shitty deal, and I suspect that a huge amount of the propaganda we see is the output of people who can't bear to admit to themselves that they should have accepted their fate and gotten a regular payslip and a boss.

In the work I do, I get to see the financials for a lot of self-employed people. A significant minority are making far less than they would in almost any position they'd find themselves in as an employee - I've seen a trilingual coder earning less than minimum wage running a dropshipping company - and the small proportion that actually do very well always seem to have had considerable success as employees in their field before going out on their own. They take on a huge amount of risk, though - what happens if the company that provides three-quarters of your income goes with a different provider next year, or if a major firm decides to elbow its way into your market? In very specific circumstances, I can see the appeal - if you're a highly skilled specialist and know your market extremely well, then it makes sense to seek a bigger chunk of the pie. Outside of that, though, I see a lot of people running coffee franchises and small companies who are really not making the kind of money that would justify the risks they're exposed to.

MMM made a pretty pertinent point regarding paid employment: if you're a skilled worker, then it's an incredible deal. Turn up at a consistent time each day, produce competent work, and the people in the office down the corridor will pour money into your bank account for as long as you're there and they're happy with you. You don't need to worry about making sure the bill for the electricity is paid, or wonder whether you'll need to pay for an expensive software upgrade in a few months, or even question how solvent the company is (unless, you know, you work in those specific areas in your company). Just turn up at nine o'clock, work hard for about forty hours or so a week (in most fields), and if all goes well the money will keep pouring into your bank account.