I wrote up a VERY long reply last night and then got weird and just deleted it. :(
I'm going to preface this with a simple statement of fact: I'm just a poor country chicken and likely quite naive over the ways of big city gurus and their fancy ways of hustling. So anything that seems dumb, I'll refer you to my sig line (either one really... oh hey, look at me getting one of
my hustles worked into the conversation! ;D Sorry, I mean the one about I have no idea... )
Basically all the things on the list are stuff that require lots of time/energy and research along with ongoing maintenance and involvement to keep things working towards earning you the best bang for your buck. He's advocating active
over passive, because in general the thinking is that being active means you're going to make more than if you just did the "lazy" index investing. Marketing at it's best.
Moral of the story if you don't want to read the wall below: There are two paths, and you
can choose the simple one.Those that insist that it does have to be complex/complicated are usually also trying to sell you something. ;)
Businesses: He's advocating active tracking/researching new/startups and trying to figure out if they are both honest, have a real idea that can be monetized and also a person that is able to implement their plans and all they need is capital (your money) to turn it into a successful business. Real $ investments to become a partner. Again, lots of initial work even if you're not actually working FOR the business. You need to find the startups, you need to go over their books, their business plans, do research on the market, do background checks on the business people involved and most of all trust them that they aren't stupid/lazy/scammers and that the business will actually turn enough of a profit to pay you back for your investment. Or find a working/established business that isn't failing but for some reason is offering investment opportunities.
Nothing about this sounds attractive to me. I am exhausted just typing all that mess out. I mean - there are good opportunities out there despite me sounding like a giant Eeyore. But you'd have to have a level of both trust and the drive to scope this stuff out for yourself and a sense of adventure that I appear to be lacking. ;)
Stocks/Bonds: this is the only thing I do personally because I like
passive investing.
The NotRich Dad guy is just... wow. I guess the nice way to put it is: if things seem overly complicated then look to the person that is telling you this is so. He's offering some
lovely seminars that cap out at $45 THOUSAND dollars for his personal attention. Because investing and finance is SO ZOMG COMPLICATED? Hmmmm.
Stock/bond investing is as simple or complicated as
you want to make it. Stocks (and this is going to be REALLY simplified - apologies) are what you buy to get growth. Bonds are what you buy to get stability. You generally want to have a mix of them in your asset allocation with a slight tilt towards one or the other depending on your comfort levels with volatility and investment goals. Mutual funds are fine. They are (and I am sure you may already know this) not composed of 1 individual stock. They can be 10 stocks, or 100 stocks, or have a mix of stocks and bonds. There are index stock funds and indexed bond funds, so that right there is what I do and it's worked out just dandy for me and thousands of other investors. You have to figure out what wealth means and what exactly you're looking for because once most of us reach "more than enough" there's no real point in the pursuit of excess. I have no interest in fancy brands, showing off, buying new cars every year with all the bling or the biggest and bestest mansions.
Read the Bogleheads site, read Jim Collins' book:
The Simple Path To Wealth.
If you take away nothing else from what I'm saying here, please think on this: you don't have to do complex when simple works for you. You should not feel bad for valuing your time or other non-monetary things over money. Passive investing/Bogleheads investing/index investing still does = wealth. All the rest is just noise, designed to make you think you're too dumb/busy/whatever to handle investing on your own.
Real Estate: Real estate - either residential or commercial - is a good source of income if you have the temperament and drive to be a land lord. I do not have either so RE investing sounds like torture to me. It is NOT a one size fits all thing, and anyone that touts it as such is a booger-eating moron. It comes with extra work/people interactions if you DIY, or you hire a property manager and rely heavily on them being honest and good at their job for a slice of your pie. And with the COVID thing, there's been a world of hurt in the RE community (can get some ideas of the pros and cons by checking out the forum over at Bigger Pockets).
Why are other properties considered good but not your own house?
Answer: because it's locked in and can't be used unless you sell it. It is part of your net worth but not liquid and not earning you any money except for unrealized-until-sold appreciation. You could monetize your personal home by renting rooms out, renting out space for people to use for storage/working/events/camping/animals/crops... in which case you
can count your property as an income producing asset. Some folks get a nice BIG house and rent out extra bedrooms and their borders literally pay them to live in their own house. But you're trading off privacy and free and easy use of your own stuff for extra $.
Notes: This is (my opinion)a silly suggestion of making money by becoming your friendly neighborhood loan shark. You'd could technically become quite rich doing this, but you'd also have to figure out how to force deadbeats to pay. (sounds like a fun way to spend the day - sitting in small claims court, filing paperwork, paying the fees to get them filed/served) and also make sure to report your income from this correctly so a bookkeeper might need to be hired. Honestly, this is a really awful idea unless you love doing lots and lots of legwork and loaning money to people that were considered too risky to get conventional loans... there's a reason why they can't get loans through regular channels. Sounds stupid and exhausting, but hey - gotta hustle to make bank I guess?
For a cautionary tale, check out peer to peer
Lending Club's saga. It was a nice idea, but again - what happens if you loan money to people that have not great credit and history of not paying things back? (spoiler: they still don't pay things back)
Royalties/intellectual property: Oh yes. Either buy the rights to other people's work and market them to turn a profit (ha, like that's an easy thing to do), or more likely: do things that are creative and monetize them. In a way, this works REALLY well if you can write something or do music or art that can be done once and then licensed for a reoccurring fee without you having to produce anything further, but I'd also include things like performances/artwork/crafting on demand. 3D artists could work up plans that could be patented and sold, crafters could create a cool new pattern and market it but you could ALSO produce said unique projects as well. Let me tell you this can be a slippery slope from turning something sort of passive into active... I am a professional artist. I have sold my artwork. I also do voice work and while most of my performances were for fun (free), I have been paid for some recordings I posted for fun (this is more "OMG I'm in a video game" sort of thing than worrying about the actual $). If you have something you can do - writing/art/music/crafting/building - that you enjoy doing as a hobby and can create to sell in some form or fashion without burning yourself out on the enjoyment factor, then have at it. But going into it as a means of making profit could not only turn that hobby into a drudge, it can also burn it out completely. I speak from personal experience on this one. It is heartbreaking to lose that spark, so guard that stuff well and don't push hard if you feel the joy fading. There are better ways to make money.
Anything else: More "gotta always be scanning for the next big thing" mentality. So yes, the next beanie baby, cryptocoin... There is also the darker side as we've seen recently. Please don't start hoarding TP or hand sanitizer or buying out all the PS5s on the market. I mean sure, you could make money, but would you be the type of person that feels good about it? But even the benign stuff you have to both recognize it to get into it where you can flip for profit, but know when to get out of it before it craters out too. Does that sound like fun? It sure doesn't to me.