Goodbye April!

1. Question – Who is the largest single owner of real estate in the world?

2. Thought – McDonald’s today is the largest single owner of real estate in the world, owning even more than the Catholic Church. Today, McDonald’s owns some of the most valuable intersections and street corners in America, as well as in other parts of the world.

“What business am I in?” Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s asked, once the group had all their beers in one hand.

“Everyone laughed,” said Keith. “Most of the MBA students thought Ray was just fooling around.”

No one answered, so Ray asked the question again. “What business do you think I’m in?”

The students laughed again, and finally one brave soul yelled out, “Ray, who in the world does not know you’re in the hamburger business.”

Ray chuckled. “That is what I thought you would say.” He paused and then quickly said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I am not in the hamburger business. My business is real estate.” (Rich Dad – Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki)

“All men having power ought to be distrusted.” (James Madison)

Good Thursday Morning!

1. Question – Why do most people struggle financially?

2. Thought – I have said many times that we go to school to gain scholastic skills and professional skills, both important. We learn to make money with our professional skills. In the 1960s, when I was in high school, if someone did well in school academically, almost immediately people assumed this bright student would go on to be a medical doctor. It was assumed. It was the profession with the promise of the greatest financial reward.

Today, doctors are facing financial challenges I would not wish on my worst enemy: insurance companies taking control of business, managed health care, government intervention, and malpractice suits, to name a few. Today, kids want to be basketball stars, golfers like Tiger Woods, computer nerds, movie stars, rock stars, beauty queens, or traders on Wall Street. Simply because that is where the fame, money and prestige is. That is the reason it is so hard to motivate kids in school today. They know that professional success is no longer solely linked to academic success, as it once was.

Because students leave school without financial skills, millions of educated people pursue their profession successfully, but later find themselves struggling financially. They work harder, but don’t get ahead. What is missing from their education is not how to make money, but how to spend money – what to do after you make it. It’s called financial aptitude – what you do with the money once you make it, how to keep people from taking it from you, how long to keep it, and how hard that money works for you. Most people cannot tell why they struggle financially because they don’t understand cash flow. (Rich Dad – Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki)

“As we have seen, America had been founded primarily for religious purposes, and the Great Awakening had been the original dynamic of the continental movement for independence. The Americans were overwhelmingly church-going, much more so than the English, whose rule they rejected.” (Paul Johnson, British historian)