Rich Dad Poor Dad is a starting point for anyone looking to gain control of their financial future

There are five reasons for using examples:
1. 
To inspire people to learn more.
2. 
To let people know it is easy if the foundation is strong.
3. 
To show that anyone can achieve great wealth.
4. 
To show that there are millions of ways to achieve your goals.
5. 
To show that it’s not rocket science.
In 1989, I used to jog through a lovely neighborhood in Portland, 
Oregon. It was a suburb that had little gingerbread houses. They
were small and cute. I almost expected to see Little Red Riding Hood
skipping down the sidewalk on her way to Granny’s.
There were “For Sale” signs everywhere. The timber market was
terrible, the stock market had just crashed, and the economy was
depressed. On one street, I noticed a for-sale sign that was up longer 
than most. It looked old. Jogging past it one day, I ran into the 
owner, who looked troubled.
“What are you asking for your house?” I asked.
The owner turned and smiled weakly. “Make me an offer,” he said. 
“It’s been for sale for over a year. Nobody even comes by anymore to 
look at it.”
“I’ll look,” I said, and I bought the house a half hour later for 
$20,000 less than his asking price.
It was a cute little two-bedroom home, with gingerbread trim on 
all the windows. It was light blue with gray accents and had been built 
in 1930. Inside there was a beautiful rock fireplace, as well as two tiny 
bedrooms. It was a perfect rental house.
I gave the owner $5,000 down for a $45,000 house that was really 
worth $65,000, except that no one wanted to buy it. The owner moved 
out in a week, happy to be free, and my first tenant moved in, a local 
college professor. After the mortgage, expenses, and management fees 

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were paid, I put a little less than $40 in my pocket at the end of each 
month. Hardly exciting.
A year later, the depressed Oregon real estate market had begun 
to pick up. California investors, flush with money from their still 
booming real estate market, were moving north and buying up Oregon 
and Washington. I sold that little house for $95,000 to a young 
couple from California who thought it was a bargain. My capital 
gains of approximately $40,000 were placed into a 1031 tax-deferred 
exchange, and I went shopping for a place to put my money. In about 
a month, I found a 12-unit apartment house right next to the Intel 
plant in Beaverton, Oregon. The owners lived in Germany, had no idea 
what the place was worth, and again, 
just wanted to get out of it. I offered 
$275,000 for a $450,000 building. 
They agreed to $300,000. I bought it 
and held it for two years. Utilizing the 
same 1031-exchange process, we sold 
the building for $495,000 and bought a 
30-unit apartment building in Phoenix, 
Arizona. We had moved to Phoenix by then to get out of the rain, and 
needed to sell anyway. Like the former Oregon market, the real estate 
market in Phoenix was depressed. The price of the 30-unit apartment 
building in Phoenix was $875,000, with $225,000 down. The cash 
flow from the 30 units was a little over $5,000 a month.
The Arizona market began moving up and, a few years later, a 
Colorado investor offered us $1.2 million for the property.
The point of this example is how a small amount can grow into 
a large amount. Again, it is a matter of understanding financial 
statements, investment strategies, a sense of the market, and the laws. 
If people are not versed in these subjects, then obviously they must 
follow standard dogma, which is to play it safe, diversify, and only 
invest in secure investments. The problem with “secure” investments is 
that they are often sanitized, that is, made so safe that the gains are less.