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

• The rich buy assets. 
• The poor only have expenses.
• The middle class buy liabilities they think are assets. 
So how do I start minding my own business? What is the answer? 
Listen to the founder of McDonald’s in the next chapter.

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Chapter Three
LESSON 3:
 MIND YOUR 
OWN BUSINESS
71
The rich focus on their asset columns while
everyone else focuses on their income statements. 
In 1974, Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, was asked to 
speak to the MBA class at the University of Texas at Austin. A friend 
of mine was a student in that MBA class. After a powerful and 
inspiring talk, the class adjourned and the students asked Ray if he 
would join them at their favorite hangout to have a few beers. Ray 
graciously accepted.
“What business am I in?” Ray asked, once the group had all their 
beers in hand.
“Everyone laughed,” my friend said. “Most of the MBA students 
thought Ray was just fooling around.”
No one answered, so Ray asked 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 doesn’t know that you’re in the 
hamburger business?”
Ray chuckled. “That’s what I thought you would say.” He paused and 
then quickly added, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not in the hamburger 
business. My business is real estate.”

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Chapter Three: Lesson 3
72
As my friend tells the story, Ray spent a good amount of time 
explaining his viewpoint. In his business plan, Ray knew that the 
primary business focus was to sell hamburger franchises, but what 
he never lost sight of was the location of each franchise. He knew 
that the land and its location were the most significant factors in 
the success of each franchise. Basically, the person who bought the 
franchise was also buying the real estate under the franchise for Ray 
Kroc’s organization.
Today, McDonald’s is the largest single owner of real estate in 
the world, owning even more than the Catholic church. McDonald’s 
owns some of the most valuable intersections and street corners in 
America and around the globe.
My friend considers this as one of the most important lessons in 
his life. Today he owns car washes, but his business is the real estate 
under those car washes.
The previous chapter presented diagrams illustrating that most people 
work for everyone but themselves. They work first for the owners of the 
company, then for the government through taxes, and finally for the bank 
that owns their mortgage.
When I was a young boy, we did not have a McDonald’s nearby. 
Yet my rich dad was responsible for teaching Mike and me the 
same lesson that Ray Kroc talked about at the University of Texas. 
It is secret number three of the rich. That secret is: Mind your own 
business. Financial struggle is often directly the result of people 
working all their lives for someone else. Many people will simply have 
nothing at the end of their working days to show for their efforts.
Our current educational system focuses on preparing today’s 
youth to get good jobs by developing scholastic skills. Their lives 
will revolve around their wages or, as described earlier, their income 
column. Many will study further to become engineers, scientists, 
cooks, police officers, artists, writers, and so on. These professional 
skills allow them to enter the workforce and work for money.
But there is a big difference between your profession and your 
business. Often I ask people, “What is your business?” And they will 

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Rich Dad Poor Dad
73
say, “Oh, I’m a banker.” Then I ask them if they own the bank. And 
they usually respond, “No, I work there.” In that instance, they have 
confused their profession with their business. Their profession may
be a banker, but they still need their own business.
A problem with school is that you often become what you study. 
So if you study cooking, you become a chef. If you study the law,
you become an attorney, and a study of auto mechanics makes you
a mechanic. The mistake in becoming what you study is that too 
many people forget to mind their own business. They spend their 
lives minding someone else’s business and making that person rich.
To become financially secure, a person needs to mind their own 
business. Your business revolves around your asset column, not your 
income column. As stated earlier, the number-one rule is to know
the difference between an asset and a liability, and to buy assets.
The rich focus on their asset columns, while everyone else focuses on 
their income statements.
That is why we hear so often: “I need a raise.” “If only I had a
promotion.” “I am going back to school to get more training so I
can get a better job.” “I am going to 
work overtime.” “Maybe I can get a 
second job.” 
In some circles, these are sensible 
ideas. But you are still not minding 
your own business. These ideas all still 
focus on the income column and will only help a person become more 
financially secure if the additional money is used to purchase income-
generating assets.
The primary reason the majority of the poor and middle class are 
fiscally conservative—which means, “I can’t afford to take risks”— is 
that they have no financial foundation. They have to cling to their 
jobs and play it safe.
When downsizing became the “in” thing to do, millions of
workers found out their largest so-called asset, their home, was eating 
them alive. Their “asset” was costing them money every month. Their