Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About MoneyThat the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

10. Teach and you shall receive: the power of giving
Both of my dads were teachers. My rich dad taught me a lesson I have
carried all my life: the necessity of being charitable or giving. My educated
dad gave a lot of his time and knowledge, but almost never gave away
money.
He usually said that he would give when he had some extra money, but
of course there was rarely any extra.
My rich dad gave money as well as education. He believed firmly in
tithing. “If you want something, you first need to give,” he would always
say. When he was short of money, he gave money to his church or to his
favorite charity.
If I could leave one single idea with you, it is that idea. Whenever you
feel short or in need of something, give what you want first and it will come
back in buckets. That is true for money, a smile, love, or friendship. I know
it is often the last thing a person may want to do, but it has always worked
for me. I trust that the principle of reciprocity is true, and I give what I
want. I want money, so I give money, and it comes back in multiples. I want
sales, so I help someone else sell something, and sales come to me. I want
contacts, and I help someone else get contacts. Like magic, contacts come
to me. I heard a saying years ago that went: “God does not need to receive,
but humans need to give.”
My rich dad would often say, “Poor people are more greedy than rich
people.” He would explain that if a person was rich, that person was
providing something that other people wanted. In my life, whenever I have
felt needy or short of money or short of help, I simply went out or found in
my heart what I wanted, and decided to give it first. And when I gave, it
always came back.

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It reminds me of the story of the guy sitting with firewood in his arms
on a cold, freezing night. He is yelling at the pot-bellied stove, “When you
give me some heat, then I’ll put some wood in you!” And when it comes to
money, love, happiness, sales, and contacts, all one needs to remember is to
give first.
Often just the process of thinking of what I want, and how I could give
that to someone else, breaks free a torrent of bounty. Whenever I feel that
people aren’t smiling at me, I simply begin smiling and saying hello. Like
magic, the next thing I know I’m surrounded by smiling people. It is true
that your world is only a mirror of you.
So that’s why I say, “Teach, and you shall receive.” I have found that
the more I teach those who want to learn, the more I learn. If you want to
learn about money, teach it to someone else. A torrent of new ideas and
finer distinctions will come in.
There are times when I have given and nothing has come back, or what
I have received is not what I wanted. But upon closer inspection and soul
searching, I was often giving to receive in those instances, instead of giving
for the joy that giving itself brings.
My dad taught teachers, and he became a master teacher. My rich dad
always taught young people his way of doing business. In retrospect, it was
their generosity with what they knew that made them smarter. There are
powers in this world that are much smarter than we are. You can get there
on your own, but it’s easier with the help of the powers that be. You only
need to be generous with what you have.

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Chapter Nine