Words of Wisdom – The Asset Column

Building up an Asset Column

When I started my career in 2008 my salary was in the mid $30,000s, and all I had for assets were a few thousand dollars in mutual funds. When I moved into my own place the following year I was excited to learn as much as I could about the the real world, and how to manage my own money. The words below helped inspire me to become an investor, and is still one of my favorite financial quotes today.
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“Rich people buy luxuries last, while the poor and middle class tend to buy luxuries first. The poor and middle class often buy luxury items such as big houses, diamonds, furs, jewelry or boats because they want to look rich. They look rich, but in reality they just get deeper in debt on credit. The old money people, the long-term rich, built their asset column first. Then, the income generated from the asset column bought their luxuries. The poor and middle class buy luxuries with their own sweat, blood, and children’s inheritance.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki
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This made a lot of sense to me so I incorporated these words into my own life. Instead of buying luxuries, I started to build my “asset column.” Just like building any kind of foundation the process began very slowly. My $3000 of mutual funds was only generating about $150 a year in dividends and interest, but I kept investing every dollar I could save.

Slow beginnings

I only made a few hundred dollars from investments in my first year. But I became a better investor as time went on. As my salary grew, I was able to save and invest more, and made almost $800 of investment income the second year from my asset column. The third year I saved even more money to invest, and continued to re-invest what I already had, and received more than $2000 in dividends by year’s end.

In 2012 those assets are generating more than $4000 every year. So instead of buying a vacation with my own sweat and blood, I can let “the income generated from my asset column buy” all my luxury needs. The combination of investing regularly, compound growth, re-investing dividends, and growing my income have given me a really good start to financial freedom.

Today in 2020, my asset column is worth over $1,000,000 and generates about $50,000 a year of income for me. 🙂 See this post for the updated details.

If you haven’t started building your own asset column yet, don’t wait any longer. It doesn’t take much to get started. But it will require a great deal of patience in order to see any significant returns on your investments (especially in the first couple of years.)

Expanding on my asset column

Sacrificing a small bit of instant gratification now for stable (and most likely growing) income in the future is worth it to me.  Even after a job promotion last year I still make below average salary. But it’s not about how much money I make, because what’s more important is how I make the money work for me. I’m living within my means, keeping my money safe, and not taking on too much risk. I’m also looking for new opportunities to grow my asset column. For most people, it is possible to slowly but surely reach the point where their investments make as much money as their work income, at which point, they don’t have to rely on a career to put food on the table anymore! I understand that this will take decades, and some sacrifice, but for those who want it, it will be well worth it.

* This post was updated on April 26th 2020