Page 100 - Rich Dad's Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money

growing. If we had not made investing an expense and paid ourselves first,
we might still be paying everyone else first.

SAVINGS

We saved money until we had over a year’s expenses in cash. Instead of
holding cash in a retail bank, we hold it in gold and silver ETFs (exchange-

traded funds). This means that if we need cash, i.e., liquidity, our liquid
assets are held by our stockbroker in gold and silver certificates, not in cash
at a retail bank. As you know, I do not like the U.S. dollar, because it
continues to drop in value. Holding cash, or savings, in gold and silver also

hinders me from spending it. I hate cashing in gold and silver for dollars.
That’s trading an asset that rises in value for a commodity that depreciates.

GOD IS OUR PARTNER

As far as tithing goes, we continue to donate a large percentage to charitable
organizations. It’s important to give. As my very religious friend says, “God
does not need to receive, but humans need to give.” Also, the reason we

give is because tithing is our way of paying our partner—God. God is the
best business partner I’ve ever had. He asks for 10 percent and lets me keep
the other 90 percent. You know what happens if you stop paying your
partners? They stop working with you. That is why we tithe.

COMING UP SHORT

When we budgeted for a surplus, the first thing Kim and I found out was
that we were not earning enough money. One of the benefits of coming up

short every month was that we faced the problem of not enough money
early on, rather than later in life. I suspect there are many people who are
coming up short every month and will come up short later in life when their
working days are over. Then it might be too late to solve the problem of not
having enough money.

As I stated at the start of this book, if you don’t solve a problem, you
will have that problem all your life. Problems rarely solve themselves. That
is why we decided to pay ourselves first, early in life, even though we came

up short. Coming up short forced us to solve the problem of not enough
money.