Page 74 - Rich Dad's Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money

As you know, there are good brokers and bad brokers. Simply put, good
brokers make you richer, and bad brokers make excuses. The following is

an abbreviated list of things that helped us find and keep good brokers.

1. Both Kim and I took classes on investing in stocks and real estate.
Having more knowledge allowed us to tell an educated broker from a

salesperson.
2. We looked for brokers who were also students of their profession.
Both Tom and John invested a lot of time beyond their minimum
professional education requirements in their fields. Tom often invites

me to look at businesses he is researching. John is a real estate broker
who actually invests in real estate. Today, he is a respected teacher on
the subject of real estate investing.
3. We want to know if they invest in what they sell. After all, why

should you invest in what they’re selling if the broker doesn’t have
the confidence to invest in the same stocks?
4. We wanted a relationship, not a transaction. Many brokers only want
to sell. Both Tom and John had time to have dinner with us even

when we had very little money. Both are friends.

THE KEY TO SUCCESS
The key to success is education. Kim, John, Tom, and I are students of

investing. We are interested in the same subject. We all want to learn more
about the subject. We invest in our subject. Tom does not know much about
real estate so we do not talk about real estate with him. John has no interest

in the stock market so we do not talk about stocks with him.
One of the reasons our wealth grew was that our knowledge grew. Often
I would call John and ask him questions like, “Can you explain to me the
difference between cap rates and internal rates of return?” He would take
the time to educate me, rather than just sell to me. With Tom, I would call

and ask him questions such as, “Can you explain to me the difference
between long bonds and short bonds?” Tom was more than happy to play
teacher.

One of the reasons The Rich Dad Company has multiday seminars on
stocks and real estate is because financial education is important. The