“It’s Rising Time” by Kim Kiyosaki is a book especially geared towards women, but I decided to read it anyway. The reason that I choose to read it is that she is the wife of Robert Kiyosaki of “Rich Dad Poor Dad” fame. I wanted to see how the couple became so powerful, but this time from her point of view. This book is extremely powerful. She tells a great story but she also has included multiple stories of strong women who built businesses from the ground up. I was humbled as I read the stories and I felt as though I haven’t done enough to stand on my own. After my self-pity, I realized that I have provided for my wife and two children throughout the last 15 years. So, I have done some positive things along the way. However, I am eager to jump into the world of business. This book is a great motivator for getting out there and building a business. However, she doesn’t paint a perfect picture of how building a business will be. She lets the reader know that it will be challenging and you will have nothing to fall back on. One of my favorite lines was something along the lines of “If you want to get paid, go earn a paycheck”. Basically stating, if you want job security, go find a job. What an amazing woman she is. With that, let’s get into my 5 takeaways.
1) The steps to success are Aspire, Acquire, and Apply. Which loosely translates into define your dream, learn the skills and education you need, and put your plan into place. You will have to do this continually.
2) Most people can do the Aspire and Acquire stages, it is the Apply stage that alludes them. The hardest part of anything is taking action. This is the stage that takes the most self-confidence, strength, and determination of the will.
3) As you start your financial journey, you will realize that it an essential part of your day-to-day life, but not separate from it. As someone who has recently started on my journey to financial independence, I can validate this statement. This journey becomes who you are. It is about planning and executing your plan. The plan is constantly changing as you acquire more knowledge, which leads you to seek more knowledge. It is an amazing knowledge loop.
4) The first key to financial independence is looking at where you are at now. Yes, again, I can attest to this. I remember when I built my first asset/liability spreadsheet. It was ugly, it was a bloodbath. But every single month, the numbers have improved. If someone would have told me that my wife and I would have saved and invested $50,000 and also bought another house in our first year towards financial independence, I would have laughed…out loud.
5) You will not get to financial heaven by saving and investing in 401Ks and mutual funds. Kim and Robert are not big fans of pension plans, saving accounts, and 401Ks. After reading 6 of their books, I agree. Financial literacy is the only way to truly become financially independent. Through their book, I have formed my 4 pronged retirement plan. My plan is military retirement, real estate, investments, and business. The goal is to be able to have each of these prongs produce enough money, alone, for us to live off of. So this way we are covered for retirement times 4 (x4). For example, If I say that my wife and I can live comfortably off of $6,000, then I want each of those 4 blocks to bring in $6,000 (total $24,000). This is extremely possible to do, without doing anything to out of the ordinary. And it is infinite-lasting cash flow, not money that can run out like a 401K can.
This book has strengthened my resolve to continue on our path of financial independence. This path that my wife and I are on will not be traveled by most people. It requires delayed gratification, patience, and self-education. In this world, these are 3 things most people would like to avoid. “It’s Rising Time” is an excellent book that really hits hard in the motivation department. I enjoyed every moment of the book. Kim also goes into detail in some areas like real estate investing and the stock market. Just enough to open your eyes to the possibilities. And then she follows up this information with real-life women who have been successful in that particular asset class. Super smart writing. And seeing real-life examples, including her own examples, helps the reader feel that we are all human. I feel that I am at a good starting point to jump in. I still have a few more years left in the Marine Corps and as I finish up here, I am learning and slowly building up my retirement blocks to reach our goals. “It’s Rising Time” is highly recommended for anyone to read, whether you are an employee, entrepreneur, or investor.
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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