Don’t Work for Money
？佚名 / Anonymous
The world is filled with smart， talented， educated and gifted people. We meet them every day. A few days ago， my car was not running well. I pulled it into a garage， and the young mechanic had it fixed in just a few minutes. He knew what was wrong by simply listening to the engine. I was amazed. The sad truth is， great talent is not enough.
I am constantly shocked at how little talented people earn. I heard the other day that less than 5 percent of Americans earn more than $100，000 a year. A business consultant who specializes in the medical trade was telling me how many doctors dentists and chiropractors struggle financially. All this time， I thought that when they graduated， the dollars would pour in. It was this business consultant who gave me the phrase， “They are one skill away from great wealth.” What this phrase means is that most people need only to learn and master one more skill and their income would jump exponentially. I have mentioned before that financial intelligence is a synthesis of accounting， investing， marketing and law. Combine those four technical skills and making money with money is easier. When it comes to money， the only skill most people know is to work hard.
When I graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1969， my educated dad was happy. Standard Oil of California had hired me for its oil-tanker fleet. I had a great career ahead of me， yet I resigned after six months with the company and joined the Marine Corps to learn how to fly. My educated dad was devastated. Rich dad congratulated me.
Job security meant everything to my educated dad. Learning meant everything to my rich dad. Educated dad thought I went to school to learn to be a ship’s officer. Rich dad knew that I went to school to study international trade. So as a student， I made cargo runs， navigating large freighters， oil tankers and passenger ships to the Far East and the South Pacific. While most of my classmates， including Mike， were partying at their fraternity houses， I was studying trade， people and cultures in Japan， Thailand， Singapore， Hong Kong， Vietnam， Korea and the Philippines. I also was partying， but it was not in any fraternal house. I grew up rapidly.