Want to be rich? Here's how..

Getting rich is much simpler than most would realize. In fact, we really need to define the word "rich" before we go on, so you can see what I see as we go through this book.

Most people's only relationship with money is of never having enough. Most people live a "paycheck-to- paycheck" existence, and use this month's paycheck to pay off last month's bills.

A paycheck, no matter how big, cannot be defined as wealth or riches. So often people seem to mistake getting a bigger paycheck or salary for getting richer. Nothing could be further from the truth for more than 95 percent of the population. As you well know, most people spend every dollar they earn, and then some.

The fist stage in your quest for riches is to get yourself to a stage where you've made enough investments over time to give you what I call a passive income rather than a paycheck existence. In other words, your investments and businesses make money whether you get out of bed or not.

Cashflow

Most people rely solely on their jobs for their cashflow. Notice I don't use the word income. You see income seems to imply some level of work or activity involved, and one of the central themes of everything you'll learn from me is that one of the keys to riches is actually having others do the word for you. By the way, job is just an acronym for "Just Over Broke."

Having a normal job, whether it's in your own business or someone else's, severely limits your cashflow capabilities. Here's why. It's possible to work only so many hours per day and make so many dollars per hour for your own personal labor. Thus a paycheck can be only for the number of hours you've worked multiplied by your hourly rate.

Assets

I make my money (cashflow) in business. And I keep my money (assets) growing in property. I love property for so many reasons, but let me be clear that the focus of this book is not property (for more on this, read my book The Real Estate Coach); its focus is business. I'll keep that focus because one thing has become blatantly obvious to me when watching people going about wealth creation.

Buying property is easy. In fact, there are literally hundreds of companies waiting to show you what you should invest in (we'll cover that in just a moment and thousands of great books on the subject. However, most people have a major problem with their ability to invest in a property or two every month.

They don't have the cashflow.

Their jobs only really allow them to buy another property every few years. To get rich, and to get rich fast, you need more cashflow. More, so you can buy more assets at a much faster pace.

Get into Debt

That's right, debt is good, especially when it's paid for by someone else, and when it's buying me an appreciable asset. Debt for stuff is bad. In fact, if you keep buying stuff all your life, you can easily guess what you end up with: STUFF.

A simple aside here: Land appreciates in value and buildings depreciate in value. Thus, invest in the dirt more than the building. That's why I don't like units, unless I own the whole block.

So, why is debt good?

Put very simply, it's this: If you invest $20,000 cash into a $100,000 property, you borrow $80,000 and we assume with the rental income and tax benefits, your mortgage (generally interest only for at least the first three to give years) and other expenses should balance out.

Lies, Lies, and More Lies

Let's start with an oldie but a goodie.

Pay off your own home first. This has got to be one of the most insane pieces of advice I have ever come across. Let's take a look back in history to find out why.

Back in 1929 when the stock market started to tumble, several things all came together to cause a new paradigm around owning your own home outright.

I'll make this overly simplistic to illustrate the point.

The markets tumbled by approximately 30 percent in just one day. This wasn't such a bad thing in and of itself, but the majority of investors had borrowed about 90 per cent of their investment funds.

As a result, they now owed more than their stocks were worth. Their leaders made what is referred to as a "margin call" and asked for more cash to secure their investments. This in turn led to a run on the banks for cash.

You guessed it; the banks ran dry.

At the time the average house was priced around $4000 or $5000, and a common clause in mortgage documents gave the banks the right to demand full and final payment at any time. So, when the banks needed cash to give to borrowers who needed to pay for their shares, they called in the home loans.

But, as is the case today, most of us don't have the price of our house sitting around in cash. The writing was on the wall.

The banks started repossessing houses and putting people onto the street. The brokers started to sell the stocks and shares to recoup their money, but there was one major problem.

No one had the money to buy either the repossessed houses or the shares no matter what the price. So, everything became relatively worthless, prices tumbled, people starved, yet one group survived with a roof over their heads - those who had paid off their own homes entirely.

So, from that generation on, "Pay off your home first, then you'll be safe and secure," became firmly entrenched as a piece of sound advice.

Three tips to beat Monday blues

One morning, I woke up savouring the freshness of the golden sunlight, enjoying the sun's rays filtering through my window. The first thought that popped into my mind was: "Thank God it's Monday!" 

I was startled by my own thought. While the whole world is grumbling and groaning about Monday, unwilling to let go of lovely, lazy Sunday, here I was, chirping about the first working day of the week. 

And why not? If it is Monday, it means the shops will be open, the government offices will function, the courier service will bring that much-awaited parcel. And life will move on full-speed. Isn't that cause for jubilation? 

Contemporary man is completely sold to the idea of the weekend and, therefore, horrified by the idea of working seven days a week. People drag themselves through workdays so they can relax in the evenings. They endure the week so they can have the weekend. 

They work through the year so that they can go on leave at the end of the year. If we stretch the logic a little further, they put up with life so that they can relax in death. 

Instead of justifying the need for a holiday, let us look at the quality of our working life. 

Perhaps some Osho insights can help change the way we work. 

The basic question is, do you enjoy your work? 

Do you work wishing you could do something else? Is your work a necessary evil -- to earn a living or to fulfil ambition? 

1. What and how 

What you do is not important, it is how you do it. Whatever you do, do it with deep alertness; then even small things become sacred. You can clean the floor like a robot; you have to clean it, so you clean it. 

But it could have been a great experience; you missed it. 

You cleaned the floor and that would have cleansed you. Clean the floor full of awareness; be luminous with awareness. 

2. Remember yourself 

One thing has to be a continuous thread: remember yourself. 

While walking, say, "I am walking." While sitting, say, "I am sitting." 

And feel the shift in your awareness. There will be a sudden spark. 

3. Are you a perfectionist? 

Beware! What counts is being total, not perfect. This brings out the best in you. The very idea of perfectionism drives people crazy. The perfectionist is bound to be neurotic. S/he cannot enjoy life till s/he is perfect. And perfection never happens, it is not in the nature of things. 

Life is imperfect. Only death is perfect. Totality is possible, perfection is not possible. 

There is a huge difference between perfection and totality. Perfection is a goal for the future, totality is an experience now. If you can get into any act with your whole heart, you are total. Totality brings wholeness, health and sanity. The perfectionist forgets about totality. There is a big gap between how s/he is and how s/he wants to be. And, of course, change can't happen now, it is always tomorrow or the day after. So life is postponed. These are small tools, but they will help you see the gap between workdays and holidays decreasing. You will eagerly wait for work to begin. 

And then you'll also say: "Thank God it's Monday!"

Cheap and Easy Ways to Get Happy

There's good news in the joy business these days: Recent research suggests it's not a fancy lifestyle that makes people happy. "Rather, any effortless pleasure or thing that strengthens social bonds or gives you a positive sense of control has measurable mental benefits," says Leaf Van Boven, associate professor of psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. So we teased out the latest tips from positive-psychology pros. They’re all easy and potent...and most don’t cost a dime.

Flower Power

A cheap sunflower stem for your desk gives a bunch of benefits in one. It has associations with the sun and an almost human-looking face, and the color of its petals has been shown to evoke positive emotions. Plus, people with plants in their offices actually feel happier about their jobs, according to a new study in HortScience.

Give a Pup a Massage

Just hanging around an animal has been shown to reduce stress and lower your blood pressure. But if Fido is high-strung, you can both benefit from rubbing him down, starting around his neck and moving down his spine in small circular movements. He’ll be relaxed and ready to unleash more of that unconditional love. Plus, you’ll get a boost from making another creature feel great.

Take the Long Way Home

Routines comfort humans, but ironically, switching them up and making them more novel also creates positive emotions. Once a week, throw a curve into your commute by swinging by a park on the way home or taking a river road to enjoy the scenery.

Gleeful Eating

Who doesn’t love to chow? Follow these tips to get an even bigger mood boost from your meals.

1. Choose a white plate. Its clean palette accentuates the positive emotions you get from looking at a variety of hues and focuses your senses, making food taste better.

2. Color code your meals. A rainbow of colors makes you happy, but red may trigger you to eat more, so add yellow corn, some peppers, purple eggplant, and a sprig of mint or parsley.

3. Order first at a restaurant. After the first person goes, others tend to choose differently and wind up less satisfied with their pick, says Dan Ariely, PhD, author of Predictably Irrational.

Love Notes 101

Firing one off to your man or even a great friend can bring you a feeling of contentment, says financial adviser Brent Kessel, author of It’s Not About the Money. So we brought in singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, whose romantic songs are iTunes best sellers, to help craft the perfect one.

1. Know your subject. If the object of your affection loves a certain food, color, quote, or animal, write about that. Be specific.

2. Avoid the words heart, soul, rose, forever, and die. All are grossly overused and make you seem unoriginal.

3. Don’t rhyme. Ever.

4. Illustrations are always cool.

5. Make him/her smile. Laughter is the best aphrodisiac.

Just Say No

The happiest people feel they have power over their time, says David G. Myers, author of The Pursuit of Happiness. Say “Sorry, I’m already booked” to a distant cousin’s shower or a nonessential work lunch.

Light a Scented Candle for No Reason

Stop saving your pretty pillar for entertaining and hookups. (What, you alone aren’t worth it?) Burn that thing to wick’s end, especially in a scent like lavender or green apple, which have been proven to lift your mood.

Eat Nostalgic Snacks

You sorta recall loving Fruit Roll-Ups or s’mores as a kid, but chances are, it’s been a million years since you’ve had them. Let us reintroduce you to their selling points: (a) Yum, and (b) the taste flashback brings up the sweet memories linked to these treats.

Set an Absurdly Easy Goal

Even if it’s just Get to work on time, Clean out wallet, or Make homemade vinaigrette, “accomplishments, no matter how insignificant, strengthen your sense of control over your life, and happiness is a by-product of feeling in control,” says psychologist John Reich, PhD.

Flake

Let that mountain of laundry slide for a weekend, and instead, simply read a great book or take a walk in nature. If you can’t hang out at home without guilt, apartment-sit for a pal. “Most of us are wired to do things to make ourselves happy, but just being in the moment creates joy,” says Kessel.

Find Your Perfect Hue

Painting a wall at home can have a mood-boosting effect, says psychologist Nancy J. Stone, PhD, who studies the impact of color. It’s thought that blue is calming (ideal for bedrooms) and green creates a relaxed feeling (good for living rooms). Yellow is said to be cheery — a great kitchen hue.

Go for a Run

Scientists recently confirmed the existence of the endorphin-fueled runner’s high, so get out there and go till you hit your wall. Then ride the exercise buzz...and the sense of satisfaction, whether you made it 1 mile or 10.

Crack Open a Cold One Postsweat

After Ultimate Frisbee with pals, try drinking a beer. It can actually help you rehydrate and prevent muscle pain, says a University of Granada study.