I just finished reading a book by Robert Shemin called How Come That Idiot’s Rich and I’m Not?
I had not heard of the author before but found that he’s a best-selling writer and a sort of rags to riches story who writes that he was one of those people who earlier in life would easily have been considered the least likely to succeed. He refers to himself as a Rich Idiot and uses this theme throughout the book to distinguish between rich people who aren’t as smart as many intelligent people who aren’t as rich.
In a nutshell, he talks about becoming your own boss and working for yourself and not others. He discusses how to focus your efforts on investing in stocks, real estate and businesses which is how he made his fortune. Personally I was most interested in his thoughts on real estate since it’s an interest of mine too (not the other subjects aren’t) and like others I’ve read, he advocates a system of buying property, renting them out, and developing positive cash flows in this way.
He discusses how to use debt properly (ie. use other people’s money to make your money), how to think and live like a millionaire and he advocates focusing on one goal not numerous ones. The ultimate goal is to become rich or more specifically a Rich Idiot, just like him.
Personally I thought that the book started out very strongly but ended up discussing a number of things I’ve read in other books. Like other self-help books I’ve read, he talks about writing things down and documenting them. Write down the material things you desire, write down people who can help you achieve your goal(s), make a list of your assets/liabilities, etc. Putting things into writing tends to mean that you’ll remember it plus you can refer to on a regular basis to remain committed to achieving everything you desire.
Given his self-described status as someone who finished near the bottom of his class it was interesting to read his thoughts on how many smart people often over think things and get bogged down on details while someone like him is more likely to just go and do it without over analyzing the situation. This is something I often do myself so I appreciated the comments.
If you’re looking for some ideas that perhaps you haven’t considered and getting the perspective of a successful person who has done it already, this book might be for you. It’s an easy read and has summaries of tasks for you to do at the end of each chapter and throughout the book in general.
