Four Hour Workweek Lifestyle or Rich Dad Lifestyle

[WilsonA]

Assuming you had a lot of discretionary income would you prefer the four hour work week lifestyle of travelling around the world and doing the things that you like or the rich dad lifestyle of putting your money into income producing assets and "paying yourself first".

Remember that the four hour work week proposes mini retirements while rich dad lifestyle proposes earning enough for you to retire, at least based on my understanding of both books.

I would start and say I prefer a bit of the two, what about you?

[Kay Zee]

This is one of the best questions I have heard on the forums. I am heavily into Robert Kiyosaki's stuff. His stuff rocks. And who hasn't heard of Tim ferris. Dude deserves a nobel prize.

I think both are surprisingly similar. They are both big on Leverage. One of the best quote in rich dad poor dad was

"is it easier to save 1 million dollars or borrow 1 million dollars"

that one really opened my eyes. Infact, i ended up buying my first house at age 21 after reading the book but thats a different story.

The question really is, what do you want?

Me personally, I couldn't give 2 monkeys about building a multi million pound business. My focus has always been passive income. Just do it ONCE and get paid for it.

But then again, I am only 24 so my preferences are different at this point. I go out 7 nights a week, work about 3 hours a day and don't really have other responsibilities outside of mortgage, bills and food. Thats easily taken care of.

Something Tim said in his book which sturck me like a lightening bolt :

"no amount of money warrants spending the best years of your life working 12 hours a day"

I am probably being selectively perceptive but I assume the best years hes talking about are the 20s. PERFECT

[Ricter]

Mr. Ferriss is wrong about that. He consumes the products of other men's "best years" labor.

[SpicyRobby]

Yeah, but then everyone who lives in prosperity lives on someone else's hard labour... The cheap labour of China, India and other countries enables us to buy DVD players for 50$ instead of 500$ and so on. That's the way the world's been built - and I completely agree with Tim Ferris.

By the way - now I'm reading his book and even though many things will never be applied to my life (but who knows...) - the whole concept is very well worth to everyone - prioritizing, outsourcing, using 80/20 rule etc, etc.

[Ricter]

Yes, many other parts of his book are very useful, if not new.

Ironically, and by his own admission, he does not work anywhere near a mere 4 hours per week.

[SpicyRobby]

Originally Posted by Ricter

Ironically, and by his own admission, he does not work anywhere near a mere 4 hours per week.

Maybe he counts in the 16+ hour days he worked at the beginning and then gets the average 4? :-))

[Mark-Dickenson]

Originally Posted by Ricter

Mr. Ferriss is wrong about that. He consumes the products of other men's "best years" labor.

Yeah, but the difference is, there is and exchange of money taking place...the person he outsources to has the choice whether or not to exchange his services for the money or not

[Rachel Incoll]

We're just about to do a bit of both...

We've just purchased (well... the bank has mostly) a block of land the we will be able to subdivide at some stage giving us long term security. As we're renting now though, we've decided to go travelling around Australia in a caravan while a house is being built on part of the block, then come back when the house is finished.

In the short term financially we might lose a bit as my husband won't be working, but it will give me more time to work on my websites...while hubby babysits the kids ...so we figure we should be able to make up that second income in a relatively short amount of time. With 2 small kids & hubby working up to 12 hours a day at the moment, I don't get much time on the sites.

Personally I reckon a bit of both...Rich Dad & 4 HourWork Week...is the way to go if at all possible. Having the time & freedom to enjoy life, & spend time with family is very important too, even if you have to sacrifice a small loss of income (as long as you can afford to).

Cheers

Rachel

[Andyhenry]

I never did read Tims book. I like to do my own thing and although lots of people have mentioned it in recent years, I still never bothered to read it so I can't say about what it advocates.

However - I have chosen a path of travelling and doing what I enjoy, so maybe I got similar messages from my own assessments.

I'm currently travelling around Asia (the last part of the world that I haven't seen a lot of) and still making more money and working less than ever before, so I guess Tims approach is more up my street.

As for Roberts stuff - I thought they were interesting but when I discovered that he actually never made any real money until he started selling his books on making money, that took the shine off of his stuff for me. Now he has so many variations of the books (he knows some people will buy anything he releases - so new books come out all the time) that I've stopped paying attention to them completely.


I think these books are good for the value they have in shifting peoples mindsets if they're new to entreprenerial thinking and have had a ratrace j.o.b mindset before, but when it comes to what you want to do with your success - it's a personal thing and there is no right or wrong, and other peoples opinions are just that.

So, right now I love travelling and intend to keep doing it and combining my passions with the ability to travel and make money - but I'm sure if a good woman got her hands on me I'd also be perfectly happy to settle down and get my thrills in new ways.

Andy

[Chris Lockwood]

Originally Posted by Ricter

Mr. Ferriss is wrong about that. He consumes the products of other men's "best years" labor.

Wrong about what?

Are you saying he doesn't pay for what he uses?

Everyone reading this is "consuming the products of others labor", but how is that relevant? Do you grow your own food, make your own clothes, and so on?

[AndrewCavanagh]

I don't think this is an either/or question.

You should be designing a lifestyle with a mix of work and leisure that suits you.

You can do both, you can work your arse off, you can even choose to exclude yourself from society altogether and live in a yurt.

The choices really are yours.

One of the biggest keys is to stop following someone else's program and to create your own program for YOUR life.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[Ricter]

Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood

Wrong about what?

Are you saying he doesn't pay for what he uses?

Everyone reading this is "consuming the products of others labor", but how is that relevant? Do you grow your own food, make your own clothes, and so on?

His sentiment is wrong. It is not a fate worse than death to work, and work hard, when you're young. I don't give a rat's ass what anyone says, the farmer putting in long hours IS valuable.

[naruq]

I live a combination of the four hour workweek lifestyle and Rich Dad Lifestyle. I have passive/residual income coming in from both online businesses and offline businesses. I have been able to travel the world.

[Allen Graves]

Which one of them condones posting on the Warrior Forum for 12 hours a day?

AL

[Chris Lockwood]

Originally Posted by Ricter

His sentiment is wrong. It is not a fate worse than death to work, and work hard, when you're young.

If he said that, I assume he was referring to himself. i.e., He did not want to spend his youth working at jobs... but I think that's true of most people.

I appreciate the farmers, but that doesn't mean I have to become one.

[WilsonA]

Originally Posted by Allen Graves

Which one of them condones posting on the Warrior Forum for 12 hours a day?

AL

None of them

[Shannon Tani]

I think that one of the "problems" is that people associate "work" with "working for money" and assume that the opposite is doing absolutely nothing.
I'd love to not have to work for money anymore, but that doesn't mean that I would do nothing but sleep and watch TV all day. I have about a million things that I'd love to do in that time, including volunteer work, gardening, quilting and other crafts, and so on. Even if I were to do something like travel, I would consider it more active in that I'd be learning about other cultures or something like that.

I think that few people want to "work for money", but most people still want to do something worthwhile with their lives, which often counts as "work".

Love,
Shannon

[Deepak Raj]

Both are good authors, but both have -ve points:

I don't like Rich Dad because:

• Real estate does not create value to the society
• If you earn a lot through real estate, its just money, you have created no value. Make a million through this, and what have you added to the people around you?

I don't like Tim Ferris because:

• If everyone is resting in Panama, who will take care of the world?
• Remote working reduces human interaction and socialization
• Already there is too much Information Overload, and he advices people to create information products.

Both of them will improve your life, guaranteed, but in a SELFISH way.

You CANNOT automate an income completely without your interaction except in a very few cases.

Like Eben Pagan says, you need to involve yourself into the business.

Life is about creation, not possession.

Convince me if I am wrong,
Deepak

[Sarah Russell]

I don't like Rich Dad because:

* Real estate does not create value to the society
* If you earn a lot through real estate, its just money, you have created no value. Make a million through this, and what have you added to the people around you?

If you create a million through real estate, you're at least preventing yourself from becoming a burden on the society in your old age. If thousands more baby boomers had followed his advice, we wouldn't be so worried about Social Security and Medicare falling apart. Not that I agree with all the Rich Dad stuff - he seems to share a remarkably small amount of information for all the books he puts out...

[fm1234]

posted by Andyhenry:

As for Roberts stuff - I thought they were interesting but when I discovered that he actually never made any real money until he started selling his books on making money, that took the shine off of his stuff for me. Now he has so many variations of the books (he knows some people will buy anything he releases - so new books come out all the time) that I've stopped paying attention to them completely.

I'm glad that someone brought this up. Not that it is much use trying to dissuade members of the Kiyosaki Kool-Aid Kult. The biggest belly laugh I ever had was seeing Kiyosaki and Trump teaming up to teach people about money and business.

posted by Deepak Raj:

Real estate does not create value to the society

A place to live or work is not a value?

If you earn a lot through real estate, its just money, you have created no value. Make a million through this, and what have you added to the people around you?

You mean aside from the people who fed their families with the money they made building, the people who will benefit from using the building, the community that benefits in various ways, etc.?

Affiliate marketers downing real estate developers for not creating anything. I'm one step closer to having seen it all.

[Frank Donovan]

Originally Posted by Deepak Raj

[*]Already there is too much Information Overload, and he advices people to create information products.

Yeah, what a bummer. Life was so much easier before Gutenburg developed that pesky printing press.


Frank

[Justin Jordan]

Originally Posted by Deepak Raj;115059[*

Real estate does not create value to the society[*]If you earn a lot through real estate, its just money, you have created no value. Make a million through this, and what have you added to the people around you?



[*]Already there is too much Information Overload, and he advices people to create information products.

1. A place to live is a significant benefit to society.

2. Entirely subjective - depends entirely on what you consider value.

3. Most of the examples Ferris makes in the book are physical products, and a great deal of the book is about avoiding information overload. Have you even read the book?

Besides that, the idea that we should stop producing information is painfully stupid.

If we can't teach people and we can't give them places to live what, pray tell, is left? You've eliminated the physical and the mental.

[Wakunahum]

Well regardless of what lifestyle you choose, it doesn't mean that you can't spend your free time giving back to others around you.

So whether your source of income is a "benefit to society" or not your time can still be.

[Lance K]

Originally Posted by Khurram Zeb

Something Tim said in his book which sturck me like a lightening bolt :

"no amount of money warrants spending the best years of your life working 12 hours a day"

It's not really work unless you would rather be doing something else!

[Lance K]

Originally Posted by Deepak Raj

I don't like Rich Dad because:

• Real estate does not create value to the society
• If you earn a lot through real estate, its just money, you have created no value. Make a million through this, and what have you added to the people around you?

Owners of real estate contribute substantial value to society through the payment of property taxes. Also, if they're landlords, they probably put money back into the local economy by frequenting the closest home improvement center, plumber, electrician, etc.

[Jeff Seely]

Originally Posted by Deepak Raj

I don't like Tim Ferris because:

• If everyone is resting in Panama, who will take care of the world?
• Remote working reduces human interaction and socialization
• Already there is too much Information Overload, and he advices people to create information products.

People bring up those points often.

1. Everyone resting in Panama -- it will never happen, so it's an irrelevant point. Think of the billions of people who, even if they read Tim's book, would not follow through with any of the advice or even care to. Most people who read it now probably don't take action, though the paradigm shift offered by the book -- and the whole 4HWW "philosophy" -- I think has changed things in a big way.

2. I don't think remote working reduces human socialization, but even if it did it would only reduce business socialization... Personal socialization would be back to first priority where it belongs.

3. For the rest of human history there will be books and traded information in some form. Once the Universe unveils all of its secrets about physics, evolution, psychology, consciousness... then maybe we can write an answer-to-everything book and stop producing information products... until then, I'm still curious, so keep the information coming

Both of them will improve your life, guaranteed, but in a SELFISH way.

Humans went 2.5 million years without modern "jobs"... unless you work in the business of farming, food distribution, or providing shelter, your service to society is fundamentally "optional". And we could argue all day long about which optional services provide more "value" than others -- I'm thankful for scientists, musicians, engineers, doctors etc... but wall-street day traders? Toxic politicians? Lobbyists?

Society at large is a complicated thing, and no one should "call out" someone who followed their dreams and lived like Tim in Panama for being selfish. IMHO.

[Deepak Raj]

Alright, I accept defeat. I understand that people who loved these books did not like my -ve points about it. I apologize for that!

In fact, on a second thought, they are not absolutely valid.

Anyway, I guess I stirred up some conversation.

[BIG Mike]

Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh

I don't think this is an either/or question.

You should be designing a lifestyle with a mix of work and leisure that suits you.

You can do both, you can work your arse off, you can even choose to exclude yourself from society altogether and live in a yurt.

The choices really are yours.

One of the biggest keys is to stop following someone else's program and to create your own program for YOUR life.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Now there's the post of the day folks!

I went the retirement route at age 39 - no financial worries and able to do what I wanted when I wanted. It was great - for a month and then I was bored to tears.

I love to travel, but not week after week - after a while it just started getting old. For me, it took away the "looking forward" to it bit and really enjoying it.

It wasn't long before I started looking around for something challenging to do that suited me, without tying me down completely. I found it and I'm happy with it.

As Andrew pointed out - don't follow other people; figure out for yourself what you want (like Andy Henry did) and do it.

For me at least, I'll probably always be working at something until the day I die. But that's me...

[Kevin Riley]

Never read the 4 Hour Work Week, as I don't subscribe to that idea. I'd be bored and getting in trouble if I didn't work on my creative inspirations, and i have way too many ideas to only spend 4 hours a week bringing them to fruition.

I did read Kyosaki's book a long time ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Probably because I agreed with his ideas. Only work a job for knowledge and skills, not the wage. That is something I've always tried to do, because I hate working for others but it was bearable those times when I knew I was honing myself for my own business.

I also am in full agreement with his admonition to buy assets not liabilities. Other than travel or going to a restaurant, I look at what I buy and weigh it for its use in making me money. Well, actually even some travel has been in that category. I try to avoid stuff that will merely depreciate and become worthless, and am much more likely to pay double or more for something that will keep its value.

Biased opinion, but I'll take Kyosaki's teaching. I'm afraid Ferris doesn't stand a chance with me.

[lincolnn]

A lot of what Tim writes in his book is about creating muses, meaning creating projects that will fund other projects. When you run a totally automated businesses, it inevitably frees you up to do more things. Make key investments that will fuel bigger and better projects. For example, when he was talking about his friend who spent 2 hours a week working because he owned an easy to manage music dropshipping website pulling in 120k/year, he emphasized the fact that his friend was using this merely as a jumping point to accelerate his career as a music producer.

[Fabian Tan]

Let's face it...

The Four Hour Work Week lifestyle is more for the adventure loving social butterfly who just wants to live life like today is the last day on earth. I do agree with some of the principles in it, but most of it is non practical and nothing related to FINANCIAL EDUCATION.

This is where Rich Dad is more effective. Spend on assets, not liabilities. When you retire YOUNG, you can do what you like when you like.

Fabian

[DanGTD]

Tim Ferris' lifestyle is great, but he forgots you cannot build a self-sustainable business and leave it like that, and enjoy vacations till you die from that business' revenues.

Any business that does not continue to grow and add value to people's life in new ways, is destined to fail.

[pwebbiz]

Wow, great question and great conversation here. I was going to address people in particular ... but that's not going to happen

I've read both. Considering my position now, I'm pretty much living the 4 hour lifestyle. I was just cogitating the Rich Dad lifestyle but thought, if I'm still making money....doing next to nothing....why ever stop doing it?

I know Kevin Riley will respectfully disagree with me there but I do have a response.

Right now my content creation firm is 80% ish on autopilot. Working on getting the other 20% automated / outsourced this week between my staff of writers and my VA. This means that I'm making very good money doing very little. If I can let this run for the rest of my life (purely hypothetical - but apply this to a similar venture that runs itself and produces income like Tim's company) then why retire?

I will concede to one thing: I am young and don't fully understand retirement or anything to do with stopping working and just kind of living, so if my points seem entirely invalid I do apologize for my ignorance.

Anyway, why I like Tim Ferris is I've applied a handful of principals from the book and I've made my life so much better because of it:

80/20 principal: Fired a couple customers that expected way too much and we're constantly calling me for no good reason. They were not worth the income they were bringing in, so firing them freed up a lot of time I could dedicate to my higher paying, less bothersome customers.

Outsourcing / VA: Just hired a VA a couple days ago. This even ties in with the 80/20. The time it used to take me to coordinate orders from writers, get them to customers, post them on the blogs, submit them to Ezine Articles etc, can now be spent either making more money or enjoying myself more. Even furthering my education.

I think I had a few more things to say, but I can't remember what they were, and I really want to go get breakfast - take it for what it's worth

Michael

[SusanUSA]

This is an interesting thread. I've read both books (I am a Robt. K fan -- read most of his books and I've seen him in person at one of his seminars). I think the real value of both these books is 1) showing a different way to create sustainable income; 2) motivation that it can be done!

Back to Wilson's original question on this thread: Which lifestyle do I prefer? I am willing to work many hours now to create passive income for later . . . so I guess it's a combination of both. My #1 desire is to have enough income so that whenever there is a person in need, I can write the check to help. I have been involved in international relief and development since 1980. I've seen first hand the value of "teach them to fish" and that's where I invest my money now. I just want to be able to invest more!

So, because of this goal, I am now working to produce a great sustainable monthly income -- passive income -- so I can focus my time, talents and resources on "teaching people to fish."

[MaskedMarketer]

Originally Posted by Deepak Raj

Real estate does not create value to the society

If you earn a lot through real estate, its just money, you have created no value. Make a million through this, and what have you added to the people around you?

Life is about creation, not possession.

Convince me if I am wrong,
Deepak

Real Estate does not create value? How so? Please explain...

If I develop an affordable senior living community, how is that not creating value? If I develop an apartment complex with 50 units for people to LIVE, is that not creating value?

You said it yourself, life is about creation. When real estate developers create residential living for people for growing areas of the country, that IS creating value.

I don't see your point, so if you can explain what you mean I might have a better understanding.

[WilsonA]

Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh

I don't think this is an either/or question.

You should be designing a lifestyle with a mix of work and leisure that suits you.

You can do both, you can work your arse off, you can even choose to exclude yourself from society altogether and live in a yurt.

The choices really are yours.

One of the biggest keys is to stop following someone else's program and to create your own program for YOUR life.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

I totally agree with your post

[WilsonA]

Originally Posted by DanGTD

Tim Ferris' lifestyle is great, but he forgots you cannot build a self-sustainable business and leave it like that, and enjoy vacations till you die from that business' revenues.

Any business that does not continue to grow and add value to people's life in new ways, is destined to fail.

I think that is what the outsourcing part of the book was for and the book does not
say you should go on vacations till you die it says you should go on as many as you
can while still working or getting others to work for you, so instead of full retirement
you are actually doing "mini retirements" spread all over your lifetime

Wilson

[derekwong28]

Both of these books deal with methods of generating passive income and I agree that this is perhaps one of the most interesting threads I have seen.

The Rich Dad Poor Dad is based on a well tried and tested model that has been used by millions of people around the world. It outlines a plan to build up wealth when you are young so that you can retire wealthy Although I must say that it is not really working right now because of current market conditions. In fact, it could be extremely dangerous to practice right now as my wife and I found out several years ago. However, it should work again sometime in the future.

The four hour deals with enjoying your time and wealth now, particularly when you are young. I found a lot of methods that he used in saving time quite interesting and useful. However, there is a lot of stuff that I feel is very irresponsble e.g. suggesting that you can live in a 2M appartment and drive an Aston Martin on just $7500 income per month. Although outsourcing is a very great idea, it is not as to say that you do not have to spend time in monitoring the outsourced work. Afterall, it is your business and your brand that is being entrusted to others. Morover, he is quite a well known V personality around Asia. It is not as if practicing and winning martial arts competitions does not futher his career.

Therefore I am really for the Rich Dad Poor Dad model, even though I practice a lot of the 4 hour week model myself. However, instead of buying properties, I am interested in earning dividends through high yield stocks instead. Because with property, a lot can go wrong, including getting horrible tennants.

-Derek

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by pwebbiz

I've read both. Considering my position now, I'm pretty much living the 4 hour lifestyle. I was just cogitating the Rich Dad lifestyle but thought, if I'm still making money....doing next to nothing....why ever stop doing it?

I know Kevin Riley will respectfully disagree with me there but I do have a response.

Actually, I won't. Because what's good for me may not be good for you. I know that a 4-hour work week would leave me bored to tears, but that's me. I bore easily. For others, that lifestyle may be a perfect fit. It's all about what's good for you.

[Rachel Goodchild]

Originally Posted by Kevin Riley

Only work a job for knowledge and skills, not the wage.

I think this is key
I also think it's true of business too
I only work in a business I love and enjoy- work has to be meaningful and purposeful overall. Otherwise you are wasting your life.

(there is a broad scope of what makes something meaningful or purposeful)

[derekwong28]

There is also something else which I disliked about the 4 hour week lifestyle. It appears to be an very selfish, self-centred, self-indulgent and inconsiderate.

For example, the author recommends to organize out of hours meetings with business partners so that he could cut through the secretaries. Just how would you like to meet someone after 5.00 clock on a Friday afternoon, just when you are looking forward to going home? Why is his time more valuable than yours? If anything, this would get on the nerves of potential business partners.

-Derek

[braver55b]

I prefer the latter, building a nest egg with income producing assets is so much more rewarding in the long run.

[Ricter]

Commendable in the 4HWW is the chapter "Filling The Void", and also the reminder to "begin with the end in mind". I highly respect that Ferriss has actually arrived at the point where the former is something he can speak to, and has for the most part filled that with worthy work.

But he sure did take flak, which he mentions in his blog, from business leaders who think his book's lifestyle model is overly self-indulgent. I can kind of relate, through imagination alone, sadly, with that. The richest people in the world are still going to work most days.

[Ricter]

Oh, and Ferriss also suggests that when you achieve all the free time and sufficient income desired to break free, that you go out and get "it all" out of your system: travel all over, stay up late and party, sleep in, lay around. By putting it that way I think he's implying that you'll eventually get back to doing something which justifies your taking up space here.