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How you earn income matters

If you spend enough time reading personal finance, you run into personal finance gurus. The tricky part about gurus is that they may have great ideas but then they need to make money. So they sell you some less great ideas with some light execution help through expensive seminars or courses. This is especially true once you reach a certain size and popularity since everyone needs to cash in at some point, right?

Robert Kiyosaki, of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame and others, falls into the camp of a lot of great ideas, even if his dads are made up, that gets maligned for other parts of his business. I personally found his ideas of assets vs. liabilities (your car being a liability and not an asset) to be useful, but also his explanation of the Cashflow Quadrant:

The Cashflow Quadrant Explained – How You Earn Income Matters [Coach Carson] – “The Cashflow Quadrant. It’s the main idea of Robert Kiyosaki’s book by the same name. And it’s a powerful one that has guided much of my own entrepreneurial path to seek financial freedom.” Say what you will about Kiyosaki overall but this quadrant concept is a useful mental model.

The Psychology of Money – 16 Lessons for the FIRE Community [Money Flamingo] – “Below I’ve listed the 16 lessons that I found most profound – both for the FIRE Community as a whole and for myself as an investor and semi-retiree. This is not a standard book review, it’s a bit of a mix: a recap of my favourite sections and quotes as well as the conclusions I drew for my own life and relationship with money. Enjoy!” The book is great. This recap is fun too!

Play the Hand You’re Dealt To Live the Life You Dream [Route to Retire] – “Plan your way to a better life. Don’t just sit on the hand you’re dealt in life if it’s not your dream. And if you’re not good at figuring out what your need to do, bring in people who are good at it to help you. Find a good fee-only fiduciary planner. Work with a career coach or counselor to determine the skills you should learn to get on track with your dream job.”

The crypto dons of Beirut [rest of world] – “The financial crisis has led to a spike in cryptocurrency usage in Lebanon, both as a means of recovering savings through speculative trading and as a way to circumvent a broken banking system. Due to domestic bank restrictions and international sanctions, Lebanese bank accounts and credit cards have been rendered effectively useless for making purchases outside of the country, including buying cryptocurrency on international exchanges. That’s where Awad comes in. Over-the-counter (OTC) suppliers like him are part of a complex and legally murky ecosystem through which cryptocurrency is purchased abroad, sent to Lebanon, and then distributed through a network of dealers to be sold to clients in exchange for hard cash. ”