Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

I’m going to start with Rich Dad Poor Dad, because it one of my all-time favourite books. A lot of books have the ability to change your life, and after you finish this book you will change the way you view money.

I picked up a used copy of this book (at my local bargain bookstore BMV) years ago, way before Robert Kiyosaki had built his multi-million dollar franchise around the title. For those of you who don’t know Robert Kiyosaki, he is a real-estate millionaire. Who had acquired enough money by the time he was in his mid 40’s to retire rich, but decided instead to share his knowledge of building wealth with the world.

Is this a book about real-estate, no, this book is a primer on how money works written in layman’s terms. You don’t need to be a financial whiz, to appreciate Robert Kiyosaki’s common-sense approach to explain how money works, or better yet how money can work for you so you don’t have to work so hard for it.

Robert Kiyosaki re-counts stories and lessons from his childhood in Hawaii where he tells you about growing up with his two dads, his biological father who was traditionally educated in academia, who had a secure job and a limited financial education, and the other, his friend’s dad who was a successful entrepreneur.

It’s the story of his life mixed with financial wisdom. The lessons he learned along the way, in failed businesses, being a marine, getting a financial education after leaving school, and the many things he did before settling into real estate. There are many nuggets of useful wisdom that he passes onto the reader. I found myself nodding my head constantly throughout the whole book, it’s definitely a page-turner, you won’t be able to put it down.

It all started with a game he created called Cash-flow 101 to teach people about money. He has since penned many more books in the franchise too many too name here, but you can’t miss’em in your local bookstore. As I said earlier this is not a real-estate book, though he does currently offer a get rich workshop, where you can sign up for around $500 to become one of his real estate lambs (I know because I attended the free seminar - no I didn’t sign up). Just check your local paper.

Some of you may say that Robert Kiyosaki is not the only real-estate/financial guru out there touting secrets of financial success. Why do I recommend him? There is no special reason, only that I happen to like his style, and he has obviously built a level of success that many of us only dream about.

I’m sure many of you have already had your financial mindset changed by reading this book, for those of you who haven’t, pick it up and let me know what you think.

The Day I Almost Drowned In Barbados, Please Learn From My Lesson: Have Respect For The Power Of The Ocean

This story was written over 9 years ago, right after it happened, and I was going to publish and share it and never got around to it, and then I read this headline in February 2011:
Calgary Couple Drowns Off Mexican beach

I still hadn't posted my story, but then I read another headline:

2 Montreal Men Drown In Dominican Republic

and now, I have to post my story, please share it with your loved ones going on vacation, and tell them to be careful:

It was a perfect day in Barbados…as we walked towards the beach that was less than a five minute walk from the house we could hear the waves crashing against the shore.

Emerging from the walkway leading to the beach we saw that no one was in the water except for an exceptionally few foolish tourists. The local Bajans (Barbados locals) have respect for the ocean, after this day I would too… but I would walk away with more than that, I walked away with a wake up call, and a second chance to reflect on life, its opportunities, what matters the most, what I’m doing, and what I’m going to do in the future.

Whenever I think about that day that I almost drowned, I look at the picture above and reflect on the thought that in a parallel universe, a split second and different decisions could have resulted in my drowning…and then this post would never have been written.

So what happened? Here is the story:

The sea was rough that day, but I insisted on going into the water every day while on vacation. It was near mid-day and though there were many tourists and a few locals on the beach most of them were lounging on the sand.

A few non-Bajans were in the water, I sat on the beach and I said to myself, if they can go in, why can’t I?

Usually I’m not a risk-taker, I should have listened to my intuition...

I sat there and studied the waves for a while before attempting to go into the water, and I noticed that the hardest part would be getting in…and getting out. If I could make it out past the point where the waves broke against the shore, I could bob and ride the swells until I was in.

I waded cautiously, struggling to keep my balance trying to calculate when the next wave would reach me, and if I could get in before it  could reach me I would be okay. I was getting impatient and reasoned that if I didn’t just jump right in I would never swim in the ocean that day, so I just dove in. 

A few seconds later, I was past the breaking point and thought was out of harms way. I was wrong. Now, I was bobbing in the water facing the shore about 20 feet in, at this distance I could bob against the waves coming in behind me.

My sister-in-law was at the shoreline deciding whether she should come in or not. I kept taunting her, “come in, come on! what are you waiting for?”

And that’s when I made my first mistake…I stopped paying attention to what was going on behind me.

I didn’t see the wave hit me, because it came from over my head, the awesome power of the sea slammed me body forward into the ocean head-first like a ragdoll. I felt the side of my head smash into a rock the size of a bowling ball embedded on the ocean floor.

I stood up and felt the side of head through my hair, and was horrified when I looked at the palm of my hand, there was blood all over it! At this point, I panicked!

I felt like I was in one of those movie scenes, where the actor is suddenly thrust into an angry ocean without being prepared. The sight of the blood on my hand made me lose any control I had a few minutes ago, and then the situation got worse…I was hit by a second wave.

You know those scenes in the movies, where the actor is struggling in the water, and the screen pans back and forth between flashes of sky and underwater, that’s what I was going through. I didn’t scream, and I didn’t panic, I just thought to myself, this is how people drown. Thank god, I could swim.

My mind was racing, and the only thought I could pay attention to was that I had to make it back to shore. Nothing else mattered. With my head bleeding, and my eyes and throat burning from the saltwater I could still orient myself and point my body in the direction of the shore. I rode the next big wave in with my body facing down, and as soon as I felt the solid earth under the palm of my hands I anchored my body bent both my arms and dug my elbows into the sand. I didn’t stand up, instead I crawled out on my elbows as fast as I could past the point where the sea could drag me back in.

I walked up to my family in a daze, holding the side of my bleeding head, nobody had noticed what I had gone through. I sat there for the rest of the afternoon thinking about how close I had come to death. I never went back in the water that day.

The next day, it was reported in the Bajan newspapers that a man in his early 50’s ex-pat of Barbados had drowned at Mullins Bay 5 minutes north of where I almost drowned. I felt lucky to be alive.

Update: I've decided to repost this, because I recently read a related blog post here...

Drowning doesn't look like drowning

and it made me remember my almost-drowning incident. Please share, it may save a life.

Scaredy Squirrel Book Review

I hardly ever pick up kids books, but the illustrations are so cute in this book that I couldn’t resist, the surprise was that the story was just as good.

This review will ruin your experience of finding out what happens if you plan to read the book yourself, so if you plan on reading the book stop reading now.

This is a great book for your kids, with an excellent lesson that all adults would benefit from and that is…don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.

Scaredy Squirrel wakes up everyday to his same tree, same nuts for food, and the same routine, he has an emergency kit for those ‘just in case’ and ‘what if’ unexpected emergencies that life may throw at him.

One day he’s caught completely off guard by a bumblebee while surveying his usual view through binoculars from his tree, and he falls out of the tree.

He discovers in mid-air that he is a flying squirrel, and lands in a bush. He lives, but is out of the comfort of his familiar tree so he decides to play dead. A few minutes go by and nothing happens to him, he realizes that there is nothing to fear if you just jump into the unknown.

So he adds jumping into the unknown into his routine everyday.

That’s it. It takes 5 minutes to read to your kids, and is an adorable book. Pick it up for Christmas.

I was going to give it to my brother for my new niece but I’d rather keep it for myself. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

If you read it let me know what you think…