Robert Kiyosaki's Teachings

Robert Kiyosaki is a well known author and successful businessman!

A large part of Kiyosaki's teachings focus on generating passive income by means of investment opportunities, such as real estate and small businesses, with the ultimate goal of being able to support oneself by such investments alone. Kiyosaki also defines "assets" as things that generate money, such as rental properties or businesses, and "liabilities" as things that cost money, such as house payments, cars and so on. Kiyosaki also proclaims financial leverage to be critically important in becoming rich.

He stresses what he calls "financial literacy" as the means to obtaining wealth. He says that life skills are often best learned through experience and that there are important lessons not taught in school. He says that formal education is primarily for those seeking to be employees or self-employed individuals, and that this is an "Industrial Age idea". And according to Kiyosaki, in order to obtain financial freedom, one must be either a business owner or an investor, generating passive income.

Kiyosaki uses the "rich dad, poor dad" series of books to illustrate his view that the majority of people are stuck in what he refers to as "the rat race"-living paycheck to paycheck and spending all of their time working to pay bills. In his books, Kiyosaki advocates tax-advantaged investment vehicles, such as real estate or businesses, rather than ownership of securities. This idea is further developed in his later books and "Rich Dad" became Kiyosaki's personal brand for various publishing ventures.

Although Kiyosaki recommends investing in real estate usually for rental income, there is one thing that he doesn't seem to teach...how to pay-off your rental property and even your house in one-third the time! If you would like to know how to rapidly pay-off your mortgage and other debts and supercharge your retirement account, visit my site for a free report at: www.financialadvantages.com

My name is Steve Herman and 5 years ago I discovered a way to rapidly pay-off debt and rapidly fund a retirement account! my website is http://www.financialadvantages.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Herman

Real Estate Investing - Should I Rent, Or Fix And Flip?

If you're just getting into real estate investing, chances are you are looking at two basic options for mid-range residential property. You can either own the property indefinitely and rent it out at a profit or you can own the property for a short period of time, fix it up, and sell it for a profit. While both can be great approaches to real estate, some properties are not equally suitable for both.

Renting It Out: Renting out your property can be a huge moneymaker, but not for every property. For instance, if you have just bought a property that is in serious disrepair, you may not want to rent it out. It might be better to fix it up and sell it, because nobody wants to rent a property that is in serious disrepair. Furthermore, if you fix it up and then try to rent it, you now have to recover the initial payment on the property as well as the cost of renovation. That can take awhile, and can be recovered faster by selling the property.

Likewise, if you have just bought an expensive property which is in great shape, you may be better served to make some market-specific improvements and sell the property. People who can afford to rent expensive residential property are probably not looking to rent; they're looking to buy.

Finally, consider the area the property is in. Is it in a transitional area, where people tend to stay for five years or less and move on? If so, renting it out can be extremely profitable. Do something with the property to set it apart from the average property in the market and then list it at 120% of the market value, trumpeting the aspect of the property that sets it apart. In a market where everyone is stuck renting basically the same property, a little bit of color or flair can add a lot of value to a property.

Fixing and Flipping: The key to the fix it and flip it philosophy is to renovate the property to the extent that it is now marketable to a wealthier buyer without spending so much in the renovation process that the increase in value is negligible. This can be more difficult than it seems. First, major renovations can sometimes snowball out of control. What started as a $30,000 project can turn into a $60,000 project before you even know what hit you. Second, you need to know your market very well. You need to know that by investing $30,000 in the renovation of a property you can turn around and sell that property for (significantly) more than $30,000 more than you paid for it. This can be risky.

However, if you are confident that you know your market and can keep the renovation project under control, fixing and flipping a property can involve much less risk. Because you can make your money back in a shorter period of time than renting the property, unforeseen changes in the market are less likely to cause you problems. A faster turnaround should make for higher profits in the long run.

If you're considering buying http://www.automatedhomefinder.com/Denver-Northwest-Colorado-real-estate-for-sale.php

Dubai Hotels - Dubai Hotel Apartment

If you look closer at the 5 star hotel segment the occupancy rates are even higher at 92%. This is even with the highest price per room at $232 US. These rates are even greater than the 5 star price per room night of cities such as New York and Paris.

The Dubai tourism boom is fueling these lofty numbers and are expected to increase their 5 million annual visitors to 15 million by 2012. Most of this boom is being driven by the city run airline Emirates. Emirates has 80 direct flights to destinations around the world and is expecting to add another 20 destinations over the next few years.

Dubai Hotel sector is set to add a Palazzo Versace and the first Trump International project outside of North America. It is no mistake that the Trump organization has spotted Dubai as its first step into the region to begin its international branding initiative.

The tourism boom spearheaded by Emirates has been strategically driven by acting initially as the stopover point for Europeans and Asian connecting through their respective continents.

The strategy has now expanded into Australia and North America with new destinations such as San Francisco and Chicago to be announced pending airline orders. Additionally given the initial demand for its Australian and its lone North American destination New York Emirates has added additional daily flights.

Much of its future focus will be on capturing the North American market similar to what they have done in Australia in addition too aggressively going after the China market. Initial destinations of Hong Kong and Shanghai and now Beijing show Emirates is committed to China.

Browse Dubai hotels and book your Oasis Beach tower hotel in Dubai on line make it easy for you to find your holiday apartment and furnished rentals of your choice

How to Use Comparable Sales to Determine the Current Market Value of a Property

When assessing the value of a property, many investors and other commercial property buyers look at comparable sales to determine the true current market value of a property. The comparable sales can show you exactly what properties are selling for, not just the asking price. If you know three or four properties of similar characteristics sold for about the same amount, then you can determine what the value of your property is. Don't ever just look at the asking price, as it can be as far off as the owner wishes. He or she may be dreaming in regards to what the property is really worth!

Comparable sales, or comps, are the properties that have sold around the subject property that are zoned identically, and are about the same amount of acreage. It also helps if the comparable sales are from properties that have similar uses.

Comparable sales may not always be the most accurate for your specific property. They could be from many years ago, may not be of similar use, many not have the same characteristics such as the availability of utilities, or may not have a comparable amount of road frontage, or could be a considerable distance from the subject property.

In order to get around this problem, you must use the closest properties that you can. You simply adjust the price according to the changes in the market or property characteristics.

For example, if a comparable sale was from 2001, and the current year is 2006, then you can adjust the price according to the appreciation the overall commercial market has experienced in a specific area.

Or, if the subject property has a total road frontage of 200 feet, and the comparable sale property has frontage of 1000 feet, you can adjust the price or value appropriately.

As you can see, finding the true current market value of a property can take some investigation and adjustment in relation to the properties that have sold in the past. The more recent and similar the comparable sale is, the easier and more accurately you can assess the true value of the property.

It is a good idea to collect as many comparable sales as possible and take inventory of each. What are the characteristics? What are the uses? Assess each one individually and then group them together to determine an overall consensus. You should be able to determine the current market value at this point. The more properties you have to pool from, the more accurate a number you will have.

Very often brokers or agents supply you with comps from the area of interest as part of the service of selling the subject property. If you are not familiar with the area, you must be leery of the comps that they send you.

I have received comps of properties in the most affluent areas for a subject property that was positioned in a lower to medium class area which completely misrepresented the true market value of the property. Unless I had investigated further and asked many questions, I could have easily taken this property as a true comparable sale, and would have expected a far greater return than what I really would have experienced.

Unfortunately, as much as you want to trust the information that you are given by a source, you must always perform your very own investigation because brokers and agents are there to sell their properties. Many of them are honest and will do the best they can to give you the most accurate information. However, there are those who will dupe a buyer in order to sell the property and receive their commission. It is important to be aware of these tactics. Although we don't like to admit that they happen, they most certainly do.

Comparable sales are really the only way you can determine the true value of a property. It may take a comparable from another city, or even county of identical characteristics to determine the most accurate value. If necessary, ask a trustworthy broker or agent for assistance, as they will know their market inside and out, and be able to point you in the right direction as to what the property is really worth. Get two or three opinions in order to validate any information you might receive.

Tony Seruga, Yolanda Seruga and Yolanda Bishop of http://www.maverickrei.com specialize in commercial and investment real estate. As of May, 2006, they and their partners are managing over $600 million dollars worth of new projects.

Top 7 Ways To Get Rich

Want to be one of the lucky ones on the road to riches, want to be on the freeway to financial freedom, on your way to wealth?

Here are the top 7 roads to riches, the top 7 easiest and fastest ways to acquire wealth ...

Inherit it

This is how today's old money families got their wealth. In the 1800's and early 1900's, before anti-trust laws, income taxes and political correctness, America's finest families built empires and amassed great wealth; in industries such as oil, banking, newspapers, sugar, transportation, land, bootlegging and even prostitution. And that original wealth was passed down to succeeding generations. The number one easiest and fastest way to acquire wealth is to inherit it. Unfortunately, inheriting wealth is mainly a matter of blood; you have to be born into the right family.

Marry it

If you can't inherit it the second easiest and fastest way to acquire wealth is to marry someone who is already wealthy. And sometimes that person may even be kind, generous, compatible and loveable. And, if not, divorce can pay off handsomely. Just remember to get married (and divorced) in a state that has favorable community property laws.

Work for it

If you can't inherit wealth and can't marry it then you can work for it. People rarely get rich having a job. Rather, they build a company and own it. And then often take that company public, collecting hundreds of millions, or billions, of dollars in doing so.

Or, they invent something useful and valuable which greatly benefits society, such as explosive devices like dynamite, or the paper clip or the thigh master or eBay.

Win it

If you can't inherit wealth, can't marry it or can't work for it then maybe you can win it. Lotteries abound, paying out multi-million dollar jackpots, and eventually someone always wins them. Unfortunately, you have a greater chance of being struck by lightning then winning the lottery. But, hey, it only costs a buck!

Steal it or deal it

If you can't inherit wealth and you can't marry it, work for it, or win it then maybe you could steal it or deal it.

You could become a CEO or chief financial officer for a big cash-rich company, cook the books, steal millions of dollars, buy a $20 million dollar home, lie to the feds, and hope you don't get caught, convicted and sent to Club Fed. I don't recommend anyone try to get rich this way.

Also not recommended is to deal it; to become a drug lord and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in cash dealing heroin, crack, meth and other non-FDA approved goodies and wholesaling it to pushers who will gladly resell it to anyone to wants it, ranging from children to movie stars. After all, aren't drug dealers just supplying what people want; even if it creates crime, ruins lives, kills people or could put you in jail for the rest of your life. Not a legal (or moral) way to get rich.

Gamble for it

If you can't inherit money, can't marry it, can't work for it, can't win it, can't steal or deal it then maybe you could gamble for it. Over 50 million people play poker. A few even make millions of dollars at it. You've seen them on television, winning or losing upwards of a million dollars on the turn of a card. Looks easy, doesn't it? They don't look so tough on TV; I bet any decent poker player (like me for instance) has a good chance of beating them on a lucky day. So maybe you could simply plunk down $3,000-$25,000 per tournament entry fee, or get a backer, join the World Poker Tour, win a few tournaments and get rich! Or maybe, in reality, the average amateur poker player has a snowball's chance in hell of getting rich that way.

Invest and get rich

If you can't inherit wealth, can't marry it, can't work for it, can't win it, can't steal or deal it or can't gamble for it then maybe you can invest and get rich. There are 2 good ways to invest and get rich; the real estate market and the stock market.

According to historical data, over time, real etate goes up a average of 10% a year. So getting rich in real estate tends to take a long time. And also requires a large down payment. Hard to get rich quick that way.

On the other hand, the stock market can be a good way to get rich. Stocks can go up dramatically over a relatively short period of time and make you rich but you have to have the money to invest and you have to pick the right stocks at the right time.

To recap how to get rich:

1. inherit it

2. marry it

3. work for it

4. win it

5. steal it or deal it

6. gamble for it

7. invest for it

These are the top 7 easiest and quickest ways people can get rich. How will YOU do it?

Alan Korber is the creator and publisher of the successful Korber Strategy, a simple easy-to-understand stock market investment strategy that can pinpoint stocks likely to go up 50%-100% in the next 12 months. His website is http://www.akorber.com