 How Your Poor Parents Teach You How To Be Poor I was born in a polygamous family. My father has 10 children and I'm the last child. Growing up, I had few phobias and probably the most terrible phobia of my first two decades was the fear of asking my father for money. I feared talking to my father about money and up till this day, even though I'm richer than him now, if I need my father to use his money for me till I have time to repay him, I still feel that fear. It was that terrible. Whenever I asked him for money, my father often asked me, where is the money? He also usually cautioned me not to mention large sums of money around him. To him, mentioning a lot of money means that I did not understand the fact that money is very scarce. Another thing is that my father never for once taught me anything about money. Understandably, because he himself doesn't know anything about money. However, when I was around 16, I became a close friend to a guy who happened to be reading books and by the time I was 17, I had started reading books about life and money. I started learning several simple things none of my parents ever taught me about money. My mindset started changing and I started doing things the opposite of what my father taught me to do. First, I started mentioning large sums of money. For example, my father never say or dream of buying a home that would worth half a million dollars. Where does he want to see such money? But I started dreaming, thinking and talking about having a home that's worth as much as one million dollars. I never saw my father talking with his friends or wives about money but I do the opposite. I talk a lot about money with my friends. Now, let's check the other side. I told you that I was lucky to have met a friend who introduced me to books that changed my life. Unfortunately, my siblings are not that lucky. None of them read as much as I do and because of this, they still retain the mindset our parents unconsciously planted in them. So they are poor. Not only that, till today, I still hear one of my brothers telling his children the exact same thing our father told us for decades. Today, I still see how his children have similar fear I lived with for 20 years, the fear of asking their father for money. I still hear him saying, there's no money. The money is scarce. You waste things. Even though his daughter simply used those things, he complained that she wasted it because he is angry about the fact that he will buy another piece of such thing. That's how poverty moves from one generation to another. African communities sometimes call this a generational curse, but it's not a generational curse. It's a generational ignorance. Today, many people are poor not because they are stupid or because the rich have taken all the opportunities. Most people are poor simply because their parents have taught them how to be poor. How do you know if your parents have taught you wrong things about money? Now that I've told you my personal story, how do I know if your parents have taught you wrong things that make you poor? First, sit down in a lonely place and answer these five questions. 1. Do you think money is scarce? 2. Do you think the rich are lucky or evil? 3. Are you afraid of mentioning large sums of money? 4. Do you think getting rich is beyond what you can achieve? 5. Do you think you can be rich by working hard for money? Let me explain all these. Thinking that money is scarce. Our poor parents believe that money is scarce and for 17 to 23 years, they repeat to our hearing the fact that money is scarce. Except you are lucky like myself. You don't have any power to believe that your parents are wrong. The only way to start believing that money is not scarce is by changing who you are listening to and this also may be difficult. You see, many of you watching this video grew up in the modern culture where children are allowed to have opinions. Some of us, they have such luxury. In the culture where I grew up, if you're young, you're stupid. If you're young, you did not question anyone who is older than you and whatever your father says is a commandment. Even though I grew up in such a culture, I became rebellious. I looked at my family members and told them that everything they know about money is wrong. It was difficult and I paid dearly for it but it's worth doing. If you were born by poor parents, you'll be poor unless you choose different teachers other than your parents. You can do this by reading books, listening to tapes of successful people. Don't disrespect your poor parents but don't take the advice about money. More than $4 trillion move around the world every 24 hours. How can anyone say that money is scarce? The rich being lucky or evil Most poor people believe that the rich are lucky. Some believe that the rich are evil. The truth is that every human being is lucky and to a different degree and every one of us is evil. If you think the rich are lucky, you should also consider the fact that there are human beings who were born without eyes, legs or arms. Some were born with a faulty brain. For you to have functioning eyes, legs and brain, that's luck. Some of your mates have died in an auto crash. Some have run mad. For you to remain alive and sane, you are lucky. Now about the rich being evil Well, go out there and relate to your poor teachers, bankers, lawyers or cleaners. These people lie, cheat and even steal. Are these not evil? But these same people will point fingers at the rich for being evil. Now get this right, if you think the rich are evil, it's simply because it's easier for the bad behavior of a millionaire to be obvious than that of a poor cleaner. That's what it is. Another thing you really have to think about is that not everyone who is rich is bad. Just as not everyone who is poor is evil. You can be rich and righteous. Yes, you can. You don't necessarily have to cheat, kill or lie before you be rich. If you believe this, it will be well with you. Fear of Luxury I have a friend who is always afraid of big sums of money. If you want to discuss with him, don't talk about someone who bought a car for $100,000. Don't talk about someone who bought a house for half a million dollars. And of course, don't talk about your dream of buying a car of $250,000. He is afraid of large sums of money and that's one of the reasons why he is poor. A friend once told me that it's not possible for ordinary people to make a certain amount of money. Today, I'm making more than that amount and I'm just as ordinary as the homeless man you saw on the street yesterday. Stop being afraid of large sums of money. Believe you can make a lot of money and your brain will start working on how to make it possible for you. Believe you can be rich. Believe you will be rich and you will. Hoping to get rich by having a good job If your parents are poor, chances are that they are either employees or small business owners and what they are likely to teach you is how to work hard. Well, I have something against hard work and that is, it has never made anyone rich. What makes people rich is leverage. What makes people rich is the ability to get much results from little effort. I run a company with three different businesses. As you can guess, I have employees who get the work done. The math is simple. I can achieve in one week what many people can achieve in a year, simply because I have other people who are working for me. If you don't think this is the secret of reaches, I don't know what it is. I don't know the culture where you grew up and I don't know what you were taught. You probably were taught to get good grades and a good job so that you can be rich. It's a lie. Don't believe it. You can't ever be rich until you figure out how to make money while you sleep. I think I have so many other things to say but I don't want this video to be too long. Maybe I'll do the second part of this video if I notice that a lot of people love this one. Now, the conclusion of the matter is this. If your parents are poor, you can be sure that they have taught you how to be poor. If you don't want to end up like them, I advise you choose a new teacher. Learn how to be rich by listening to people who are rich. Read their books. Listen to their audio materials. The more you listen to anyone, the more you become like them. So if you want to be rich, stop listening to your poor parents' advice about money. 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