Asset or liability? Understanding the true meaning
Growing up, we’re often taught incorrectly about true assets.
We go to the bank to get a loan, and the banks ask us to list our assets and liabilities. Anything of value like your car, or your home contents, we list those things as assets. Anything like loans or credit cards, we list them as liabilities. The problem is, when it comes to our wealth creation, we are actually being seriously misled.
The broad definition of an asset is something of value that you can sell for money. Some assets go up in value and some go down. Just like John Laws used to say in the old Valvoline ad “Oils ain’t oils”, well assets ain’t assets. What we believe to be assets are not true assets. A true, real asset is something that puts money in your bank account without you having to work.
The asset might have liabilities, but its income should be greater so that you end up in front.
Ask yourself these questions:
- If the things I own are going down in value, am I getting richer or poorer?
- Why am I buying stuff that goes down in value?
- And if the stuff I own is costing me money instead of giving me an income every week, am I getting richer or poorer?
Here’s a bit of homework: when you go to work, ask a few people: “how do you get rich?” If they grew up in the working class they will probably say “win the lotto or rob a bank.” That’s what they’ll say because they don’t know how to get rich. The real way to get rich is to acquire a portfolio of real assets that grow in value and produce a passive income.
Order your copy of my book, Wealth Through Property below and start growing your wealth with real assets.
Stay tuned for more daily insights from Wealth Through Property.
~Daimien Patterson