10 ASSETS THAT ARE MAKING PEOPLE RICH
Ever wonder what are the type of assets that makes you rich ? Wonder no more, as we have list down 10 assets that are making people rich!
By AZIZAM AZIZAN
To become one of the rich people is not an easy task. Sometimes, it could take years and a lot of luck for you to gain endless amount of money. However, to become rich, it does not focus only on how to make money but instead what you do with the money coming in to fortify your wealth. Before we get into the points, we must first differentiate the difference between assets and liabilities. Asset is the act of putting money in your pocket while liability will cost you money. The more assets you have making money for you, the richer you are.
10 ASSETS THAT ARE MAKING PEOPLE RICH
- Cash
Cash is the most common tool that you need to become rich as if you have cash in the bank, you will gain interest which will increase the amount of cash. However, these days, the amount of interest paid up by the banks are not up to date with inflation but cash is still priority. As for instance, Apple Inc have 200 billion in cash reserve in their company. This, will first, enable people to access any opportunity that presents itself and people can also get higher return straight from cash deals. By having a lot amount of cash, you can lend money and charge with high interest which is called peer-to-peer lending services which enable you to charge interest as high as 15% to 20%.
- Real Estate
Real estate has been one of the many recommended tools to raise asset. It is one of the assets to make you rich because first, you can rent it. By renting your property, money will come in every single month with a minimum amount of work. Short-term rents for higher yield can also be considered as one of the methods to execute it. Next, the value of real estate was appreciated. Even with the outbreak of Pandemic COVID-19, population number is still increasing which results in increase of demand as people need place to live in. With this, it makes the prices of property increases and directly made real estate as one of the best investments one could possibly take. In terms of real estate asset, first, you have residential buildings which people live in your properties and pay you rent. Secondly, is office building which people work in your property and pay you rent. Next is commercial building which businesses use your space to sell stuff and pay you rent. And finally, is land which it can be cultivated, developed or even left as is for appreciation. However, one has to keep in mind that the house you live in, is not an asset but it is a liability. It cost you money to live in it while not putting more money in your pocket.
- Stocks
Stocks are not as complicated as it seems but it is an easy way for you to own a percentage of a publicly traded business. Let’s say, if a business issue 10 million shares and you own 1 million of those shares, it makes you 10% owner of the respective business. This incredible breakthrough in financial instrument has allow the average person to own a stake in some of the most lucrative company in our days with very low entry barrier.
- Equipment
Anything that generates money for you or helps you make money faster is considered an asset. If you’re a farmer and you own a tractor, that tractor is your asset. If you’re a programmer, the laptop is your asset. If you’re an uber driver, your car is your asset. Whether or not, something is an asset or a liability, changes depending if it had direct correlation to the money you’re generating. Unless your income is directly dependent on a car, buying one counts as liability. It is very often that people confuse the two as people try to justify it as an asset but when in reality, they are mismanaging their own finances due to lack of self-control. As for instance, you don’t need the most expensive laptop to watch YouTube videos.
- Patents
For those who are not familiar with patent, when you invent something new, you could protect your invention by filing a patent. It is a document that certify you as the inventor and describe in details what your invention does. With this protection in place, companies have to pay money in order to use your invention and if they don’t you get to sue them. Patents are incredibly powerful and valuable in the business world as single patent can make you rich and all the best inventions are backed by patent.
6. Trademarks
If patent protect your invention, trademarks protect your words, symbol or phrases. If you own a valuable trademark that has marketable value, you can license it to people to use it as commercial purposes and they will pay you in return. As for instance, Beyonce trademark her daughter’s name, Blue Ivy Carter before she was born just to make sure nobody uses it commercially. One in five US companies states that there is one company in China infringing on their intellectual property. This has been one of the reasons on why China has been growing so quickly.
7. Brand & Goodwill
There are subtle differences between brand and goodwill but both are super valuable to any business. A brand is the footprint that a company leaves in the mind of consumer as to what they stand for and what they present themselves. Goodwill is the emotional affection people have to a brand. A brand is owned, it is an effort a company is making to push a particular image of itself into the marketplace. Goodwill comes from the way the company treats its customers, the positive impact it has on the community and how grateful people are the company exist. Goodwill is super had to cultivate or scale but people will literally save companies from bankruptcy because of the goodwill they have for it. As for instance, The Kardashian family is a good example of how success one can get from branding alone as if one of the family members attach their name to anything, it can drive sale like nobody else.
8. People
You don’t realize just how valuable an asset people are until they leave. Very few people understand that companies aren’t actually real. Companies are a figment of our imagination validated by the state. Companies our names, ideas and the innovation happening under this imaginary umbrella and who comes up with all of these? It’s the people. A single person can shift a company with their ideas. Just look at the impact replacing Steve Jobs with the former Pepsi CEO had on the company, nearly bankrupting what is today probably the most love technology. Digging deeper into apple, their lead Product Designer, Jony Ive, designed the products that are now in the hands of billions of people. Then there are the teams that make a company as a whole. There have been cases when bigger companies have acquired start-ups, just to bring those people in. There is actually a term for it which is called Aqua Hire. Ideally, nobody in your company should be irreplaceable but the harder to replace some people are, the more valuable of an asset they are to you. So, make sure they know they’re appreciated. Hire the right people and they’ll make you rich.
9. Raw Materials & Commodities.
The price of raw materials and commodities fluctuates and varies depending on the market. If you’re smart about it, you buy it when it’s cheap, hold it and sell it when it’s in high demand. This applies to everything in life from currency to oil to gold to crypto to luxury cars and art. Over the past 15 years, the price of gold has increased by 278%. Very few people know this but art has been one of the many sources of asset for the past 20 years. This is one of the big reasons why you see wealthy people valuable amounts of money on because it’s making them even richer. The same goes with vintage cars while your car is costing you money, some of the wealthiest people in the world are buying rare vintage cars that are quickly appreciating in value. The same goes for other collectables like luxury watches. However, never invest in things you don’t understand. It’s one of the most important rules of money which if you disobey it, you will never be rich.
10. Book, Songs, Digital Courses Information of Content
Information is an incredible thing to be selling because it’s infinitely scalable. You write the book once and you can sell it a million times. Same goes for a digital course, a song or any other type of info or digital products. Creating and distributing such an asset increase is not only the value of the business but can make you very rich. The moment your product is done your job is to promote it and get it in the hands of as many people as you can. However, with music, it’s even more interesting because you only have to get it right once and you can literally be set for life. Gangnam Style is a great example as Psy made over $10 million just from that one song distributed via YouTube and iTunes. Not to mention merch, shows, a licensing and so on. Mariah Carey makes around $500,000 every single year, from one hit song which is All I Want for Christmas.
