RDPD vs the Fastlane: How are they Different?

[AroundTheWorld]

- Fully embraced the difference between RDPD ways of acquiring assets and the fastlane way of acquiring assets/starting a business.

Curious about this.... Describe the difference as you perceive it.

 

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[yveskleinsky]

Re: 1 YEAR: Where are YOU?

Curious about this.... Describe the difference as you perceive it.

To me, the RD way of acquiring assets is mainly about looking at cashflow. A rental property with postive CF of $25 with none of your own money in the deal would be a property that he would consider. However, this property would not be considered by most here on the fastlane because to simply hold the property for a positive cashflow of $25 a month is not an accelerated enough plan. ...This was my big ah-ha over Christmas when all my rentals went to crap. I had to stop and ask myself what the hell I was doing, killing myself with problems and headaches for a measly couple hundred a month. All the while my butt's on the line for $500k. Now granted there is appreciation and tax benefits- but these are not going to get me where I want to be in the timeframe that I want to be in. Upon more reflection, I decided that I really had very little to gain and a lot to lose, not to mention this plan was not accelerated enough.

So Kerry and I decided we needed to accelerate the plan. The only way I could think to do so was to focus on providing a service and get rid of the idea of having a tangible product. After reading so much about online business, I decided that avenue was really the only thing that made sense to me. There's everything to gain and very little to lose, not to mention the amazing amount of leverage that's provided on the web. ...and, I love, love, love the efficiency of it all. The speed with which an idea can transmit and stick just blows my mind.

So, to me: fastlane= exponential growth in the shortest period of time. RD= buying for cashflow (and appreciation) and accelerating that formula into millions with no regard to a timeframe.

 

[Russ H]

Hey guys, I moved this into its own thread, 'cause I think it will make a great discussion.

(hope this is OK w/the OP's)

-Russ H.

 

[White8]

Re: 1 YEAR: Where are YOU?

To me, the RD way of acquiring assets is mainly about looking at cashflow. A rental property with postive CF of $25 with none of your own money in the deal would be a property that he would consider. However, this property would not be considered by most here on the fastlane because to simply hold the property for a positive cashflow of $25 a month is not an accelerated enough plan. ...This was my big ah-ha over Christmas when all my rentals went to crap. I had to ask stop and ask myself what the hell I was doing, killing myself with problems and headaches for a measly couple hundred a month. All the while my butt's on the line for $500k. Now granted there is appreciation and tax benefits- but these are not going to get me where I want to be in the timeframe that I want to be in. Upon more reflection, I decided that I really had very little to gain and a lot to lose, not to mention this plan was not accelerated enough.

So Kerry and I decided we needed to accelerate the plan. The only way I could think to do so was to focus on providing a service and get rid of the idea of having a tangible product. After reading so much about online business, I decided that avenue was really the only thing that made sense to me. There's everything to gain and very little to lose, not to mention the amazing amount of leverage that's provided on the web. ...and, I love, love, love the efficiency of it all. The speed with which an idea can transmit and stick just blows my mind.

So, to me: fastlane= exponential growth in the shortest period of time. RD= buying for cashflow (and appreciation) and accelerating that formula into millions regardless of timeframe.

Some of the RD concepts make good sense and some don't. I really can't see hanging my neck out $500k for $25/mo, $500 maybe for the first few years of the loan but again, that's pretty lean when you consider the potential major repairs such as roofs and the potential for property tax increasing bond measures that could eat that profit in minutes.

I went the service business route and if it continues to do what it did last year I'm looking at a 34% ROI, not the RD infinite return when using someone else's money. I will, however, put significantly more in my pocket than $25/mo.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Curious about this.... Describe the difference as you perceive it.

As much as I'd like to comment on this, I will refrain as I fear it will offend some folks here. God knows, we don't need to see the infamous JTReed link.

 

[phlgirl]

As much as I'd like to comment on this, I will refrain as I fear it will offend some folks here. God knows, we don't need to see the infamous JTReed link.

Oh, you Tease! :smxB:

Come on....it's your 1 year anniversary. We won't hold it against you.

(I have no idea who JTReed is)

 

[yveskleinsky]

lol- friggin JTReed! I haven't thought about him or his crazy theories since I left the RD forum! ...You're in control of this forum, can't you just add a fake identity like RXYRJ or something? (If you say it outloud in the voice of Astro from the Jetsons it rhymes.)

Anyone else see any differences or it is just me?

 

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[Russ H]

(I have no idea who JTReed is)

Oy.

Wiki's def of John T Reed:

"John T. Reed is a former real estate investor who has authored and self-published many books on real estate investing, football coaching, baseball coaching, success, and self-publishing. He has been recommended by the National Association of Realtors as a serious investigator in the industry.

Reed, who claims many years of experience in property management, considers real estate investment a hands-on business. He has been writing and publishing “nuts-and-bolts guides devoid of motivational or promotional filler” since 1979. Reed also publishes the Real Estate Investor’s Monthly newsletter.

The most popular feature on John Reed's website is his real estate “guru” rating, with his opinion of the legitimacy of their claims. Those whom Reed critiques include Robert G. Allen, Robert Kiyosaki, Carleton Sheets and Russ Whitney. Whitney sued Reed for three years, later withdrawing some of the suits and settling another on confidential terms.

Reed has a B.Sc. from West Point and a MBA from the Harvard Business School. He lives in Alamo, California."

One more important fact not on wiki:

Reed himself acknowledges (on his own website) that he never really made any money on real estate investing-- he did buy properties, and tried to manage them, but was unable to have them make money long term, and had to sell them.

Yet despite this admission of lack of any success, Reed writes books on RE investment, and the press still loves to quote him and his "anti guru" hoo-hah.

Makes no sense to me.

-Russ H.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Anyone else see any differences of it is just me?

There are major differences between the two ... you are not crazy ... just smart.

 

[phlgirl]

Amazing. Thanks for the background, Russ.

 

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[venom]

Interesting thats how you see the RD theory. Thats not how I would describe it. Of course RK is also not the person I look at for real estate advice. Of course I also argued atleast a few times that I didnt think RDPD was a get rich quick theory ....

 

[rcardin]

I see RDPD as a great motivational line. It really helped us get in the right frame of mind. The problem is there is very little substance. It changes your way of thinking about money but doesn't give the nuts and bolts of how to make money. I have given the tapes to a few of my friends and not one of them has changed their way of thinking. I have also seen people who went to the RDPD seminars and came back thinking they were going to Flip and Wholesale 5k a month. A friend of my wife's went and said she planned on wholesaling 5k a month. I asked her how she was going to do it and got a blank stare back.
Great motivational speaker/writer but again no substance.

 

[yveskleinsky]

I see RDPD as a great motivational line. It really helped us get in the right frame of mind. The problem is there is very little substance. It changes your way of thinking about money but doesn't give the nuts and bolts of how to make money. I have given the tapes to a few of my friends and not one of them has changed their way of thinking. I have also seen people who went to the RDPD seminars and came back thinking they were going to Flip and Wholesale 5k a month. A friend of my wife's went and said she planned on wholesaling 5k a month. I asked her how she was going to do it and got a blank stare back.
Great motivational speaker/writer but again no substance.

I hear this all the time- that the RD books have no substance, or that they won't teach you how to invest. I really couldn't disagree more. Kiyosaki points out the mental shift that needs to be made before anything can happen. He talks a lot about buying real estate for cashflow and not for appreciation, which at a basic level is very sound advice- I really don't get what people don't understand about how to make that happen. It's really, really basic. Income from property must be more than expenses. That's it. Kiyosaki has never endorsed flipping or buying anything (stocks, business, whatever) for capital gain alone. If I remember correctly he calls most of these people idiots.

Personally, I think the reason Kiyosaki doesn't give the "nuts and bolts" of making money is because everyone's plan is different, and the plan part of how to make money is easy- understanding (and applying) the flow of money is hard. ...I've always understood his goal/role to be a financial educator- getting people to understand the flow of money, good debt v. bad debt, how the rich get money to flow differently than the poor, how to get your money to work for you, etc.

In my opinion the fastlane principals build on Kiyosaki's CF Quadrant, which is a great book, but it stops dead in it's tracks in like 1990. There is no mention of the internet or online business- which in my opinon has made many B&M stores obsolete. Therefore the quadrant needs to be updated! ...Thank you again MJ!

Granted, many of the top principals out there build on each other. The Your Money or Your Life includes some great ideas to get people to wake up financially, and to realize the true exchange of their life for their money. This is the first principal for people to understand when trying to control their money. After they understand the basics, RD teaches how money flows and the different quardants in which money can be made. The fastlane principals (as I see them) give a quantum leap to these principals. For example, the previous authors focusing on saving for a ladder, climbing the ladder, owning the ladder, renting the ladder out or buying into a pre-existing ladder franchise. An example of the fastlane (again, as I see it) is to figure out a way to streamline the buying process between ladder buyers and ladder sellers without ever owning the ladder, the ladder store or having to train employees on how to sell ladders.

 

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[AroundTheWorld]

I find this discussion fascinating... for no other reason than I have no idea what the fastlane is ....

It makes me curious about how everyone is coming up with their definition! (Other than MJ's of course. He knows the idea of fastlane in his own head)

It is an interesting look at the power of perceptions - and where they come from.

Is it from MJ's posts?
Is it from the collective posts of all the people that contribute here?
Is it from the community - and the feelings invoked by belonging to the community?

It is easy for me to think about my perception of RDPD.
I find it much harder to answer the question.... 'how does RDPD compare/contrast to fastlane?'

 

[Yankees338]

I find this discussion fascinating... for no other reason than I have no idea what the fastlane is ....

It makes me curious about how everyone is coming up with their definition! (Other than MJ's of course. He knows the idea of fastlane in his own head)

It is an interesting look at the power of perceptions - and where they come from.

Is it from MJ's posts?
Is it from the collective posts of all the people that contribute here?
Is it from the community - and the feelings invoked by belonging to the community?

It is easy for me to think about my perception of RDPD.
I find it much harder to answer the question.... 'how does RDPD compare/contrast to fastlane?

'

Excellent point!

I think it's a combination of all of the three you mentioned. I think subconsciously, we all kind of form "guidelines" for what is or is not Fastlane in our minds. From our perception, we make assumptions about certain things about the Fastlane and base our ideas off of that.

I think we all have the basic idea, but the details are where the unknown lies. That's where the difference is for everyone.

And we won't know until MJ finishes the book! (Just trying to light a fire under your a$$...nothing personal. )

 

[yveskleinsky]

ATW- yes, most all of my thoughts are a conglomerate of tidbits that I've picked up here and there on the site, from responses from members as well as concepts that just seem to be accelerated in design. Of course, at the end of the day they are just my thoughts on how I perceive the concept of the fastlane. I'm sure that once the book is out, that some of those perceptions will change.

Here's an article that also influenced my opinion of what the Fastlane is: What Is The Fastlane? | Millionaire Entrepreneurs and Small Business - The Fastlane to Millions

Just out of curiousity, what are your current thoughts on what the fastlane is? ...You must have some as well.

...You're right- it's kinda fun and interesting to see where people get their interpretations.

 

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[kimberland]

As far as I can tell,
RDPD is about positive cash flow
and Fastlane is about speed of wealth accumulation.

They aren't mutually exclusive.
Lord knows negative cash flow can kill ya.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I have heard a lot of bad gripes about Robert. I have to say that without his books to wake me up, I wouldn't be the successful 22 year old I am now. I would be in the same drunken stooper my aquaintances are all in. They always wonder how I can pay for drinks and food for the few friends I venture out with. I owe a lot to him!

If you read all his books carefully the recurring message is "I will not teach you how, I will teach you why."

Like I mentioned in my introduction I came from a very, very, very poor background. There were multiple days in a row where I had nothing to eat. Many days of saltine crackers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (I HATE saltine crackers!!!!) My dear mother who I am now paying most of her bills has never learned how to manage money and has nothing set aside for retirement. She will work the rest of her life.

Robert places a big eye opener in front of me that says "Hey, your parents are in trouble, who's going to pay for that? .... you! And if you don't want to end up the same way, manage your money and invest it!"

I guess I agree with all of you. Now that I have graduated from "Rich Dad's Elementary School" I am looking for the highest quality school. Which brings me to the Fastlane!

P.S.

Has anyone picked up Robert's new stuff? His "Raise your Financial IQ" is pretty good, I picked that up on Audio CD to listen to in the car. Not too long, worth a listen.

And by the way, thanks for all the information I have already learned at the "Fastlane School" :smxB:

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I might have to retract my previous statements :bgh:

Didn't quite know the history, I'll do my best to shut up when I should

 

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[unicon]

There is no difference, it is all about timing and function

The substance is with rich dad "concepts" and fastlane is a function of those concepts especially with regard to "time"

With age and experience two people will read the exact same book and understand half of what the other sees

RDPD is more about valuation as a priority

Fastlane is more about measurement as a priority (not mutually exclusive)

The credibility is that both are wholeistic and touch on intangible motivations therefore have integrity

Very few books, articles, forums, films, etc, touch on the big picture with simplicity and wholeness - this is the power (and I do mean power) which everyone is searching for.

Because people read RDPD and claim no subtance only identifies the critic and their limitations, the fact remains that his writings are revoultionary in surfacing information right in front of your nose plugging holes of even the most brilliant people (myself included of coarse).

Substance is about "Universal Concepts" that never change and are timeless, RDPD surfaces these concept right and left at deft speed. The fact that he would get enormously wealthy at break neck speed is really an afterthought and a given.

No successful medium generating life changing information can succeed in substance without touching on and examining human behavior which is at the base along with the technical and conceptual skills communicated. RK examines and communicates his struggles, mistakes, motivations, and flaws all along the way, these timing benchmarks are a true pattern for anyone successful on a large or small scale. That is the beauty of it.

 

[hatterasguy]

I like RK's books, ever since I read Rich Dad Poor dad when I was 14ish it changed my future. Before that I knew I wanted to make a ton of money to support the life style I wanted. I was dead set on going to a good law school and becoming an attorney.

After that its been real estate; Trump is my hero!

RK's books are just ment to get you in the right frame of mind, this they did for me quite well. The idea of making your money work for you is very powerfull. He has some excellent powerfull ideas, but you need to flesh them out yourself to get anything out of them.

The nuts and bolts I'm learning from people who do it themselves. I only take advice from people who are successful at what I want to do; the "guru's" who make their money selling books and seminars are useless.

 

[msa1]

For me, RDPD and some of his other books are worth their weight in gold for what they provide.

I think his books are very inspirational and took them as such. I would not have the financial education I have today were it not for his books.

Did I get all my fianacial education from him? No. But his books challenged my to learn as much as I could about money.

I've learned so much from his books. I could not afford the education those books have helped me learn/chase down on my own.

As far as "Fast-track". Judging by the other replies to this question, I may be missing something here. I havent gotten the same thing as others have here.

Still a reccomended site IMO though.

 

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[AroundTheWorld]

Just out of curiousity, what are your current thoughts on what the fastlane is? ...You must have some as well.

This is more of my "hunch" than anything - - - or even my "hope." (honestly, it feels very funny to me to even be writing this - as I really do feel that until the book comes out - it is total speculation... but I might as well throw it out there since I was asked...)

I think that MJ's book will have a lot more detail - more "meat" so to speak - than RDPD. Same general idea (meaning.... the future isn't w/ your JOB - you need to do something more... start a business or invest in real estate) but perhaps written at a higher level. Many of the RD books can be easily read and understood by 9 year olds.... I'm thinkin MJ's book will have more pause-and-think-through-the-concept type passages..... This hunch is based on the quality of th posts that MJ makes here.

We also know MJ's story - and that does add some credibility to what ever message MJ delivers in his book. There has often been a lot of speculation about the rich dad story and while it should not take away from the overall message - I think in some ways it does. (Haters will be haters will be haters - - - and they will find something to criticize... I would put money on the table that J Reed will find something about MJ to criticize - cuz that is what he does. )

I am really looking forward to the book. I strongly believe that RK is in many ways - sabotaging the future success of his RD company. Many people are turned off by his style and looking for someone with more compassion and someone that cares about giving back. There is an awesome opp for MJ to come in and dominate the new-school financial arena (new-school meaning not the Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman sort of advice)

 

[CoMp1eX]

I'm REALLY looking forward to MJ's book.

Comeon MJ!



Differences? Fastlane has more substance. It's a different mindset.

I'll try and think of something more detailed...

 

[unicon]

I see nothing but courage in RK's writings, he knew the flack he would get before he started.

The idea of contrasting a rich and poor dad takes the reader out of personalization as much as possible, he is quoting a 2nd and 3rd party.

He makes it clear that people and institutions want to take your money and he doesn't sugarcoat it.

The simplicity is the power not the weakness, complexity is confusion. RK has taken an incredibly complex subject and make a 9 year old understand it. This is what takes work for any author, to get there is not easy and the simpler it is, the greater the work that went into it.

Only congress can't understand.

Substance trumps style everytime. Find a weakness in his writings not in his style, that would be productive.

 

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[andviv]

It makes me curious about how everyone is coming up with their definition! (Other than MJ's of course. He knows the idea of fastlane in his own head)

It is an interesting look at the power of perceptions - and where they come from.

Is it from MJ's posts?
Is it from the collective posts of all the people that contribute here?
Is it from the community - and the feelings invoked by belonging to the community?

In my case, my perception of what the fastlane is comes from the discussions here for the past year. But still I stay away from a discussion like this as the official definition of the term has not been published by its creator... so I'm waiting for the book. The perception from RDPD comes not only from the original book but also the other 5 or 6 I read from his extensive collection.

About RK's books I can tell they were positive eye-openers for me, but the opposite can be said about meeting RK in person. I concur with yveskleinsky about the cashflow concept from RDPD, although I have to recognize that one of the RK books talks about the velocity of money and how to speed up the wealth generation concept. MJ, get back to write, that's a friendly reminder from me

 

[Russ H]

. . .still I stay away from a discussion like this as the official definition of the term has not been published by its creator... so I'm waiting for the book.

Ah, where angels fear to tread . . .

. . . here comes me, stomping in.

I think we discuss "fastlane" ideas and concepts here every day. And while I await MJ's book w/anticipation, I think it's safe to say that my life is a MUCH better place today, because MJ had the courage to start this website before finishing his book (not his plan at the time-- we kinda begged and pleaded for this as the rd online forums were falling apart).

So, to answer the question: How is the Fastlane different from RDPD?

First and foremost, having met both guys, I can say that one is a bit full of himself and delights in humiliating/belittling others, whilte the other person does not have these characteristics.

Both can be a bit hot-headed at times, but in my eyes, this is just passion leaking through.

In case you haven't guessed, I think MJ is by far the more diplomatic and humble of the two, at least from what I've read and experienced face to face.

Does this make a difference? Yeah, it does for me. Hard to read someone's words if you feel they don't respect you as a person.

*******

On to philosophies (ignoring the fact that I have a hard time with RK):

RDPD: No single book has had more of a "WAKE UP" call for me and my financial well being.

Robert Kiyosaki (or is it Sharon Lechter?) has a way of explaining difficult (and to me, boring) concepts like bookkeeping and accounting, making them relevant.

My dad was a teacher, like RK's. And I heard my dad say many of the same things as RK's dad-- money is the root of all evil, we don't discuss it, wanting to be rich is bad, etc. So on that level, the book *was* speaking directly to me. I felt as though RK and I had similar childhoods-- the exception being that RK had a rich dad in his life, and I did not.

So I read each RD book with delight, feeling as though RK was sitting with me in my living room, gently revealing the concepts of things like living within your means, the meaning of an "asset", the difference between an employee (E), Self employed person (S), Business owner (B) and big-time investor (I).

But perhaps the greatest thing I learned via RK was not from his books-- it was from his Cashflow boardgame. By playing with a group of successful investors in San Francisco, I learned the power of *massive* leveraging. And perhaps the greatest thing I did was play the game, many times, trying different investment strategies. Some worked, some didn't. Some worked a few times, but I went bankrupt more times than not.

And then we hit upon a technique that produced massive amounts of wealth in a very short period of time. And this strategy worked almost EVERY SINGLE TIME WE PLAYED-- didn't matter what other players were doing, or "the roll of the dice"-- we still got out of the rat race fast. Really fast (like within 15-30 minutes, every time, in a 4 person game).

We built on this strategy for our real life PLAN, using things like leverage, owning a business and letting the cash generated by the business buy your investments, buying cheap, small RE and selling it for more to get capital for the big projects . . .

While all of these principles were outlined in the Rich Dad books, they really were presented differently. If you distilled RK's cashflow game to its essentials, it really came down to:

1. Figure out how to make deals happen (be creative)

2. Buy low, sell high (duh). But he showed us how to do it with OPM (other people's money), which was a HUGE revelation.

3. Use smaller projects to generate capital so you can buy into the bigger projects. Rinse, and repeat, getting bigger and bigger.

*******

While RK talked about using the cash from your business ventures to buy assets, he didn't make this a part of his cashflow game. I still consider this a serious "hole", and using a B to buy your assets is just plain smart (read Diane Kennedy's posts for more on this).

It's clear that RK uses this strategy-- he uses the money that comes in from his books and other educational materials to buy assets.

***********

I have to go-- but I will post what I consider to be fastlane principles later today or tomorrow (with apologies in advance to MJ if I get things wrong).

-Russ H.

 

[SteveO]

One of my major sources of enjoyment in life is watching other people's antics. I enjoyed the Kiyosaki show. I would have enjoyed it if it was directed at me as well. I did find him to be very offensive but there are many people that act in offensive manners.

The Fastlane concepts are solid. They are whatever MJ defines them to be though. MJ is very open and has his scanner in the "ON" position to see all ideas and concepts (with the exception of mlm :smxB that fit the fastlane profile.

RK on the other hand is very closed minded. It is his way or no good. His way is anything that makes him money. A "Loser" is defined as anyone who does not buy his products for advancement.

 

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