If you are going to get rich, you may have to give up everything you ever learned in school and from your parents and start from scratch. Now that's not a definite by any means. You may not have to start over. If someone along the line taught you, for instance that it doesn't actually take money to make money, then you may already be on the right track.

In the words of Robert Kiyosaki of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" fame, "It doesn't take money to make money. I often hear people say it takes money to make money. I disagree. We had no money when we started and we were also in debt. It also doesn't take a formal education."

Kiyosaki proceeded to cite the case of Bill Gates: the Microsoft mogul never actually graduated from college, but did that keep him from making his fortune? No way! Diplomas are nice, but they don't reliably add up to more money.

Robert Kiyosaki says that the only true prerequisites to being rich are that one must be determined and a quick study. Beyond that, it's all about what you know. One of the first things you need to know about becoming rich is where you fall on the Cash Flow Quadrant.

The Cash Flow Quadrant is an icon taught to him by his best friend's father, a man to whom he refers in his books as his "rich dad." It is an illustration of what his rich dad called the four different types of people in relation to money: Employees, the Self-employed, Businesspeople and Investors. Each quadrant comes with its own outlook on the world. The outlook of those in the B and I quadrants are the ones that help make them rich.

One of the aforementioned traits necessary for becoming rich, being a quick study, has nothing to do with going back to school - the subject you must be able to learn about is actually a quite specific one: you must learn about real estate investing. Kiyosaki claims that investing in real estate is the best way to get rich because it ties into so many aspects of modern life-- almost every office building or storefront you glimpse while driving down the street, for example, represents money in the pocket of some canny investor.

This isn't about learning the minutiae of real estate investing and immersing yourself in every technical point and statistic-- these things are important and useful for investors, but this expertise can come in the form of a profession that you hire to make these in-depth decisions for you. You only need to understand the subject matter to the extent that you can recognize an expert when you see one.

Now, this is quite different from being in the 'S' or self-employed section of the Cash Flow quadrant, because, a self-employed person doesn't own a business; he or she simply owns a job. Those who own businesses, says Kiyosaki, can leave for a year and return to find your organization still intact and profitable-- being a businessperson means that you are able to delegate authority to the right people, and not take on an excessive amount of responsibility yourself.

However you decide to do it, learning the nuts and bolts of real estate investing yourself or by hiring a qualified person to advise you, it is definitely time for you to move to the I quadrant; that is, if being rich is something you'd like to consider.

Author and Realtor Alexandria P. Anderson helps clients to find and purchase Plymouth MN Real Estate as well as Property for Sale in Plymouth, Minnesota.