There are many books that popularize the idea of frugality and living below your means. Many so-called money experts write and speak about the virtues of cutting up your credit cards, saving money, putting the maximum amount into your retirement plan, driving a used car, living in a smaller house, clipping coupons, shopping at sales, eating at home, passing used clothes from older kids down to the younger kids, taking cheaper vacations, and other strategies.

      While these are excellent ideas for many people, and while there is a time and place for frugality, most people do not like these ideas. They would love to enjoy the finer things of life. A big home, a new car, fun toys, and expensive vacations are much more fun and desirable than putting money away in a bank. Most of us tend to agree with the wise sages professing frugality and economic abstinence. Yet deep down, many of us would rather have a platinum credit card without a spending limit—one that is paid for by a rich uncle who has more money than all the Arab oil sheiks, private Swiss banks, and Bill Gates combined.

      We realize that it is the unbridled desire for the fun, fine, and fancy things of life that gets many people in financial trouble. And it is the financial trouble that these desires spawn that causes the money gurus to say, “Cut up your credit cards. Live below your means. Buy a used car.”

      On the other hand, my rich dad never said to me, “Cut up your credit cards.” He never said, “Live below your means.” Why would he advise me to do things he personally did not believe in? When it came to the idea of frugality, he did say, “You can become rich by being cheap. But the problem is that, even though you’re rich, you’re still cheap. You’re skimping and saving and cutting corners… always choosing the least costly options on everything from bottled water to hotel rooms.” He would further say, “It makes no sense to me to live cheap and die rich. Why would anyone want to live cheap, die rich, and then have the kids spend your life’s savings after the funeral?” Rich dad noticed that people who scrimped and saved all their lives often had children who acted like starving hyenas once the parents were gone. Instead of enjoying their parents’ inheritance, they often fought over the money and spent it all soon after they got their hands on what they called their “fair share.”

      Instead of telling me to pinch pennies, rich dad often said, “If you want something, find out the price. Then pay the price.” He also went on to say, “But always remember, everything has a price. And the price for becoming rich by being cheap is that you’re still cheap.”

      The Different Ways You Can Become Rich

      You can become rich by marrying someone for his or her money. I had a classmate in New York who often said, “It is just as easy to marry a rich girl as a poor girl.” When he graduated, he married into a very rich family just as he said he would. I personally think he was a slimeball for doing that, but that was his way of becoming rich.

      You can become rich by becoming a crook, and we all know the price of that choice. When I was a kid, I thought a crook wore a mask and robbed banks. Today, I realize that there are many crooks that wear blue suits, white shirts, red ties, and who are often respected members of their community.

      There are others who become rich by betting at the casino or racetrack, by playing the lottery, or by blindly throwing their money into the stock market. During the dot-com mania, I knew many people who were ready to write a check if all you said was, “I’m starting an Internet company.”

      You can become rich by being a bully, and we all know what happens to a bully. Eventually, an even bigger bully comes along. Or the bully discovers that the only people willing to do business with him or her are people who enjoy being pushed around.

      As described earlier, you can become rich by being cheap. The world tends to despise rich people who are cheap—people like Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol. Most of us have met people who always want a larger discount, complain about the bill, or even worse, refuse to pay the bill for one frivolous reason or another. A friend who owns a dress shop often complains about the type of customer who buys a dress, wears it to a party, and then returns it a few days later, asking for her money back. And of course, there are those who drive old cars, wear clothes too long, buy cheap shoes, and look poor, but have millions of dollars in the bank.

      While these individuals can become rich by being cheap, there is a price far beyond money for such behavior. I personally struggle with being too cheap at times, and yet I notice that people tend to smile more or like me more when I am generous. For example, when I tip a little extra for good service, it comes back to me in other ways. In other words, people tend to like generous people more than cheap people.

      Can Everyone Be Rich?

      Rich dad and I talked further about the price of being rich. He told me, “The price is different for different people.”

      “What do you mean by ‘the price is different for different people’?” I asked.

      His reply was, “I like to think that we all come into this world with unique gifts and talents such as singing, painting, athletics, writing, parenting, preaching, teaching, and so on. Although God gives us these talents, it is up to each of us to develop those talents—and developing those talents is often the price we pay to be rich.”

      Rich dad continued, “The world is filled with smart, talented, and gifted people who are not what we would call successful financially, professionally, or in their personal relationships. While each of us has gifts and strengths, each of us also has personal challenges and weaknesses to overcome. No one is perfect. That is why I say that the price is different for different people—because each of us has different challenges. The only people who think life should be easy are lazy people.”

      I do not know if rich dad’s statement about lazy people is true or not. I do know that his statement has been useful for me whenever I find myself complaining about things not being easy or things not going my way. When I find myself saying, “I wish things were easier,” I know I am getting lazy. So I take a break, check my attitude, and ask myself about the long-term price of having that attitude. It’s not that I don’t look for an easier way to do things. I am simply aware that when I tend to be lazy, cheap, or act like a spoiled brat, I need to ask myself what the price might be for that behavior.

      Money Is the Reward for Paying the Price

      Rich dad would also say, “Ask anyone who is rich, famous, or successful, and I am sure they will tell you that they had and have personal challenges and demons to face every day along the way. There is no free lunch. My challenge was that I had no education and no money when I started out. I also had a family to feed when my father died. I was thirteen years old when I was given that challenge—and there were even greater challenges to come. Yet I managed to pay the price and, in the end, I achieved great wealth. In hindsight, money was my reward for paying the price.”

      The Price of Security

      Over the years, rich dad made sure that his son Mike and I were always aware of the price of something. When my real dad, the man I call my poor dad, advised me to find “a safe secure job,” rich dad’s reply was, “Remember, there is a price for security.”

      When I asked him what the price was, he answered, “For most people, the price of security is personal freedom.