" As you read this book you will find out that most of the differences between the 10% of investors who make 90% of the money and the 90% that make only 10% of the money is not what they in- vest in, but that their thinking is different. For example: 1. Most investors say "Don't take risks." The rich investor takes risks. 2. Most investors say "diversify." The rich investor fo- cuses. 3. The average investor tries to minimize debt. The rich investor increases debt in their favor. Investor Control #2 Control Over Yourself Chapter 1 What Should I Invest In? In 1973,1 returned home from my tour of Vietnam. I felt for- tunate to have been assigned to a base in Hawaii near home rather than to a base on the East Coast. After settling in at the Marine Corps Air Station, I called my friend Mike and we set up a time to have lunch together with his dad, the man I call my rich dad. Mike was anxious to show me his new baby and his new home so we agreed to have lunch at his house the fol- lowing Saturday. When Mike's limousine came to pick me up at the drab gray base BOQ, the Bachelor Officers' Quarters, I began to realize how much had changed since we had gradu- ated together from high school in 1965- "Welcome home," Mike said as I walked into the foyer of his beautiful home with marble floors. Mike was beaming from ear to ear as he held his seven-month-old son. "Glad you made it back in one piece." "So am I," I replied as I looked past Mike at the shimmer- ing blue Pacific Ocean, which touched the white sand in front 20 Rich Dad's Guide to Investing of his home. The home was spectacular. It was a tropical one- level mansion with all the grace and charm of old and new Hawaiian living. There were beautiful Persian carpets, tall dark green potted plants, and a large pool that was surrounded on three sides by his home, with the ocean on the fourth side. It was very open, breezy, and the model of gracious island living with the finest of detail. The home fit my fantasies of living the luxurious life in Hawaii. "Meet my son James," said Mike. "Oh," I said in a startled voice. My jaw must have been hanging open as I had slipped into a trance taking in the stun- ning beauty of this home. "What a cute kid." I replied as any person should reply when looking at a new baby. But as I stood there waving and making faces at a baby blankly staring back at me, my mind was still in shock at how much had changed in eight years. I was living on a military base in old barracks, sharing a room with three other messy beer- drinking young pilots, while Mike was living in a multi-million- dollar estate with his gorgeous wife and newborn baby. "Come on in," Mike continued. "Dad and Connie are wait- ing for us on the patio." The lunch was spectacular and served by their full-time maid. I sat there enjoying the meal, the scenery, and the com- pany when I thought about my three roommates who were probably dining at the officer's mess hall at that very moment.