These are and frightening and heady times

We have entered a new age.

In a broader sense, it’s important to know where you are in history and in the world at large. Christopher Columbus’s voyage of 1492 eventually led to the start of the Industrial Age, a momentous historical shift.

At the height of the Industrial Age, people like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison became millionaires. I believe that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, some 500 years after Columbus set sail, marked the end of that great age and the beginning of another equally dynamic one: the Information Age.

Generations from now, people will look back and remark what a thrilling, tumultuous era this must have been. Computer-industry figures such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Michael Dell are the magnates who typify this new age.

It took Henry Ford 23 years to become a billionaire during the Industrial Age. It only took Michael Dell three years to become a billionaire during the Information Age, and he started his business part-time.

These are heady times, and frightening for some. The economy’s speedy adaptation to the demands of the Information Age has threatened the financial security of millions of people whose jobs have become obsolete or moved elsewhere.

Take a look at the difference, for example, between an Industrial-Age pension plan and an Information- Age retirement plan. In the Industrial Age, companies would employ people for life and give them pensions once their working days were over. Today, companies aren’t giving out pension plans the way they used to and the 401(k)s and pensions being given are going broke. Plus, people are retiring earlier and living longer lives.

The rules have changed. Retirees need more financial security and thus more sophisticated ways of building assets than were offered by the pension plans of the Industrial Age.

Unfortunately, most people, those who can least afford to keep their heads stuck in the sand, are acting as if the rules haven’t changed.

Take note,

Today, retirees need more financial resources at retirement and more sophisticated ways of building assets than were offered by the pension plans and 401(k)s of the Industrial Age.

Throughout history, 90 percent of the money has been made by 10 percent of the people. For instance, 10 percent of the athletes make 90 percent of the money made by all athletes. This is one of the rules of money that rich dad taught me. One reason the 90/10 rule has applied is that 90 percent of the people choose comfort and security over being rich. Most of these people do not realize they could choose to be rich.

While the 90/10 rule still holds, it’s being challenged by the changing circumstances that the Information Age introduced. Thanks to the electronic revolution, it is now possible for more and more people to gain access to the world of wealth, for wealth now resides in information that flies over the airwaves and computer networks. Information is not restricted to the few, as land and resources were in past ages.

The Internet epitomizes this avenue toward wealth, for it enables the masses to gather information and interact with one another in almost complete freedom. Today it’s possible for people to take their ideas and build products or services around them. Network marketing, the selling of consumer goods, investing, and publishing are only a handful of the thousands of online activities that have been launched by aspiring entrepreneurs and savvy investors.

The pressure of the Information Age is going to shatter the old 90/10 rule. It has never been easier to choose to be rich.

Change your mind and you will change your life.

Albert X Ariho