Stanley Riiks Interview Part 2

What does rich mean to you?

I think being rich is being financially independent. Not many people are. Financial independence means not being dependent on anyone, not a company for your wages, not your boss for a job. Having your own income outside of work, having a passive income, having time and money, and not having to choose between one or the other. Be able to live the life you want, to me that’s rich.

 

Is this a get rich quick scheme?

It’s not a get rich quick scheme. Nor it is a network marketing scheme, and it’s not an advert for a game or a course. A lot of the financial books I’ve read are just sales tools. I’m not upselling anything, I’ve just sharing hard-won knowledge.

 

Why do you feel now is the right time to launch a book like Think Rich, Get Rich: 5 Steps to Financial Independence?

The likelihood is we are going into one of the worse recessions on record. Now is the best time for people to be gaining knowledge about finance. This isn’t a book for rich people, they already know the secrets to wealth, this is a book for anyone who wants to know some of those secrets and set themselves up to be wealthy.

 

You’ve been writing for a while now. What inspired you to start writing?

I loved reading when I was young. And then I just kind of lost interest for a few years, but as a teenager I rediscovered books when I bought one of the Conan novels on my way home from school. I took it home, read the first chapter, then went straight out and bought a couple more books. It was my first fantasy novel and I was hooked. After that I borrowed my dad’s Stephen King novels and read those, and then SF, and everything else. I joined multiple book clubs, I visited the school and local libraries, and loved being in worlds not my own.

I started writing in my mid-teens, and enjoyed the feeling of being god, being in total and utter control of my characters’ lives and the worlds they lived in.

 

Why the switch to non-fiction after many years of writing fiction?

I started writing fiction, but I also had a diary, so my connection with non-fiction is long. I’ve written book reviews for as long as I can remember, and I don’t restrict myself to any one genre. I just write. Sometimes that’s stories, sometimes those stories are real and sometimes they aren’t. I don’t pick categories to write in, it just depends what I’m interested in at the time.

Credit Crunch: A Survivor’s Guide – Overuse

Do you wonder who recommends you change your toothbrush every three months? It’s the manufacturers. Those who would benefit most from you changing your toothbrush four times a year. Do you believe them? Until I see scientific evidence to the contrary I am happy to use my toothbrush for a year, or more if it’s still looking good. I use an electric toothbrush and I do take care of it, when you have a £150.00 top of the range Oral B, you look after it! It actually gets treated better than my girlfriend! (She didn’t cost so much!)

Water filters are another thing that can be used more than the manufacturers recommend. Of course they say four weeks will use up the goodness contained in their little filters. Well, that’s based on the filter being used by an average family of four. I’m certainly not average, and I’m definitely not a family of four. I’ll use those filters (instead of bottle water which is about twenty times as much!), for at least six weeks, depending on actual consumption.

Try to overuse things and squeeze the value from every product you use and save those pennies.