How To Turn *Anything* Into A Good Investment: Make Your Money Work For You
We probably all know what a depreciating asset is: an asset that declines in monetary value over time due to a number of reasons such as use, wear, or obsolescence.
Examples of depreciating assets are all around us.
Cars, phones, technology, and more.
In the book, 'Rich Dad Poor Dad,' Robert Kiyosaki makes a statement that your house is not an asset.
He claims that since it takes money out of your pocket, it is a liability.
An asset is something that puts money in your pocket on a monthly basis.
It is very hard to argue that these goods can be called an asset.
They can all be regarded as luxury goods - having a phone, a car or pieces of tech are all luxuries, not necessarily physiological needs as stated by Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
I would also argue that for something to be a liability, it does not have to cost only your money.
Something that leaches on your time or energy can also be a liability.
Things such as watching Netflix, spending time on TikTok or other social media platforms are all examples of liabilities too.
However, for a lot of people around the world, these things tend to make money.
For example, some people make money from buying new phones, new cars, or new technology.
We're going to go through some of these examples below and show you how you can replicate the same thing.
Marques Brownlee
A lot of us may be familiar with Marques Brownlee.
Marques is a YouTuber who makes videos around a lot of phones and technology.
He reviews new tech products and gives his opinion on them.
Even recently, he has been making videos on cars - electric cars generally because of the niche of his channel.
With over 2.6 billion views across his channel, there's no doubt that Marques makes quite a bit from the videos he makes.
This is one of many examples of people who have managed to turn something they love - a depreciating 'asset' into a real, cash-flowing asset.
Today, Marques is one of the highest earners on the YouTube platform, with over 14 million subscribers on YouTube.
When he started off, he was reviewing small, trendy tech gadgets that many people would have regarded as liabilities.
It's obvious that buying a new camera, or a new phone will most likely depreciate in value within a matter of months.
Even more, once the new model comes out the year following.
Although Marques now gets brand deals and also receives most of these goods for free in order to review on his channel, starting off, he had to pay for them out of his own pocket.
A similar example to Marques on the other end of the spectrum is the child YouTuber, Ryan's World.
Ryan was announced the highest paid YouTuber last year in 2020 at only 9-years old.
With over 30 million subscribers on YouTube, Ryan was able to turn his love for toys into a money-making machine.
The best part about Ryan's channel is that he makes videos on toys that cost a very small amount compared to what Marques reviews.
Both these entertainers make a very high return on their investment.
With this said, these products that they buy in order to review are no longer considered liabilities or depreciable, because they are returning a much higher return compared to how much they cost.
Manny Khoshbin / Stradman
Both stories of these individuals are very interesting stories.
Manny Khoshbin is a Persian individual who moved to America when he was a kid.
Watching his family struggle, he took it into his own hands to repay his family for moving him to a place like the States.
Today, he is a real estate mogul with millions of followers across his social media channels and owns many unreal super cars that people look at in awe.
He is a rare car collector and lover who has managed to turn his passion for cars into a cashcow on YouTube aswell.
Luckily for Manny, he does not rely on YouTube to pay the bills due to his portfolio in real estate, but he has also managed to turn his expensive love for cars upside down to make him more than it costs him.
Similarly, the Stradman also started from very humble beginnings.
From an average employee to one of the biggest car channels on YouTube with almost 3.4 million subscribers, James has also managed to make his love for supercars a source of (lots of) income.
The Stradman started by going to car shows and recording super cars and other cool cars using his cell phone and uploading it on YouTube.
Not very expensive, but definitely requires lots of time and energy to stand around waiting for a super car to show up.
Slowly as the channel picked up, he started to make videos of his own cars.
Today, Stradman owns a bugatti Veyron along with other exotic cars in his fleet.
These are two great examples of turning a liability into great investments.
Manny and James are not alone here.
YouTubers like Tall Guy Car Reviews and his friend Mr Organik also managed to do the same thing - making daily YouTube videos with their super cars and exotic vehicles.
Ninja and the gaming world
A few years ago, following the release of the game 'Fortnite,' now the 12th most played game in the world (according to Wikipedia), we saw a massive surprise of new gamers and streamers.
We saw the likes of Ninja and Tfue who took the Twitch platform by storm and were crowned some of the best players in the world.
Ninja is rumored to make over $1 million per month from YouTube and Twitch, over $16 million per year including things such as endorsements.
Before I got into business, I wanted to become a gaming YouTuber.
Gaming was my way of escaping the world I was living in.
Realistically, for all the Ninjas you see today, there are thousands of untold tales and I had a hunch that I would be one of them.
The Gaming industry has grown to $37 billion on the PC side alone whilst the Esports industry has grown to over $1 billion.
We're in a world today where anything you want is possible.
You can earn a living doing most of the things you can think of.
So how can you do the same?
YouTube is not the only way to make money off of something we thought is a liability.
There are many means of turning anything into a good investment.
If you're reading this, you're looking at one right now.
Blogging is another massive avenue for writers to talk about anything they enjoy.
I was naturally talented at writing.
Ever since I was in primary school, I was winning writing awards without realising the potential that writing had.
In another blog I've talked about the sort of wealth you can create from writing as a side hustle, comparing it to massive writers and other high earners.
Blogs are almost like written versions of YouTube videos.
You're able to monetize the traffic that comes through your blog and even sell affiliate products and/or services that you may have used or really liked.
You can even get sponsored by larger brands who align with your message and brand.
There are massive tech blogs today that have managed to turn these liabilities such as mobile devices and tech gadgets into cash cows.
IGN is a big name in the gaming world. They're do everything from streaming, making videos on YouTube and even blog/write on their sites.
Today, IGN receives almost 100 million visitors to their site per month and have managed to turn something like gaming into a great investment of both their time and money.
There are other outlets which enable you to earn a living from something typically perceived as a liability.
There are TikTok stars who have 10s (even 100s) of millions of followers on the platform.
TikTok is, in my opinion, the biggest waste of time in the world.
But for a select bunch of people, it has become a machine that spits out money for every little 15-60 second video made.
The truth behind TikTok and YouTube is that it takes a long time to edit the videos and make them engaging.
I've mentioned previously that attention is the most valuable commodity in the world.
Those who are able to capture the most attention will be rewarded handsomly.
Let's use an example for luxury clothing.
Luxury and designer clothing can be very expensive.
But if you're able to make content - whether it's YouTube videos, blog posts, social media posts, even courses, you'll be able to turn these luxury or designer pieces of clothing into assets that generate you an income.
Someone who spends 1000s of dollars per month on designer clothing will be losing 1000s of dollars.
On the other hand, if you're using the clothing to create content, you could be making 1000s of dollars in returns per month.
Most things in the world can be turned into a good investment.
Going back to Robert Kiyosaki's statement that your house is not an asset, we could argue against this now.
On YouTube, there are many examples of entertainers who make house tour videos.
Although these people don't own the homes they tour, they still get paid handsomely and prove the demand for content like this.
These people tend to get millions of views on their house tour videos.
Usually, the more expensive the house is, the more people that would be interested in the video.
So what do you like to do or buy that is considered a liability rather than an asset?
Is there something you enjoy which you think you can pursue now?
Maybe it's also technology, or cars or even houses.
I want you to think about this and start taking action today.
Around 27 days ago I decided to start my blog because I really enjoyed writing.
I've talked about how writing helped me get unstuck in my life and so I wanted to carry on doing it, whilst helping others learn from my journey and lessons.
What have you managed to learn from this article?
Let me know in the comments below.
Till next time,
Mohamad
Till next time,
Mohamad
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