In this monologue, Coach Raphael Djine argues that owning a home is a financial liability that keeps people broke, while renting frees up capital for wealth‑building assets. He illustrates the point with detailed cost breakdowns of a high‑maintenance property (fence, driveway, pool, dogs, lake, etc.) totaling about $40,000 per year, and then scales the argument to an average $150,000 home, estimating $10,400 in annual maintenance that compounds to $312,000 over 30 years. Djine contends that banks promote homeownership because it creates long‑term liabilities for borrowers, not assets for them. He urges listeners to follow the “rent, don’t own” rule, use money to acquire income‑generating access rather than costly liabilities, and rethink wealth creation away from traditional mortgage‑driven paths.
Chapters
Law number 4. Law number 4. This may be silly. Rent and don't own. Rent and don't own. I used to wonder why a lot of people own a property, own a hotel, own a resort, But they, they, they own as a business, but when it comes to their own home, they are leasing. If you're on your way to become a millionaire, you start carry assets. You start carry things that is going to be heavy on you instead of leverage your money to multiply, to double money, you buy things that you have to feed it instead of get less liability, it's going to drag you down. Let me illustrate a little bit. Okay. Let's assume that I'm worth less than, let's say just $1 million, right? I have my home. I have my home, where I live. I have a lake, 16 acres. I have a small pond, I think it's about 2 acres. I have a pool. 4 dogs. Oh no. Dog. Um, whatever, high maintenance. 50 acres that I need to take care of it. So I need to cut the yard and all that. Private driveway that need maintenance. What else? Um, fence. I need to make sure I take care of the fence. I spent probably about $10,000. I just spent, I just spent what, $15,000 on fence? Yeah, $15,000. I just spent $15,000 on fence. Priv driveway, it takes me about $6,000 a year to maintain that. Acreage, to cut the grass and all that, it takes me— Probably about what? About $4,000 per year since I don't cut the whole season. The pool, I pay $500 per month. That's what? $6,000 per year to maintain the pool. No, no, the dogs. The dogs, let's say about $4,000 a year for the dogs. The dog provides security. The pool, $6,000. The small pond to stock with fish and all that, let's say $1,200. I don't spend much money on it. The lake, let's say $4,000. So you see my— the home, how much is this, Christina? Could you do a total? $15,000 plus $6,000, that's $25,000 plus $4,000. $4,000, that's $10,000, $25,000, $39,000, $6,000, $35,000, $1,100, $36,000, $100,000, $1,000, $40,000, right? So my home take $40K. I didn't count the electricity bill. $36,000. Okay, $36,000. So I didn't count the electricity bill. Gate maintenance. I have private gate, so every time it go off, I call the guy to come and make sure the gate is working properly. So about $40K. I'm not talking about mortgage. I'm not talking about light bill. I'm not talking about anything. $40K per month additional. That's what it come with when you own. If I was leasing, maybe my expense was going to be only $10,000 per month, maybe $100,000, $120,000 for you. The same expense, light bill and all that. So I have additional this. I mean, somebody can say, well, the value is building in. Yes, but if I was using this money and invest, $40,000. For 30 years. $40,000 compounded for 30 years. What does it represent? So, you see the difference, right? See the difference? Now, if I was lease— if I was just leasing, I was not going to spend $120,000 a year. Maybe I would spend less than that, right? Maybe I would spend less than that. That is the difference. Now, you may say, oh no, Coach Rob, this is not a normal scenario for average person. If you take— let me take an average person. Let's say your house is $150K, right? $150K. $150K. Um, when the AC go out, how much could that cost to take care of that? $3,000? Yeah. Okay, let's say $3,000. AC maintenance, $3,000. Um, little leaking with toilet because keep put so many stuff in it, you need to get a plumber in there. Plumbing work. $2,000. Per year, what? $2,000. This is a very, like, small tiny home. What's a common problem? Take care of the yard, right? You have to cut grass the whole year. Yard work. What, $1,200 the whole year? I don't know how much it costs. $1,200. What else? You have to fix little thing, the kid put the hole on the wall, you have to Fix it. I mean, you're a homeowner. Yeah, things like that. So let's put maintenance and repair. Let's say $5,000 for a small average home. How much is that? 3, 2, 5, $12,000. $10,400? $10,400. Okay. $10,400 per year. How much is that in 30 years? $312,000. $312,000 in 30 years. This have nothing to do with your mortgage. And your bill and your normal thing. Do you think in 30 years this house is going to be worth half a million? Even if it's worth half a million, you didn't make anything. You didn't make anything. Imagine you take this, you did an investment with $312,000 for 30 years. $312,000. The money rule. You see the difference? That's the difference. Even if you just keep this money and buy— I mean, $312,000, you can buy, you can buy few software, software. You can buy some dollar store. I mean, something people are consumed like Crazy. You can do so much with this money. You can start a school. You can do so much. So that is, that's the difference. Now, this is exactly what people are, we are being taught to do. Why? Because when you come and invest this at the bank, you invest this to the bank, you buy this from the bank, and they sell you all this liability. The bank don't want you to be a— to lease. That's why bank don't lease house. They sell it. Because they want you to take care of this thing. They don't want to take care of this thing. I never hear that Bank of America have the more leasing property all over the country. No. These guys are smart. They know it's a liability. They know it's not going to help you. They know if you do all this, And they just collect the money. Matter of fact, if you have— if you have 6% interest rate on $150,000, and your payment is $1,500 a month, you probably pay $700 on interest only. That means you pay them in 30 years. You double this money, you double that in 30 years. So, you're saying that the banks are not making money? Or triple the money. But guess who has liability? You have liability and you are broke. Why are you buying more liability while you're already broke? You're already in trouble. He said you go out and you are going out and buy more liability while you're already broke, and that's how you stay broke because you are playing the rule the wrong way. The, the way the, you know, the bankers set up the rules and all that is not for you to be successful. That's why poor people stay poor. They stay broke the rest of their life, generation after generation after generation. Why? Because the rule is set to keep them down. The rule is set to keep them down. You will never get out if you don't change the rule. One of the things I like to do is that since the banker want me to buy the house and lease, who promote that? Oh, go buy the house and lease and make money. If you buy this house for $150,000, you lease, your mortgage is $1,500, and then you are paying all these people, you may lease for— 20 years. Maybe $1,600. So you make $1,200 a year. $1,200, you guarantee the note, and this a potential thing that you may deal with. So you look to make $1,200. Somebody will tell you, hey, the value is going to go up. By the time you solve all this problem, you have $316,000 that by the time you pay off the house, this is what you spent on it. To carry for 30 years. To carry for 30 years. You have to carry. And even if the tenant is paying you that, the moment one month they don't pay you, you're upside down. This is actually the way to generate wealth. If you want to generate wealth, you have to think differently. You're not going out there to buy liability. You go out there to buy access. You use your money to acquire access. People are running and buy problem, buy problem, buy problem, and they have way more problem. Why? Because they are violating the rule of money. All right, rule number 5.
