Money spent to improve your knowledge, make you more competent or improve your skills, usually pays off from 100 to 1000 beans earned back for each bean spent. Investing in YOU pays off during your entire lifetime. Brilliant spending.

If you own a business, some employees' pay may be good Bean Theory application. They do more than expected and add to the success of the business. Good spending.

Other employees do less than the others and try to suck everyone down to their unhappy existence. They are not a good investment of beans. Bad spending.

Each part of your business can be classified as good or bad spending. For example, an auto repair shop has several departments. Its auto paint department returns five beans for every bean paid into it. But its muffler department only returns one bean for each two beans it receives. If the owners are smart, they invest more beans into the paint department which increases their beans. The muffler department must either become profitable or be shut down ASAP.

Good business spending includes training, computers, office furniture, signs, efficient work spaces and so on. Spending beans to find the best employees, train employees or pay your highest producers top wages is also good spending.

Bad business spending may include original oil paintings for your office, wild unproven marketing ideas, exotic "business" trips for you and your family, unearned bonuses to buddies, golf club memberships and so on.

The way to spend money to make money is by using the "Bean Theory."

" Finance is best understood as a COMMODITY* in terms of beans." "So many beans issued to an activity and so many more beans back. "
-- L. Ron Hubbard (*Commodity: An item that is bought, sold or traded.)

Bean Theory Examples

Example #1: You buy a $2500 stereo system with a credit card. The stereo system makes you no money and loses value over time. You pay $2000 in interest over five years before you pay off the credit card debt. For 4500 beans paid out, you get no beans back and have an asset worth 1200 beans or less. Bad spending.

Example #2: You buy a small old house. You pay $25,000 as a down payment and a home loan for $75,000. You invest $25,000 in upgrades and repairs. Over three years, you pay $13,000 in interest. You then sell the house for $160,000. For 25,000 beans for the down payment, 25,000 in repairs and 13,000 beans in loan interest, you get 22,000 beans after the loan is paid off. You also lived in the house for three years which saved you 12,000 beans in rent per year. Total profit of 58,000 beans. Good spending.

Example #3: You spend $500 to learn how to create websites. You enjoy the work and create some brilliant examples. Your friends ask you to help them and through word-of-mouth, you are soon earning an extra $2000 per month. Your 500 beans return thousands of beans back to you.