What exactly is it that separates the wealthy from the rest of us? This is an essential question that isn’t asked nearly often enough. On first considering the question, you may be tempted to give answers such as, “Having wealthy parents” or “Winning the lottery” or even “Working at a cushy, high-paying job.” Indeed, anyone in any of the aforementioned circumstances can count his or herself among the very lucky.

The bad news for those lucky people is that being in those circumstances is no guarantee of wealth. In fact, according to Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad book series, it isn’t about how much money you bring in, but how much money you keep that determines how wealthy you are.

Kiyosaki’s father, the so-called “Poor Dad,” is a great example of a well educated man blessed with a great career who was nonetheless poor, because he couldn’t seem to keep any of the money he was earning.

Fortunately for you, the circumstances of your life, such as the family into which you are born or the salary you receive at your job, are not what will determine whether or not you become rich. Being wealthy depends on internal factors, not external circumstances.

Whether you ever become rich or not is determined, in large part, by nothing more than how you think.

The man Kiyosaki dubbed his “rich dad” broke people down into four types and set them on a graph he called the Cash Flow Quadrant. On one side of the quadrant are the E’s and S’s, or the Employees and the Self-employed. On the other side are the B’s and I’s, or the Businesspeople and the Investors. According to Kiyosaki, each of those quadrants represents which sector a person’s money comes from. It also represents the way that person thinks.

Furthermore, Kiyosaki explains, individuals don’t land in one quadrant or another by a roll of the dice.

According to Kiyosaki, the people who fit into these four categories are fundamentally different in their thoughts and emotions, and these essential differences drive individuals to behave differently towards their money.

What’s more, Kiyosaki says, it is that emotional difference that determines to which quadrant a person is drawn. And, he says, you can always tell which quadrant a person is coming from simply by listening to what they say. If you hear a person talking primarily about their benefits and job security, then that person is coming from Kiyosaki’s E or employee quadrant. He also goes on to say that it is perfectly all right to live your life in the E quadrant if security is indeed the most important thing to you. But, he adds, the E quadrant is the most difficult quadrant from which to become rich.

It sounds a little scary at first, but this is actually good news for you. It’s good news because it means that, if you want to get rich, all you have to do is start thinking more like the people who live in the I, or investors, quadrant.

If you want to be rich, you should invest, and buying properties is a great place to start. Investing in real estate, in fact, was the very path Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad” took to become rich. So, start thinking rich– quit working for your money, and start letting the money you earn work for you, building your wealth.