Five stars., 28 Jul 2003

For such an easy read it touches on some deep concepts that one doesn't generally think about too deeply. Some great one liners inside to remember, along the lines of "Time is your most precious asset" with regard to compound interest, and "listening is more important than talking, which the majority of people don't understand. If God intended you to talk all the time then he wouldn't have given you 1 mouth and 2 ears" with regard to ones need to learn from those who are greater than oneself.

Unfortunately he does come across rather badly due to his high self-confidence from making his millions... he seems to have had a poor relationship with his real father (referred to as 'poor dad')- painting him in a negative shade throughout, and he occasionally comes across as fairly arrogant when talking about the middle classes and 'poor'... he somehow manages to bestow an image of utter stupidity upon anyone who doesn't own acres of land and real estate, and anyone who works for a living (if everyone was 'rich' and let out real estate instead of working, then who would rent the real estate or produce any goods to consume?).
This attitude of his all helps to hammer in the flowing theme of why one should not be financially dependant though, which is probably why it is a best-seller.

The other downer, in my opinion, is the way he talks about investment gains. The most consistently prolific investment returns, of 13% per annum before inflation consistently since 1919 has been in the stock market... Kiyosaki projects the image that making 100% investment wins is extremely easy... just buy a tech stock and sell it in a few months down the line for a big mark up, or buy property in an area with a depressed housing market and sell for twice the price in a few years, or even buy government bonds with 16% yields. He talks about the rich losing in order to win, but not once does he mention a losing venture of his, which would have made a nice balance. He encourages readers to have an unbalanced portfolio and not to worry about risk if you want to make any real money. This prolifically successful image he projects of himself will not be a reality for most and I would urge readers to take heed... just look at what happened to tech stocks soon after the book was written.

In conclusion I would say that this is an excellent book for anyone who is struggling with the concepts of cash flow... a wonderful read for the youngsters of today... Listed above are some flaws, but the positives hugely outweigh the negatives and I would recommend this book to anyone with a wallet or a dream of early retirement. A good read!