Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is what we should teach our kids!, 11 Sep 2006
Robert Kiyosaki has produced a very readable book explaining many of the fundamental differences between wealthy and poor people. He makes very good use of repetition to ensure that his points are firmly `sent home'. Although this can be annoying at times, particularly when concepts are already familiar to the reader, it's easy to skip over the repetition and move on to the new concepts.
It is a simple book to read, and requires no particular financial or academic background. However, the concepts introduced are very powerful, and, if taken to heart, life changing. The book traces the author's life from the age of 9, comparing the financial teaching that he received from his own, highly academically intelligent, real dad, and that of his friend's, financially intelligent, dad. Having experienced first hand the teaching and upbringing resulting from both of the dads, he is able to reflect on how they differ and how these differences have a profound effect on financial wealth.
The book is written from an American perspective, but the concepts and ideas are universally applicable, certainly in all Western societies. It explains how the poor and middle-class pay much more in taxes than the rich and how most people, including many of our advisors, do not understand the difference between assets and liabilities. He makes good use of simple diagrams to explain the relationship between income, expenditure, assets and liabilities.
RK firmly believes in education, but also believes that the education system does not teach financial intelligence. This book, and indeed all of the books in the Rich Dad Poor Dad series, is about filling this gap in the system, and trying to help people who want to be helped, out of the rut of a `safe secure job' into the freedom of real wealth.
I think almost everyone will benefit from reading this book, whether still at school, or later in life wondering why they seem to be still poor after working hard all their life, and everyone else in-between!
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68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five stars., 28 Jul 2003
By A Customer
In this short book Robert Kiyosaki distinguishes between the typical cash flows of the 'rich' and those of the poor and middle classes. He goes into some detail as to how they achieve this and how you can achieve it yourself; simply by ensuring that you live well within your means and consistently build on your assets.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!
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48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book that changed my life!, 4 May 2004
When I read this book, I was a Chartered Accountant in my late 20's , and working for a big firm of Management Consultants. I was earning a great salary, working hard, playing even harder, and thought that I was financially secure.How wrong I was. Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad is an eye opener for anyone who thinks they are doing alright. In his book, he explains the difference between an asset and a liability, and what the true effect of these are on your long term financial security. He explains how the Rich create assets and the poor create liabilities, and gives examples from the lifesytles of his own highly educated and professional "poor" dad and his best friend's uneducated but entrepreneurial "rich" dad. Reading that most people are a few paycheques away from poverty was a cold awakening for me. He also allows us to follow the fate of his "poor" dad throughout the book - a man who despite doing everything "right" in terms of his education, career and morals, ended up a poor embittered man. Having worked in an environment where redundancies were being made on a regular basis, I couldn't help but to wonder whether this was the fate of the modern day worker. Kiyosaki explains in layman's terms what the rich teach their children. Whether this is exactly true or not, I can say that Kiyosaki's teachings are unlike anything I have learned throughout my business career. If you are going to read one self-development book, I suggest you read this one. It's a masterpiece! Whatever you think of Kiyosaki, the contents of this book are valid. My only gripe is that he doesn't exactly tell you how the average person can go about building assets or a business, so you finish this book with a burning desire to do something, but no guidance as to how to go about it. There is one sentence in the book about Network Marketing, but he doesn't explain in sufficient detail what it is, or how to go about finding a Network Marketing business.
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by George S. Clason
