Customer Reviews

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

5 star:		(248)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(45)

 

 

In order to enjoy this book, you'd best put your "capitalist pig" head on. The first sixty pages assume that the best thing you can do from the age of nine is apply yourself to making money. Play baseball? Baseball is for wimps. It's wasting precious time that you could be using applying your brain to thinking up money making schemes. It all started to irritate me, because there clearly is more to life than earning money - but then you wouldn't really be buying this book without wanting to earn a bit more dosh, would you? I'm glad I stuck with it, however, as he does temper this attitude as the book progresses.
You cannot argue with one Kiyosaki's opinions. Our (and the American) education system just does not teach you how to deal with personal finance. If it did, Barclaycard would be in receivership. Understand the value of a pound and make it work for you - it shouldn't be such a distasteful subject. Kiyosaki offers some basic common sense approaches that you could apply in order to make your money work better, but he often qualifies advice by stating the approach may not be right for you. Therefore step one could be Learn to Understand Yourself and Your Motivations. Once you've done that, apply your mind to making money if it interests and excites you. If it doesn't, fair enough. Perhaps the process will help you discover what actually does make you tick.
For those interested in making a stack, then the advice is again about learning. Choose who and what you learn from - teachers, friends, books, tapes, seminars. Look for new approaches. Find people who want to buy and sell something to them. Try to make your profit when you buy, not when you sell. Investigate stocks, real estate, whatever. Find people who can do a good job for you and reward them well. I especially liked his advice that you'll only receive when you learn how to give, and as the book progressed Kiyosaki seemed to "lighten up" a bit more and came across a bit more human. In the later chapters he relates a lot more personal anecdotes and pithy tales about the upsides and downsides of trying to make money. It's not all a bed of roses, but it shouldn't be life or death either. Making money is just a challenge, and you should enjoy it. If you're successful, you can reap the rewards, even if that's choosing to donate it to other people or causes.
In summary, the book is an easy and likeable read. I'm sure most people will get something out it on their road to understanding. Will this book make you rich? Of course not. The only thing that will do that, as the book constantly reminds you, is you, your brain and the action you take.

When I found this book and read some of the reviews I thought WOW!!! But after reading it and doing some research on the internet I found that this writer (Kiyosaki) has been a bit of a shady character...do your own research via google or any other good search site.

The book has some fundamental truths about finance and the idea of becoming financially literate should be on every ones list. But there is no easy or quick way to become rich. When reading the book take a big pinch of salt as to the historical/factual truths he presents. It has some common sense ideas mixed in with conflicting fanciful tails of money making methods. In fact, the book is a bit mixed up around!

The book contains an Interesting bunch of ideas and thoughts, it may get your brain thinking about money, investment and assets but beyond that you gain nothing solid.

Anyway, read it if you wish but do your research and remember nothing is easy about making money...

Sharon Lechter was introduced to Robert Kiyosaki by her husband, a patent lawyer. Koyosaki wanted to patent an educational game called "Cashflow" aimed at improving what he calls young peoples financial intelligence.
One thing leads to another and they eventually collaborated in producing this book which is essentially a financial biography of Kiyosaki. The Rich Dad, Poor Dad of the title are his real father, the superintendent of education for Hawaii (poor) and the businessman father of a schoolfriend (rich).

He says that at age 9 he decided to follow the advice of his rich dad and contrasts it with the advice of his poor dad throughout the book.

For example, poor dad says, "Love of money is the root of all evil", but rich dad says, "The lack of money is the root of all evil" and he follows rich dad, making the money but proving that his poor dad was right on the moral aspects.

Rich dad says, "The rich don't pay taxes, that's only for the poor and middle class", or Kiyosaki; "In real estate I make an offer with the words, "Subject to approval of my business partner" ...... and if they accept the offer and I don't want the deal I call my (non existent) business partner"

And rich dad again: He hugs a manageress in one of his shops and says that she is like a mother to him, then in the next breath gives a warning that "you'll wind up like Mrs Martin". He could have said that he respected her for her loyalty and good work but he clearly doesn't.
If Kiyosaki had been aboard the Titanic you would have found him hiding behind the women and children in the first life raft, but in non critical situations he has some useful things to say about financial management.

His idea that an asset is only an asset if it makes you money is a good one. If you take a large mortgage to buy a private residence, then it is a drain on your resources, although an accountant would class it as an asset.

He's also good on the importance of clear thinking. As he says, "Most people do not know that it is their emotions that are doing the thinking."

The book is aimed at young people but should come with a double warning. Firstly that the writer is dishonest and secondly that the "less travelled road" of business ownership is very risky for less imaginative people than Kiyosaki.

A far better choice is Sam Walton's Sam Walton : Made in America My Story. He was way ahead of Kiyosaki on ethics and financial success.

This book has very little real substance. Often what he says is very misleading or utterly contradictory to his own ideas. From an investors perspective, it has some very bad advice regarding high risk investment.

The most insulting thing is, is that the books many anecdotes are passed off as the truth. In fact Rich Dad and his lessons are entirely fictional. A quick web search will prove this. Kiyosaki repeatedly lied about this to the media and only recently conceded that rich dad is as real as Harry Potter is.

If you want to read a rant against educated people you may enjoy this book. Or enjoy the author bragging about his fictional business deals. Other than that he makes about 6 valid points in the whole book. Points that could be picked up off the net in a matter of minutes.

Its important to note the author didn't get rich investing, he got rich selling books and seminars. the only thing I learnt from him is how to mislead people to trick them out of their money.

Also ... for the record, buying a house (with a mortgage) will *not* tie you into the rat race. Being well educated *will* make you more money and allow you to retire early. Diversifying your investments *IS* a good idea... buying this book is not.

A very readable book. However, for those of you looking for advice on the mechanics of putting together an alternative income source, look elsewhere. This book is geared to encouraging you to do so, and telling you why you should, rather than actually how to do it. More of a motivational tool. Some of the financial aspects don't travel across the Atlantic too well either.
The book's main points are
You won't get rich in the rat race (but you knew that already)
You won't get rich by building debt
You should acquire assets (income generators) rather than liabilities (things you have to pay for like houses with mortgages, cars and so on) and do this before you buy luxuries (i.e. invest then spend, not spend and have nothing left to invest)
You should keep your eyes open for investment opportunities (obviously)
Higher risk can give higher return - you won't get rich based on a savings account

All pretty obvious stuff, if you really think about it.

All in all, somewhat disappointing, as it lacked meat on the bones IMHO. I wouldn't mind betting that the Rich Dad Poor Dad brand is doing considerably better for him than dealing in condos in Phoenix.....

I had heard about this book and decided to do some research of my own, sure enough there are about equal amounts of people who either like his views or see them as complete rubbish.

I find that the basis behind the book is good, the idea of "paying yourself first", not relying on your job to provide for you, buying assets that will make money rather than buying things that make more bills for you. This is surely common sense and Robert spends a long time on this. While he does go into detail, he spends an astonishing amount of time before he gets to the point.

The majority of this book centres around how he (supposedly) makes his money but I found it a bit unfair, unnerving almost, the way he went about it.
The book is written in a gloating fashion, "My assets bought me my porsche" I found this a bit like rubbing peoples faces in the fact he had a lot more money than we the readers (and the fact youve bought this book means your helping him buy the next one).

I like the way he explains the difference between incomings and outgoings in his diagrams, but again this book is written for an american audience so about 1/3 of his book will not apply here in good old blighty.

Some of his statements about education too I find disturbing, he almost recommends dropping out of school and learning about money in order to be better off. I find this irresponsible and dangerous. I certainly would not want my son to read any of this material.

If you, like me are looking at a way of clearing your debts and getting yourself steady in order to start saving or investing, there are better, simpler books on the market. My personal recommendations are: The Richest man in Babylon by George Clayson, or the Motley Fools "How to invest when you dont have any money" these are much better books geared more to our UK market and are more likely to help you on the way to a secure financial future.

There is no shortage of broke people giving out advice. Therefore if you want to be broke take their advice. However, every once in awhile a wealthy person will offer advice that will truly help you. Robert Kiyosaki is one of these wealthy people with the genuine intention to assist you in your financial goals. You will enjoy this book for its simple, mind-stretching concepts. For someone who was programmed by the traditional, government controlled, educational system, this is a must read. How can a broke government educate you or our children on financial matters: you can't teach what you don't know. Check your own bank balance, credit card balances, and asset column and then check the same of the people you are taking financial advice from. When you honestly do that you will find that in most cases you have been taking financial advice from other broke people. Therefore is there any question to you now why your financial statements look the way they do? Rich Dad, Poor Dad is not the financial "bible" it is simply one of the many solid books of the financial "bible". This book will clearly challenge your way of thinking towards wealth creation and it is YOUR THINKING that will have to change in order for you to create it. Written by a Rich Dad who was once a Poor Dad.

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!

This book definitely has changed my attitude towards finance, and for that I am grateful. However, having now read further books in the Rich Dad Poor Dad series I can honestly say that they are well over rated. I have recommended and even bought copies of this book for friends and family members, but I wish now I had not.

The message is age old. The author is not a financial genius, and there is little or no practical information. Having said that, this book is not about the practicalities, more the motivation and understanding. The message is simple:

1. Most people are in the rat race, living hand-to-mouth. Having a better job with bigger income simply means buying a newer car or bigger house. Thus even high earners are, in effect, no better off. Earned income probably won't lead to wealth.

2. Use your money to grow your "assets" ("asset" = income generator). In other words, invest to provide a future income.

3. Luxuries are liabilities. Example: A bigger car = bigger expenses = reduced net worth.

4. Ask yourself empowering questions ("how can I afford if", not "I cannot afford it").

The most worrying element is the message that education does not lead to wealth. It has thus been suggested that this has caused youngsters to drop out of education. I think that is harsh on the author, since the underlying message is pretty sound. Even today we see an ever-increasing number of graduates fighter for fewer jobs. How many of those would have been better off becoming electricians?

The author has been debunked on various websites (he may not be a financial genius), but the message is sound, if not just common sense. It's been suggested that there probably isn't a "rich dad". This kind of misses the point. The author tells a clever story, albeit in a repetitive way which emphasises the points.

In summary, buy this book if you want to read full explanations of the above. Most of the other books simply repeat the same message, albeit padded differently. In essence, the lesson I have learned from this is: you're only as wealth as your future income.

The best thing about this book is that the central message is very clear. Rich people put their money into ASSETS (items which grow in value/ generate income - e.g. stocks, shares, real-estate), whereas worse-off people tend to spend money on LIABILITIES (things that either depreciate or cost money to maintain - e.g. cars, clothes.... and your own house). So far, so good. The non-rich also waste money by (a) unnecessarily paying too much tax and (b) running up debts on credit (he says its OK to buy the flashy car/ boat etc., but only AFTER you've made money from investing in assets).

However my problem is that the practical advice is very US-centred, in particular some of the tax-avoidance techniques he proposes which are simply NOT legal in the UK (e.g. putting your holiday down as a legitimate business expense if you own your own company... I wish!). I would welcome a UK version of the book. On balance the style is engaging if repetitive (as with many US self-help books). A useful way to start you thinking differently, but I would have liked some more specific recommendations on where to go/ what to do to get started with some of the investment ideas he suggests.