It
is eminent to understand or educate ourselves about the author or the advocate
of a certain dogma before consuming and then practicing it. This should be non
refutable in your checklist whenever you come across any new idea especially if
you are inclined to lean towards it and also when if thus said idea is from a
nonfiction literary medium. I cannot stress the above said statement enough
especially when we live in a world where a platform is given to everyone
irrespective of their qualification to put it forth. And even if unqualified
they should not be denied of their platform to speak their opinion with all due
respect to their freedom of speech, it is us who should incline or not to their
statement with respect to author’s qualification. That being said,
Robert
Kiyosaki
The
Good…
As
per Rich dad company website (https://www.richdad.com/about/robert-t-kiyosaki) which Kiyosaki founded, he grew up in a small town of Hilo, Hawaii. He
went to college at Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy in New York State. Upon
Graduation, he turned down a well-paying job with standard oil and chose to
enlist in the Marine corps as a helicopter pilot at the time of Vietnam War.
After
his service in military, Kiyosaki went to work for Xerox Corporation, where he
rose to #1 salesperson. He then created the company Rippers, a nylon Velcro
wallet company along with his brother. Only in 1996 he with his wife created
and launched Cashflow the boardgame and in 1997 Cashflow Technologies, the
parent company for the Rich Global LLC and Rich dad company.
Kiyosaki,
today is Big time Personal Finance guru and chairman of Rich dad company. The
main revenue source of company comes from the franchisees of the Rich dad
seminars that are conducted by independent individuals using Kiyosaki’s brand
name for the fee. The other sources include revenue from the Cashflow Board
games and video games that he dedicated to educate adults and children about
business and financial concepts. He also authored 27 financial books and
multiple videos preaching his rich dad philosophy. Out of which “Rich dad poor
dad” which he wrote in 1997 is sold over million copies and regarded as one of
the greatest financial book of all time.
The
Bad… Rippers, the nylon Velcro wallet
company of Kiyosaki went Bankrupt Within few years since it started production
back in 1977. His next two ventures licensing merchandize for metal rock bands
and his early education company also went bankrupt around the next decade.
In 2012, his company Rich Global LLC also filed bankruptcy after it had lost
the lawsuit against The Learning Annex, an education company based on New York
after Kiyosaki allegedly failed to pay a percentage of profits for using
Annex’s backing in his seminars and speaking deals. Rich Global LLC filed
chapter 7 Bankruptcy after the Wyoming bankruptcy court passed judgement for
them to pay a sum of $23 million to Learning Annex.
Then
CEO Mike Sullivan in his statement for New York post about the bankruptcy and
the judgment that cause it, told
“The
dealings we had with Learning Annex were with a company that hasn't been in
business for a number of years . . . I am not surprised Learning Annex is upset
and angry, the money doesn't exist in that company, and we can't bring money
out of the group.”
"Robert
and [wife] Kim are not paying out of personal assets. We have a few million
dollars in this company, but not 16 or 20. I can't do anything about a $20
million judgment . . . We got hit for what we think is a completely outlandish
figure."
Aside from the
Plague of Bankruptcies due to the lawsuits from “corporation”, there are also
lawsuits filed by the attendees of Kiyosaki’s seminars claiming the over-priced
seminars provided information that they could find out in Barnes and Noble. You
can read more about this from the report of Pittsburgh’s Action News by following the link, https://www.wtae.com/article/rich-dad-author-s-seminars-cost-thousands-but-not-everyone-gets-rich/7461146 .
The
Ugly….What
is more concerning with all this controversies is that prior to the publication
of Rich Dad, Poor Dad in 1997, no one have ever documented any vast reserves of
wealth earned by Kiyosaki, which was first pointed out by Forbes in their fallow up on the bankruptcy in 2012.
Further the
authenticity of rich dad in his book and on whose advises the Kiyosaki empire
was built upon is yet to be proven. On the course of several interviews
Kiyosaki has change his stance on the mythical rich dad saying he is passed
away; he is invalid now; his family requested not to be identified; and on
another instances he admitted that Rich Dad ™ is not a single real person, but
a composite character based on several of his advisors, including his best
friend's father.
And famously in his interview with Smartmoney magazine in 2003 he stated "Is
Harry Potter real? Why don't you let Rich Dad be a myth, like Harry
Potter?" which could mean nothing or reveal as another marketing lie
similar to his previous work “If You Want To Be Rich & Happy Don't Go To
School” (which he didn’t really mean) and the problem comes when the readers
realize that if one things can be a lie what stopping him to do the same in all
other things said in the book to benefit his agenda.
“Rich
dad poor dad.” What I learned.
Rich
dad poor dad gives an account of the views and lifestyle of the poor and
compares it to the mindset, strategies and efficiency of the rich. Kiyosaki
uses his working class dad and his business mentor to draw this distinction.
The core solution “Rich dad poor dad” comes up with is that to attain financial
literacy, which is given poorly by schools and one’s middle-class circle.
What the poor do
wrong? A person who grew up
around folks who did not have any success in making money and learning from
their methods is more likely to miss the mark by long shot about making money
as it is evident from their less to no acquisitions of wealth. Money is often
misinterpreted around poor and their techniques to save it ranges from silly to
ridiculous says Rich Dad Poor Dad.
Money? Poor sees money as
tangible/ as a real physical entity, which is wrong perspective as money is
made up and sooner rather than later money will become intangible thanks to modern
banking, bitcoin etc.
Kiyosaki advices the standard at which money/wealthy should be measured is to
understand a person’s ability to survive X number of days Forward if he stopped
working.
Should you get a
job? Poor sees jobs as a method that will earn them
money, as well as social status if they could manage it. This is not a correct
approach rather view jobs as an opportunity learn real world skill and money as
its byproduct. Do not take up a job
just because you are graduated or because your parents said so or definitely
not if you think it is a way to make money.
How to make money? The first and most
basic rule to make money is to buy Assets
(something that puts money on your pocket) and not Liability (something that spends money out of your pocket) as per
Rich dad Poor dad. Most of it, what poor does is getting a job, working hard,
making money, then spending money and realizing that the money is not enough
for spending, so they work harder and the cycle goes on. Kiyosaki calls this
never ending cycle the rat race.
This does not mean never to buy any liability at all, buy them when you produce
extra cash, in other words buy them if you could afford it.
Financial literacy.
Kiyosaki states that not knowing this rule of
asset/liability rule, about money and anything valid about maintaining one’s
finance is the prominent cause for most among us remaining poor and this is
where our schools has failed us. The one credible path through which one could
choose climb the ladder of wealth is attaining financial literacy. Mastering
financial literacy is mastering its four parts; accounting (which is the ability
read numbers), Investing (which is the science of making money), Understanding
the market (which is to understand the supply and demand) and the law states
the book.
What I critic?
The
book also can be a marketing device for Kiyosaki’s board game “Cashflow” and
his high priced seminars. Throughout the book he would capture the attention by
giving facts and then providing his products and services as a solutions. Even
though the plea to acquire “formulas” from seminars and business books and to
try them is not as noble as it appears, you can’t entirely fault the guy as he
is a sales and this is what all good sales man do.
Bottom-line
The
book provides valuable insight on how a rich and poor person’s mind works and
how that influences their path towards financial freedom. It does briefly
touches on taxes, money, corporation and all the stratergy that the rich use to
acquire wealth, the education of which Kiyosaki calls financial literacy. This
comes along with his marketing for his board game and seminars which could be
omitted. Anyhow Rich dad Poor dad is a good source any complete beginner to
start learning about money and all thing that comes with it.
References
and citation
“Robert T. Kiyosaki.” About. Richadad.
Retrieved 05 September, 2020. https://www.richdad.com/about/robert-t-kiyosaki .
“Robert Kiyosaki.” Wikipedia.
Retrieved 05 September, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kiyosaki .
Kim, Susanna.
“'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' Author Files for Bankruptcy for His Company.” Abcnews 12 October, 2012. Retrieved 05 September, 2020. https://abcnews.go.com/Business/rich-dad-poor-dad-author-files-bankruptcy/story?id=17463158
