Friday 4 September 2020

Should you listen to Rich dad? A review of Rich dad poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

 

 

 

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
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