I had two very different reactions to this book. One was good, the other not so good.
The good reaction was about some of the comments that author Robert Kiyosaki made concerning the lack of financial education in America. His point, which I absolutely agree with, is that there isn’t any. Nowhere in school do you learn how to balance a checkbook, understand financial concepts like compound interest, talk about housing loans, etc. In fact, there is really is NO financial education at all, unless you go to college and enter a finance-related field.
Kiyosaki’s stance is that traditional education has more or less become obsolete – if not useless – in today’s world. While I believe that traditional education is still a good thing, there is no question that some very important areas are being been left out. How much do you learn about nutrition in school? How much is taught regarding a critical stance toward advertising? Nothing at all. Areas of knowledge like these are unfortunately becoming more and more necessary, and it seems that very little is being done about them.
I also like Kiyosaki’s ideas on changing one’s mindset to make more money. Many people seem to want to make money, but they have no idea how to go about doing so. While part of the blame rests with the lack of pertinent financial education mentioned above, it is also true that more people need to think outside of the “get another part-time job” box. Save, invest, and you should see your money start to work for you instead of the other way around.
All that said, it appears the man is a charlatan. There have been several very detailed inquiries into just how successful Kiyosaki has been at anything other than selling motivational books, and more or less nothing has been found to substantiate his claims. Nor is there much detail in Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Also, some of the things he says in the book are just not factually correct. Corporations don’t get taxed? Please. If you form a corporation you will be taxed twice, not just once as you would as a private citizen. Furthermore, all of the tax deductions and write-offs that you can take as a corporation can be had without the corporate shell if you designate your profession in a smart way. List yourself as a “writer” and you can write off pretty much anything as an expense. I would imagine that calling yourself an “entrepreneur” would – within reason – accomplish the same thing.
It also seems that the “rich dad” of the title never really existed, which makes one wonder whether the whole thing is just one huge sales scam. Again, I like the motivational aspects of a lot of what Kiyosaki writes in the book…just take everything with a grain of salt. If it were that easy to make millions, many more people would be doing it.
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