About Robert Kiyosaki and Rich Dad, Poor Dad

It is safe to say that almost everyone knows, has heard of, or has read the book “Rich Dad and Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. I myself read the book about 2 years ago. Before I introduce what other people have said about Robert Kiyosaki and his book, let me briefly mention my opinion.

The Good Stuff

• Encouragement for people to change their mentality and to a paradigm shift in financial thinking — This is a big plus because not being trapped in a narrow perspective and having the right mentality is the first step to do anything right.
• The importance of passive income — It is necessary to set yourself up with passive income to become financially secure and get rich faster.
• The mentioning of various financial concepts — I classify this as good stuff because this introduces people to new concepts and therefore, motivates and intrigues people to go out and learn about them. I became more apt to go study how the market and personal finance works. Financial knowledge and literacy is essential for financial security.

The Bad Stuff

• The mentioning of various financial concepts — I also classify this as bad stuff because I believe he either exaggerates in his stories or provides misleading information. In a few places, he seems to be nearly promoting illegal behaviors.
• Strong opposition to formal education — I believe formal insitutions still have their practical values and useful knowledges depending on how much individuals make use of the experience. It is detrimental to discourage and turn people away from academia.
• Negligence to mention or explain the risk in the entrepreneur endeavors that he advocates readers to do — From what I read in news, this has led people to take reckless financial actions leading to financial disasters. I am not holding him responsible because people should think for themselves, but as an author of a “financial book”, he should provide the full picture and cover the topic of risk somewhere… especially in the high-risk financial maneuver he tells people to do.
• Many vague areas in his stories — This makes me wonder how many of his “successful business” stories are true, and that he created them just to boaster himself and to help sell the book.

In short, I think the book is good in that it incurs people to think about their own finance and to do something about it. It is bad because of possibly misleading, false, and incomplete information, which can lead to dangerous and disastrous consequence if read incorrectly. That’s all from me. Below is what other people have said.

John T. Reed’s analysis of Robert T. Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad – I read this VERY detail research and analysis on Robert Kiyosaki and his book recently. Together with the vagueness that I personally noticed in his book, we need to remain skeptical of this man and his words.

Let’s Read Some of Robert Kiyosaki’s Drivel – Silly words spoken by Robert Kiyosaki. This teaches us to do our own research and be cautious and skeptical about advice from “financial advisor”.

Kiyosaki is a Liar? – More “interesting things” said by Robert Kiyosaki!

Rich Dad, Poor Dad :: review – Brian and I agree on the positive points in Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

Book Review: Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Concise review on the book stating the good and the bad.

Cautions on “Rich Dad” Robert Kiyosaki – Frugal talks more about things we need to be careful about the author and his book. He then talks about his view on how to obtain wealth and the importance of formal education.

Robert Kiyosaki, A Smart Investor? – Once again, you probably should not take Robert Kiyosaki seriously when he advises you how to invest. Let’s just keep him as someone who may inspire people to think differently.

Deconstructing Robert Kiyosaki – Trent provides insights into the kind of man who he thinks Robert Kiyosaki is.

Review: Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Full book review by Trent.

It seems that people generally agree on the few ideas Robert Kiyosaki has done correctly on his book, and they also agree on the same skeptical things. It’s probably enough Robert Kiyosaki for one day.

Originally posted 2007-09-20 23:41:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter