I wanted to read this since I taught about financial intelligence in public health. I told my students that they needed to learn what the difference between an asset and a liability was—all without actually reading the book.
During that class I got some thoughtful faces looking back at me. Even if I didn’t fully understand what I was teaching, I knew I was giving people a new perspective on money that they never thought about.

What if their teachers in high school took ten minutes to explain what I just did? Why didn’t they? These questions were going through my head afterwards. I am afraid that if I asked Robert to give me an answer, he would have a conspiracy theory for me. I’m glad he didn’t speculate in the book, because Robert has some iffy idols whose opinion on the matter is clear (ahem, Donald Trump).

There is no doubt that this book is a cash grab (kinda-sorta, depends on the efficacy of his seminars and CASHGRAB game), but for someone like me who actually has no financial intelligence and is desperate to start, I liked it! I learned a lot and realized that I should invest in learning about these things. I should take seminars and read more books, and at no point will I suddenly graduate from self-taught finance class. I have to do this for my whole life!

But this obligation is one that doesn’t scare me. Staying at my job with my 1-2 hour commute for 50 years scares me. Living with my parents for 10 years scares me. Never being able to afford to do field work ecology again scares me. But learning never scares me. I love the revelation that, just because I’m not in school, doesn’t mean I’m off the hook. Nerd like me? I LOVE that.

So this book did take a weight off my shoulders, that even if I never really learn how to harness the power of money (because I’m not going to compromise and invest in BIG OIL like Robert did

"Acquire Assets, Avoid Liabilities". The message of the book was fascinating and valuable yet the author continued rephrasing it, again and again, to fill out 200 pages.
This book is just an introduction to the world of personal finance and it is going to contribute very little towards your financial literacy.
In the book, Robert says, "I am a best-selling author, not the best-writing author". I do not doubt his statement because this book is just a drag based upon 2-3 facts.
There are better books on personal finance available in the market which are actually rich in content.

This book may do a good job of getting you excited about your financial future but the false information it teaches negates any benefits.

I believe this book does a disservice to the public. I suspect it was written to appeal to those who are failing in the world's conventional definition of success. Didn't go to college? Can't hold down a stable job? Good for you! You haven't fallen for that waste of time and stupid rat race like all those other suckers!

Saying that higher education isn't worthwhile is misleading. I agree it isn't essential (and possibly not even helpful in rare circumstances), but the high correlation in the general public between education and wealth cannot be ignored.

He also gives poor advice in finances and investing. For example, not adhering to diversification. Or getting out of a stable job (a.k.a. "rat race") where "even if you win you're still a rat."

The author praises learning correct accounting but then proceeds to butcher even the most fundamentals. For example, his first rule is "You must know the difference between an asset and a liability" but then he proceeds to claim that your home is a liability, not an asset. Completely backwards. Any accountant will tell you so.

The book is full of exaggerated and sometimes completely false anecdotes -- for example, it appears the entire premise of the book is false -- there never was a rich dad and Robert wasn't wealthy until he embraced MLM and started selling get-rich books.

If you just want some motivation, please try another book such as "The Millionaire Next Door." If you want sound personal financial advice, please read "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need."

See http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html for an in-depth critique of Kiyosaki and charts showing the correlation between education and wealth.

4/5
An insightful read that highlights the importance of financial literacy and explains how to manage your income for building assets.

I liked the way how these books enable you not "what" to do, but "how" to do as per your situation and after an analytical examination of what your preferences are!

رابرت کیوساکی یک نویسنده ی موفق نیست فقط یک فروشنده ی موفق هست که توانسته کتابش را هم خوب بفروشد و خودش هم این را میگوید , در کنار این هنر خوب فروختن کتابش هم مفاهیم اولیه ای از تفکر یک فرد ثروتمند برای ما به نمایش میگذارد , کل حرف هایش که در این همه صفحات نوشته شده برای من خلاصه میشود در این حرف که مغزت را به کار بینداز و مثل بقیه آدم های اطرافت زندگی را پیش نگیر که سرنوشتی جز آنها در این صورت نخواهی داشت , خود رابرت در انتهای کتاب میگوید که از کودکی تا بزرگسالی در حال آموزش در رابطه با سرمایه گذاری و تفکرش در مورد پول و راه اندازی یک کار و بار بوده و بعد در طول شش سال تمام این اموخته ها را در راه اندازی کار و ثروتمند شدنش به کار گرفته , جالب هست , این نشان میدهد یک شبه پولدار شدن اینگونه رویایی ای در کار نیست و خب همین باعث میشد که من کتاب را با دقت بخوانم چون همیشه عقیده ام این بوده که باد آورده را خود باد هم میبرد اما عقاید رابرت و اعمالش در مورد پول ریشه های محکمش را از کودکی در ذهن او دوانده بوده و بالاخره یک روزی هم به بار نشسته , حال این مسئله هست که امثال ما آدم های عادی چقدر باید روی ذهن و تفکرات دِگَم به قول رابرت کار کنیم تا به جایی برسیم که اقتصادی فکر کنیم و از پول کار بکشیم نه اینکه برای پول کار کنیم , این حرف ها فقط با عمل به جایی میرسند نه با شعار و خواندن کتاب و ریویو نوشتن در موردش , فقط تفکر و عمل و عمل و عمل و ... این را هم بگویم من از این کتاب چیزهای خوبی یاد گرفتم و این را فهمیدم که باید علمم در رابطه با پول و سرمایه گذاری و امثالش را بیشتر کنم و از مسیر تکراری زندگی همگان بیرون بیایم و مسیر جدیدم را بسازم ...

"And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.'"
But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?"

That parable popped into my mind when I read this book. This book is about "what the rich teach their kids about money that the poor and middle class do not." It's not so much a manual on how to get rich, but more of a book on the underlying worldview of the wealthy. In it Mr. Kiyosaki contrasts his own father--Poor Dad--who got a good education, worked hard, but never quite made it big, with the father of one of his friends, who was quite successful and took Mr. Kiyosaki under his wing. I was moved to read this book because, as I've been looking over my finances, I wonder if I might not have been doing things wrong. It turns out that I'm not totally off Mr. Kiyosaki's track. By the grace of God I've been able to avoid major debt and I tend to avoid transient luxuries such as fancy cars and the latest electronic gadgets. (Of course, my two year "vacation" overseas was hardly a wealth building choice.) On the other hand, I'm too lazy to work hard and invest my finances responsibly. I'm content to stick my excess cash in the bank and forget about it. So has the book changed me? I don't know. I don't need to be rich, but I sure do covet the financial independence that wealth can buy. Even while I recognize the wisdom that Mr. Kiyosaki offers, I couldn't really buy into his world view. I'm going to have to think about this some more before I make any lifestyle changes. Could I recommend this book? Well, it was an enjoyable read despite the fact that I find finances boring. But I have two big reservations about it. The first that it was written about ten years ago, in a different financial climate. The second is that Mr. Kiyosaki has other books and materials for sale. I sometimes wonder if maybe the unspoken secret to financial success is to get a lot of people to buy your books and attend your seminars. Caveat emptor!

Sorry, but this book is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo BS.

The concepts in this book, to me, are common sense and there are no concrete applications to his ideas. Yes, the poor get poorer while the rich get richer, there's a ground-breaking idea! Yes, most people don't know how to manage their money, we know, so how about telling us how?

The majority of the book is Kiyosaki wanking it, telling us stories about his life (which I don't even think are true).

If you want to learn about personal finance and investment strategies, this is not the book for you.

I read this book while in an Entrepreneur phase. On one hand, it is rather inspiring, in a John Madden sort of way. You see, John Madden (American football broadcaster) always makes everything sound easy, which may be how he coached the Raiders to the superbowl. He'll say something like "now what they need to do here is score a touchdown. I think that if they can do that, they will turn this game around".

I still recall a memorable game where a quarterback's contact fell out, and while he and the refs looked for it, Madden said "now here's a guy who when he wears glasses, he can see better". When it's explained in such a simple way, it really seems like the easiest thing in the world. Unfortunately, one must remember that the 6'5 defensive line is not just going to roll over and say 'uncle'.

Real estate isn't any easier. There's always some conflict around the corner to trip you up and send you back to square one (or often, square negative one). So, while this book gives you such excellent advice as "learn from failure", "make profitable deals", and "work hard for yourself", it doesn't actually give you a system or method to make money.

This seems a strange irony to me, as this book is clearly marketed to people who are not smart enough to realize that they should 'work hard and not give up' if they want to succeed, but who are smart enough to be able to figure all the rest of the logistics out by themselves.

Now, there are supplementary books that give a lot more in-depth information, but they still tend to fall into similar traps. It seems to me that you are either the self-motivated entrepreneur-type, or you aren't, and that difference will show itself often and early in life. The self-made may use this book, but to continue projects they are already working on, not to start their 'dream business' from scratch.

There is another option for the marketability of this book, but it is not one I like to think about: depressed people who feel their lives going nowhere trying to stave off depression by clinging to untenable dreams. For these types, self-help and new age books act like a surrogate (or additional) religion: bolstering their self-esteem and making them feel as if their dreams are truly within reach.

Then, years go by and the dream draws no nearer. They get depressed. So they whip out this book (or another one like it) and suddenly feel like their millionaire retirement is only 6 months away! This makes them feel self-satisfied and complacent, so they end up doing nothing until suddenly, months later, they realize they're no closer to their goal. I'm not saying people shouldn't have dreams, and I'm definitely not saying not to follow them, and I know people get attached to their denial, but it's not going to make your life any better.

More than anything, this book is a symptom of the cult of the real estate bubble, for whom property was never a bad investment: it would never go down and rates would always get more and more favorable. To say that their view was naively rosy would be kind.

One day, so the story goes, Joseph P. Kennedy was getting a shoe shine when the shine boy started talking about what stocks were good to invest in. This is what we call 'market saturation'--when one area of business becomes popular, and suddenly, it seems like everyone is joining in. Kennedy got out before the crash of '29, and an intelligent investor, seeing how many books and reality shows there were about flipping houses, should have seen the real estate crash coming.

Unfortunately, the fiscal prophets of the self-help section were unable to predict the coming apocalypse--so it's lucky for them that their money was tied up in book sales and speaking engagements rather than in the real estate deals they were pushing on others. I'd like to think that these sales would drop off after the 'miracle of real estate' turned out to be another hollow investment bubble, but in these dire times, people are even more desperate to find the path to economic stability.

Now, I know that most people who (don't say 'peddle', don't say 'peddle') market these self-help (or new age) products are not usually scam artists. Most of them believe in what they do; they believe that they are helping people; and I hope sometimes they do.

However, there is a difference between being a doctor and telling someone they have cancer to help them move on, and lying that there is no cancer because it seems more 'kind' or 'uplifting'. The latter, is, of course, morally reprehensible (said the atheist).

Kiyosaki has built an empire off of this book, and made himself a pretty penny. He has also been investigated by some critics who have challenged his assertions about his wealth, real estate successes, and the very premise of the book. There is no evidence that his 'rich dad' ever actually existed, and Kiyosaki has said in interviews that the character is, at best, a combination of people. However, at other times he has stated that he definitely does exist. And that doesn't even go into his support of con artist Casey Serin.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe you will buy this book and it will turn your life around, maybe Kiyosaki is relating a true story of struggle and inspiration--but maybe not, maybe it will just be another $5 in his pocket and less room on your bookshelf for real economic and legal texts.

Un clásico sobre la autoeducación financiera.

✔️ Puntos fuertes: consejos, lenguaje sencillo y la idea de instruirte en el mundo financiero para lograr entender las finanzas.

❤ Te gustará si: quieres iniciarte en la educación financiera.

I loved this book because it was a simple intro to buying real estate, much as  The Wealthy Barber was a simple intro to personal finance.

I remember one of my favorite parts was where he examines the statement by many people that shows that the stock market has beaten the real estate annually in a historical comparison. Kiyosacki pointed out though that if you look at return on your money real estate wins hands down because you only have to put in 10% of your own money. So if you buy a 100K house with 10K, borrowing the 90K, and it appreciates to 105K after a year - you've got a 50% return.

میشه گفت رابرت کیوکاسی تمام سعی خودش رو کرده تا مفاهیم اقتصادی/مدیریتی رو در قالب داستان به مردم عادی آموزش بده به همین دلیل کتاب نسبت به حجمش مطالب خیلی کمی رو ارائه داده به طوری که 100صفحه اول کتاب رو میشه تو نیم صفحه خلاصه کرد،ولی با جلو رفتن کتاب اطلاعات بیشتری در اختیار خواننده قرار میگیره ،البته نه اونقدر زیاد ،به راحتی میشه کل مطالب کتاب رو تو 30 صفحه خلاصه کرد
اصلا منظورم این نیست که کتاب خوبی نیست،حتی پیشنهاد می کنم این کتاب رو مطالعه کنید، فقط میگم می تونست خلاصه تر نوشته بشه

قسمت هایی از کتاب:


وقتی بچه بودم پدرم همیشه به ما میگفت:ژاپنی ها به قدرت سه عامل معتقد هستند:قدرت شمشیر،جواهر و آیینه
شمشیر،نشانه قدرت اسلحه است.(آمریکا تریلیون ها دلار برای اسلحه خرج کرده و به همین خاطر حضور کلی در سراسر جهان دارد)
جواهر، نشانه قدرت پول است و ضرب المثلی هست که میگوید:این قانون طلایی را به خاطر بسپار،کسی که صاحب طلاست قانون ها را وضع می کند
آیینه،نشانه ی قدرت خودشناسی می باشد.این خودشناسی بر طبق افسانه ی ژاپنی،با ارزش ترین این سه قدرت است



در سال 1974 از ری کرک ،موسس مک دونالد،درخواست شد تا در دانشگاه تگزاس در آستین ،در کلاس دانشجویان دوره فوق لیسانس بازرگانی صحبت کند. بعد از پایان صحبت های تحریک کننده و تاثیرگذار،کلاس خاتمه پیدا کرد و دانشجویان از ری درخواست کردند که اگر می خواهد به آن ها برای صرف نوشیدنی ملحق شود ری بزگوارانه دعوت آن ها را پذیرفت
زمانی که گروه دانشجویان داشتند نوشیدنی خودشان را می نوشیدند ری پرسید : فکر می کنید من تو چه کاری هستم ؟ همه خندیدند و بیشتر دانشجویان فکر کردند ری می خواهد سر به سر آنها بگذارد کسی جواب نداد و او دوبار پرسید: فکر می کنید من تو چه کاری هستم؟
دانشجویان دوباره خندیدند و یکی از آن ها با صدای بلند گفت: ری همه در دنیا می دانند که شما توی کار همبرگر هستید
ری پیش خود خنده ای کرد و گفت : فکر می کردم همین را بگویید و پس از لحظه ای مکث ادامه داد خانم ها و آقایان من توی کار همرگر نیستم کار من املاک و مستغلات است
ری شروع کرد در مورد این موضوع توضیح دادن.او می دانست که کار اولیه آن ها متمرکز بر روی فروختن همبرگر به شعبه های مک دونالد است ولی هیچ وقت اهمیت موقعیت مکانی هر شعبه را نادیده نمی گرفت.او می دانست ملک و موقعیت آن،مهمترین عامل در موفقیت هر شعبه می باشد.در حقیقت کسی که حق نمایندگی و شعبه مک دونالد را می گیرد ،مکان شعبه را نیز می خرد.ملکی که تحت نمایندگی سازمان ری کرک میرود
امروزه مک دونالد بزرگترین صاحب املاک در جهان با یک نفر مالک می باشد ،با تعدد شعباتی حتی بیشتر از کلیسای کاتولیک.درضمن مک دونالد صاحب پر ارزش ترین تقاطع ها و گوشه های خیابان های آمریکا و تمام جهان می باشد

This is a way off from my usual reads but since it was given me by my bf who wants me too educated in money making or more money working for us then I gave it a go. Did not expect it to be so captivating and interesting plot-wise and language-wise. I learned a thing or two but don’t really see how can I applu any of the techniques right now because of the low salaries in Latvia. A good read but not practical for those who don’t earn in thousands but in couple hundreads.