Robert Kiyosaki Books Review
Most people are familiar with Rich Dad, Poor Dad from Robert Kiyosaki and his game Cashflow 101. I have in the past 3 months been reading/listening to a lot of his books including Who Took My Money, Rich Dad Guide To Investing, Loopholes, Rich Dad Prophecy and Rich Dad Freedom or Security. I have in the past also read Cashflow Quadrant, Retire Rich, Retire Young, Before You Quit Your Job. Here I want to challange or discuss a few points in my option. Who are there books for? Doe he make his living selling us books? What I understand his formula to invest?
Rich Dad teachings are designed in a very different way then most. I read Rich Dad Poor Dad about 4 years ago for the very first time, then again about a year ago. I noticed I picked up on things the second time that I did not the first time, there was a lot that I did not understand because I was a lot of less financial literate at that time. As my understanding increases, so does grabbing more and more concept from him books. The book is designed for people at all levels. I am noticing the same with his other books, as they are guides to introduce you onto a subject, however to have great value even when you are a sophisticated or experience investor. The books does not tell you what to do, it is not suppose to, however it teaches you the mind set and education to do it. Example he discussed that a piece of land to a dairy farmer may be very expensive at $10,000 as it may be costly and put him out of business, however that same piece of land to a condo development company at $100,000 may be cheap. It is the same land, however with education and experience you can master the mind set to look at the deal.
I have read and heard in person that these GURU make there money from there books. I believe the concept is simple on how they make there money. It is called Multiple Streams of Income. I have met some teachers personally and I dont think any successful one makes all there money from teaching alone. Yes money is made from the books, however that is one of several steams in how they make there money. From what I can see Robert has businesses (including eduction ones), real estate and paper assets. The teaching is someone he enjoys is his personal mission, why not make it another stream of income and help educate us. If his books stop selling tomorrow (I would hope they sell more), he will still be making money from his other sources of income. He does not say clearly this is what he does in his books that I have read, however his books teach us to do the exact same in our lives.
Roberts formula to invest is very simple from what I understand. First always educate yourself and master looking at what you are interested in. He mentions that he looks at 100 property, offers on 6, purchases 1. Many may consider it a waste of time, I don’t, however you can see the results between many and Robert. I personally waste 80% of my time doing things that do not work, however the other 20% are rewarding to make it all worth it. This is not telling you to waste time, to be more clear that 80% educates me and makes me stronger. Now that you are educated what Robert suggests is to have your goal to invest in more then 1 asset class (Business, Paper Assets or Real Estate). He suggests start in one (I started in business), then move into another one like Real Estate, then once you have a secure base, you can move into paper asset or take more higher risk. Brilliant strategy and many great companies have done that. Examples are Microsoft (Start in business, then sold shares (Paper Assets)) or McDonald’s (start in business and then purchased most of the greatest real estate in the world). To invest in more then one asset class.
To conclude after reading Roberts Kiyosaki books and still reading more and more. I think the message is to educate yourself (reduce risk) to make the deals that make sense, master one asset class then move onto the next one.
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