Summary:
“Rich Dad Poor Dad” was written by Robert Kiyosaki–an investor, entrepreneur, and educator who is often called the millionaire school teacher. Kiyosaki aims to teach readers how to be financially literate, a skill that is often taught only by rich parents to their soon to be rich children.
While growing up, Kiyosaki had two dads, one was his biological father, and the other was his best friend’s father. The author’s real father worked for the government and had a Ph.D. However, although this dad was well-educated, he often struggled with money and paying the bills.
On the other hand, Kiyosaki’s second father had an eighth-grade education but went on to become one of the richest men in Hawaii. Kiyosaki talks about money lessons he learned from both of his fathers and teaches readers the secret to becoming financially independent and successful.
Robert Kiyosaki, author of the bestselling book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” Kiyosaki has authored more than 15 books to date.
Lessons:
1) The RicH Buy Assets, The Poor Buy Liabilities
“You must know the difference between an asset and a liability, and buy assets. If you want to be rich, this is all you need to know. It is Rule No. 1. It is the only rule. This may sound absurdly simple, but most people have no idea how profound this rule is. Most people struggle financially because they do not know the difference between an asset and liability. ”
The main difference between an asset and liability is that an asset makes money, while a liability loses money.
The rule sounds simple, yet many people, especially the middle and poor class, confuse the two groups.
Here’s what Kiyosaki’s rich dad considers to be an asset:
- Businesses that require little oversight
- Stocks
- Bonds
- Mutual funds
- Income-generating real estate
- Notes (IOUs)
- Royalties from intellectual property such as music, scripts, patents
- And anything that has value, produces income or appreciates and has a ready market
All assets have one thing in common, they will make you more money. That is why you want to own assets.
Liabilities, on the other hand, drain money from your pockets.
Liabilities can be anything from home mortgages, consumer loans, credit cards, or a new car, furniture or appliance when the old one works fine.
Take a new car for example. Many people believe a car is an investment, but this is only true in rare cases, such as if it is a collectible or limited edition.
With a regular car, as soon as you drive off the dealer's lot, it automatically decreases in value. Then there’s car insurance, license plates, and registration costs. There’s also fuel costs and yearly check-ups. Also, the more a person drives a car, the more it decreases in value. A car bought for $20,000 may end costing $30,000 or more after five years of insurance payments, fuel costs, and other related expenses.
However, if the person took that same $20,000 and put it into the stock market and earned 10% each year, they would now have over $30,000 in their account. See the difference? One person lost $30K while the other made $30K.
2) Overcome the fear of losing money
“Once people have studied and become financially literate, they may still face roadblocks to becoming financially independent. There are five main reasons why financially literate people may still not develop abundant asset columns. Asset columns that could produce large sums of cash flow. Asset columns that could free them to live the life they dream of, instead of working full time just to pay bills.”
The fear of losing money is one of the first obstacles that must be overcome. Kiyosaki writes that he has never met a rich person who has never lost money. He goes on to say that everyone is afraid of losing money, even the rich. The difference is how one handles losing money.
One of the best ways to handle this fear is to start investing early and see losing money as a teaching tool. Anyone who rides a bike will fall down many times and anyone who plays golf will lose at least a couple of golf balls, all of these moments are opportunities to learn from mistakes.
Losing money and failing is part of the journey to becoming better. Failure decreases fears and can increase a person’s desire to win.
In his book, Kiyosaki goes on to talk about the other four obstacles to success, including cynicism, laziness, bad habits, and arrogance.
3) Education Is The Best Investment
“Just because you have no money, it should not be an excuse to not learn. But that is a choice we all make daily, the choice of what we do with our time, our money and what we put in our heads. That is the power of choice. All of us have a choice. I just choose to be rich, and I make that choice every day.”
Before making investments in assets, the first investment should be in education. Kiyosaki says that the mind is the only real asset people have, and the most powerful tool in our domain.
Everyday people have the choice of whether to watch TV, play video games, or read a book. “90 percent of the population buys TV sets and only about 10 percent buy books on business or tapes on investments,” says Kiyosaki.
There are multiple ways people can invest in education.
To start, you can buy books. If books are expensive, buy a used copy or go to a library. If you’re more of an audio person, can also listen to audio-books (here's a link to a free audio book).
There are also tons of videos on YouTube that are educational and free watch to watch. One of the author's favorite ways to learn is by attending in-person seminars that take a deep dive into the subject.
To be successful, people must be humble enough to realize that they don’t know everything and that they should read and learn from what others have to say. Intelligent people welcome new ideas and one of the best ways to learn is by listening instead of talking.
Conclusion:
At first, I wasn’t sure if this book was worth reading because it sounded like a get-quick-rich type of book. However, since it was a #1 NYT bestseller, I figured I’d check it out.
Surprisingly, the book has a lot of solid information on money skills and how to manage one’s finances.
This is a great book for people in high school and college since educational institutions don’t focus on teaching money skills. Also, recommend it to people who have trouble with their finances and have never made any investments before.
The author also provides readers will additional tools and information at their website here.
Rating: 4/5 stars
If you’re interested in reading the book, click here or on the image below!
- Book: “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki
- Pages: 207
- For: People in high school & college, and people who want to be financially independent
- Lesson: Learn how to invest your money properly, what rich people teach their kids, and common obstacles stopping people from financial success
If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting our site or signing up for our monthly newsletter. Thank you!
Reader freebies: