Robert Kiyosaki
Robert Toru Kiyosaki (born April 8, 1947) is an investor, businessman, self-help author and motivational speaker. Kiyosaki is best known for his Rich Dad, Poor Dad series of motivational books and other material. He has written 18 books which combined have sold over 26 million copies. Although beginning as a self-publisher, he was subsequently published by Warner Books, a division of Hachette Book Group USA, currently his new books appear under the Rich Dad Press imprint. Three of his books, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Rich Dad's CASHFLOW Quadrant, and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing, have been on the top 10 best-seller lists simultaneously on The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the New York Times. The book Rich Kid Smart Kid was published in 2001, with the intent to help parents teach their children financial concepts. He has created three "Cashflow" board and software games for adults and children and has a series of "Rich Dad" audio cassettes and disks. He also publishes a monthly newsletter.
Personal life
A fourth-generation Japanese American, Kiyosaki was born in India and raised in Hawaii . He is the son of the late educator Ralph H. Kiyosaki (1919-1991). After graduating from Hilo High School, he attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in New York, graduating with the class of 1969 as a deck officer. He later served in the Marine Corps as a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War, where he was awarded the Air Medal. Kiyosaki left the Marine Corps in 1974 and got a job selling copy machines for the Xerox Corporation. In 1977, Kiyosaki started a company that brought to market the first nylon and Velcro "surfer" wallets. The company garnered moderate success at first but would eventually go bankrupt. In the early 1980s, Kiyosaki started a business that licensed T-shirts for Heavy Metal rock bands. Around 1996–1997 he launched Cashflow Technologies, Inc. which operates and owns the Rich Dad (and Cashflow) brand.
He is married to Kim Kiyosaki.
Teachings
A large part of Kiyosaki's teachings focus on generating passive income by means of investment opportunities, such as real estate and small businesses, with the ultimate goal of being able to support oneself by such investments alone. In tandem with this, Kiyosaki defines "assets" as things that generate cash inflow, such as rental properties or businesses—and "liabilities" as things that generate cash outflow, such as house payments, cars, and so on. Such definitions are somewhat based on the concept of negative gearing. Kiyosaki also argues that financial leverage to be critically important in becoming rich.
Kiyosaki stresses what he calls "financial literacy" as the means to obtaining wealth. He says that life skills are often best learned through experience and that there are important lessons not taught in school. He says that formal education is primarily for those seeking to be employees or self-employed individuals, and that this is an "Industrial Age idea". And according to Kiyosaki, in order to obtain financial freedom, one must be either a business owner or an investor, generating passive income.
Kiyosaki speaks often of what he calls "The Cashflow Quadrant," a conceptual tool that aims to describe how all the money in the world is earned. Depicted in a diagram, this concept entails four groupings, split with two lines (one vertical and one horizontal). In each of the four groups there is a letter representing a way in which an individual may earn income. The letters are as follows.
- E: Employee — Working for someone else
- S: Self-employed or Small business owner — Where a person owns his own job and is his own boss.
- B: Business owner — Where a person owns a "system" of making money, rather than a job to make money.
- I: Investor — Spending money in order to receive a larger payout in
Books
Kiyosaki is best known for his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the #1 New York Times bestseller. Kiyosaki followed with Rich Dad's CASHFLOW Quadrant and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing. He has now had at least a dozen books published. A partial list of his books is included below.
Why We Want You To Be Rich coauthored by Donald Trump (2007)
Why We Want You To Be Rich is a book written by both Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump. It encourages individuals to become financially literate to combat the upcoming problems facing America, such as the shrinking middle class and the entitlement mentality.
Other Books:
- If you want to be Rich & Happy don't go to School? (1992)
- The Business School for People Who Like Helping People (2001) - endorses multi-level marketing.
- Retire Young, Retire Rich (2001)
- Rich Dad's The Business School (2003)
- Who Took My Money (2004)
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad for Teens (2004)
- Before You Quit Your Job (2005)
- Rich Dad's Escape from the Rat Race - Comic for children (2005)
Didactic games
Kiyosaki stresses the value of games, particularly Monopoly, as tools for learning basic financial strategies such as "trade four green houses for one red hotel". Kiyosaki has created several games to reinforce the information in his books.
Cashflow 101
Main article: Cashflow 101
"Cashflow 101" is a board game designed by Kiyosaki, which aims to teach the players concepts of investing and making money, it costs $195.
There are two stages to the game. In the first, "the rat race", the player aims to raise his or her character's passive income level to where it exceeds the character's expenses. The winner is determined in the second stage, "the fast track". To win, a player must get his character to buy his "dream" or accumulate $50,000 in monthly cash flow.
The game forces the players to do the accounts by themselves. In place of "score cards", there are financial statements. Therefore, players can see more clearly what is happening with their money. It generally shows how assets generate incomes and liabilities and 'doodads' affect expenses.
Cashflow 202
"Cashflow 202" is a more advanced game than Cashflow 101. It is designed to help players learn about more sophisticated investing strategies. Cashflow 101 was generally meant to teach investing techniques that would work best in an "up market" where property values steadily increase, whereas Cashflow 202 is supposed to teach investment strategies for a fluctuating market where property values depreciate as well as rise.
Cashflow for Kids
"Cashflow for Kids" is basically a children's version of Cashflow 101, good for ages 5 through 9. There is also a Cashflow for Kids e-game available for free.
Cashflow The E-Game
"Cashflow The E-Game" is a computer software version of the Cashflow 101 board game. It is not necessary to have the board game in order to play the computer game.
Cashflow 202 The E-Game
"Cashflow 202 The E-Game" is a software expansion of the computer game "Cashflow The E-Game". Its counterpart is the "Cashflow 202" board game described earlier in this article.
Other products
Rich Dad Advisor Series
The Rich Dad Advisor Series is a series of books written on different business topics. These books are seen as more technical in nature as they tend to be written by lawyers, accountants and other professionals, they are however written for the lay person and it is recommended you see your own advisors. Books in the series include:
- How to Buy and Sell a Business: How You Can Win in the Business Quadrant
- Protecting Your #1 Asset : Creating Fortunes from Your Ideas : An Intellectual Property Handbook
- Sales Dogs : You Do Not Have to Be an Attack Dog to Be Successful in Sales
- Real Estate Riches: How to Become Rich Using Your Banker's Money
- Loopholes of the Rich: How the Rich Legally Make More Money and Pay Less Tax
- Real Estate Loopholes: Secrets of Successful Real Estate Investing
- Rich Dad's Real Estate Advantages: Tax and Legal Secrets of Successful Real Estate Investors
- Own Your Own Corporation: Why the Rich Own Their Own Companies and Everyone Else Works for Them
Audio/visual
This is a quick list of audio/visual (such as tapes and DVDs) that have been released. Almost all of Robert Kiyosaki's books have been released as audio products:
- Rich Dad's Secrets To Money
- You Can Choose To Be Rich: "Think It" "Learn It" "Do It"
- Rich Dad's Roads To Riches: 6 Steps to Becoming a Successful Real Estate Investor
- How To Increase The Income From Your Real Estate Investments
- How To: Find and Keep Good Tenants (Audio)
- How To: Find Great Investments (Audio)
- How To: Get Your Banker To Say "Yes! (Audio)
Appearances
CNBC
PBS
Several local stations of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), including WTTW of Chicago, KAET of Phoenix, KOCE of Orange County, California, WLIW of the New York/New Jersey area, and WGBH of Boston, have featured Kiyosaki during fund-raising drives. During this television special, Rich Dad's Guide to Wealth with Robert Kiyosaki, he provides viewers with what he calls "financial education", as opposed to academic or professional education.
News
Kiyosaki has been seen giving financial advice on various network television news channels.
New York City's Madison Square Garden (October, 2002)
This speech was the subject of a CNN story.
Financial advice
Mutual Funds
For example, Kiyosaki claimed in one column that investors in any mutual fund with a 2.5% annual fee would, over a long time period, surrender 80% of the earnings to the fund. Kiyosaki repeated this claim in a subsequent column,expanding his criticism of mutual funds by stating they are for "losers". He has drawn much criticism for comparing investing in mutual funds to playing the lottery, and for discouraging 401(k) investing, contrary to the advice of most professional financial advisors.
In contrast to the argument above, Kiyosaki explains in his book, Prophecy that mutual funds are not bad investments, they are simply risky investments for those that are financially educated.
Kiyosaki's claim is given some credence by the founder of mutual fund powerhouse Vanguard, John C. Bogle. In a Frontline episode titled 401(k)s: The New Retirement Plan, For Better or Worse, Bogle, too, claims that management fees and trading costs gobble up approximately 2.5% of an investor's annual returns and approximately 80% of an investor's long term gains. He says management costs reduce the value of a $1,000 investment over 65 years from approximately $140,000 at 8% compounded annually to a mere $30,000 at 5.5% compounded annually. Bogle's solution is to utilize index funds to substantially reduce or eliminate management fees.
Criticism and controversy
Kiyosaki's books and teachings have been criticized for focusing on anecdotes and containing little in the way of concrete advice on how readers should proceed. Kiyosaki responds that his material is meant to be more of a motivational tool to get readers thinking about money, rather than a step by step guide to wealth. He also says the books are supposed to be "interesting" to people, which precludes involving a lot of technical material.
There is also disagreement over how blurred the line is between fiction and anecdote in many of his works. Critics believe that Rich Dad is fictional and that Kiyosaki created him as an author surrogate (a literary device). In the past, Kiyosaki has maintained that Rich Dad actually existed, but that he died decades before the book was first published. However, he has never revealed his name or any other identifying information. Attempts by outsiders to determine Rich Dad's identity have not revealed a conclusive candidate, despite the prominence such a wealthy individual would likely have had in Hawaii in the 1950s. In the February 2003 issue of SmartMoney magazine, Kiyosaki appeared to back off his claim that his "rich dad" was a real person, instead stating "Is Harry Potter real? Why don't you let Rich Dad be a myth, like Harry Potter?".. However, in page 25 of "Why we want you to be rich", the book he co-authored with Donald Trump, Kiyosaki positively asserts that Rich Dad really existed.
Former real estate investor and author of books on real estate investment John T. Reed has questioned much of what Kiyosaki has claimed to have achieved. According to Reed, much of Kiyosaki's advice is illegal, makes no sense or is the product of "a rather ignorant, not very bright, novice, investor wannabe". He concludes his criticism, saying that "Rich Dad, Poor Dad is one of the dumbest financial advice books I have ever read. It contains many factual errors and numerous extremely unlikely accounts of events that supposedly occurred."
Kiyosaki has also been criticized for being overly repetitious in his teachings. Some consider this a tactic to produce "filler" material in order to make it appear he is covering more material. Kiyosaki claims that this is an intentional teaching style that he feels is important for maximum retention. Repetition often in the form of multiple points of view looking at the same concept help solidify the concept in the mind of the reader.Even some of the facts he has offered directly have been questioned. For example, on September 19, 2006, Kiyosaki wrote in a Yahoo Finance article that the NYMEX is an exchange where "... pork bellies,… are traded". In reality, pork bellies are not traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
ABC ran a 20/20 segment on May 19, 2006 in which Kiyosaki was to advise 3 entrepreneurs on how to make money. They were given $1000 and 20 days to try and make the most money possible. At the end, after mediocre results, the contestants alleged that Kiyosaki never gave concrete advice. "All he [Kiyosaki] does is, I guess, is open your mind to the possibility. He doesn't tell you how to do it." Kiyosaki responds by saying that failure is important to learn. At the end, 20/20 asks, "Does anyone really need 18 books to learn to fail?"
The Wall Street Journal panned "Why We Want You To Be Rich" by Kiyosaki and Trump as did Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Kiyosaki wrote a column in Yahoo Finance in which he blames poverty on laziness. He also implies a religious justification for wealth disparity. "Over the years, I've met many losers who pray to God to give them gold. God helps those who help themselves. Again, the conquistadors may have been killers and thieves, but at least they knew how to help themselves."
Kiyosaki's boardgames have been criticized for being excessively expensive; US$200 for the most expensive Cashflow 101.
Kiyosaki downplays the importance of traditional and tertiary education in achieving financial success. Studies of the median incomes that come with different levels of education suggest the contrary, such as the one found here.
Kiyosaki has also been associated with "multi-level marketing" companies such as Amway, and in 2000 gave a keynote speech at a Quixtar conference. On page 135 of Rich Dad's Who Took My Money?, Kiyosaki admits to his involvement with the MLM industry, stating "I often speak to network marketing businesses because they provide low-cost entry for people to start businesses while also providing them valuable training and mentoring."
Partial bibliography
- If You Want to Be Rich & Happy: Don't Go to School? : Ensuring Lifetime Security for Yourself and Your Children (1992). ISBN 0-944031-38-2.
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad - What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! (first published in 1997), by Robert Kiyosaki & Sharon L. Lechter. Warner Business Books. ISBN 0-446-67745-0.
- Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom (2000). ISBN 0-446-67747-7.
- Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not! (2000). ISBN 0-446-67746-9.
- Rich Dad's Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Children a Financial Headstart (2001). ISBN 0-446-67748-5.
- Rich Dad's Retire Young, Retire Rich (2002). ISBN 0-446-67843-0.
- Rich Dad's Prophecy: Why the Biggest Stock Market Crash in History Is Still Coming… and How You Can Prepare Yourself and Profit from It! (October, 2002). Warner Books, Incorporated. ISBN 0-641-62241-4.
- You Can Choose to be Rich (2003) 12-CD Audio series with booklet.
- Rich Dad's Before You Quit Your Job : 10 Real-Life Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Building a Multimillion-Dollar Business (2005). ISBN 0-446-69637-4.
Robert Kiyosaki
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