Rich Dad Poor Dad: Robert Kiyosaki on Making Money Work for You
Financial intelligence: everything our children need to know before they start out in the working world. In Rich Dad Poor Dad, first published in 1997, Robert T. Kiyosaki draws on his own experience in business to describe, with plenty of examples, different ways of living with money.
Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki
Title: Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
Format: English paperback (Plata Publishing), 336 pages
Scope: Personal-finance classic contrasting two father figures and their attitudes to money
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/1612681131 (ASIN 1612681131)
Two Fathers, Two Lessons
Kiyosaki’s device is simple: his own father, well educated and hard-working but always short of money, and his best friend’s father, a businessman who taught him how money really works. Are you a business owner, do you work for the state, or for the bank? This book can change the way you look at the world of money.
Assets, Liabilities and School
Kiyosaki questions convention and tries to expose the weak points of today’s society, with particular emphasis on the education system, which in his view teaches almost nothing about money. He explains the difference between assets and liabilities and shows the reader how to grow income. You do not need to earn a lot to be financially independent. His motto: don’t work for money, make money work for you.
The Two Fathers
Kiyosaki grew up in Hawaii. His "poor dad" was his own father, a highly educated man who worked in Hawaii’s education system and believed in good grades, a secure job and a pension. His "rich dad" was the father of his best friend, a businessman with little formal education who taught the boys that the rich do not work for money but make money work for them. The book is built around the contrast between these two outlooks, one based on salary and security, the other on ownership and risk.
Key Ideas
The most quoted lessons are simple: understand the difference between an asset, which puts money in your pocket, and a liability, which takes it out; "pay yourself first"; learn about accounting, investing and taxes, because schools do not teach them; and see mistakes as the price of learning. For many readers these ideas were the first time anyone had explained money to them in plain language, which explains the book’s enormous and lasting popularity.
A Book With Critics
It is worth reading with a critical eye. Financial writers have pointed out that the book offers little concrete, tested investment advice, that some of its tax and property strategies are risky, and that the details of the "rich dad" story have been questioned. Its value lies more in changing attitudes than in providing a plan. Readers who want practical, evidence-based guidance can pair it with a book such as Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money or, for investing, Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor.
Who Should Read It
Young adults about to earn their first salary, and parents who want to talk to their children about money. As the original reviewer suggested, its main message is that financial education should begin early.
Beyond the Book
Kiyosaki built a whole brand on the book, including further titles such as Cashflow Quadrant and a board game, Cashflow, designed to teach its principles. The first book remains the one to read.
Why Read It Now
The book is one of the most widely read personal-finance titles ever and has been updated in later editions. Its ideas are best taken as a provocation rather than a plan, but as an introduction to thinking about money as a tool, it remains a useful, very readable starting point.
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