Robert Kiyosaki’s and Sharon Lechter’s book “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, is the best-selling personal finance history book.
It is very unlikely that you have never heard of financial or investment topics if that is what you love.
But… Is it really interesting?
Many people have an understanding of new financial concepts that aren’t typically taught in college. The idea of financial freedom, or what is more, how to create passive income.
This is why I will not only give a summary, but also highlight the key lessons that we can learn from it.
Based on the story of Kiyosaki’s, I say “supposed” because it isn’t confirmed whether it is true or not. Robert says that he has two parents in the story.
The father who is poor: His biological father, who was a successful academic and worked in the public sector in a fixed job and received a fixed monthly salary.
Rich Dad: Mike is his father (a friend), but he views him as a mentor and second father. Rich Dad, in this instance, is a man who was barely able to complete compulsory education and became one of Hawaii’s richest men.
Robert, with these figures as background, explains how he was being taught by one and the other and shows us the different ways of looking at life, money, and finances.
Poor Father was an example of this. He spent his entire life saying, “I can’t afford it.”
Rich Dad, however, saw things differently and said, “How can you afford it?” He was searching for a way of getting what he wanted.
Rich Dad’s most important lesson is to understand how to use your time and mindset to create your wealth.
This way of thinking allows us to understand why one person went so far while the other was financially stable.
There are many great tips in the book. We can summarize them all in six great lessons.
Let’s find out what they are.
We are presented with a reflection through the medium of an interesting story. Here is what the reflection is:
Many workers will trade their time and money for it. The wealthy are always looking for ways to make their money work for them.
This milestone is sought after by all my blog readers, myself included. You can download my free guide to learn how to reach it. It contains 4 ways to earn passive income.
It is not true that the wealthy don’t work. They work hard to learn, train, and seek out new opportunities.
It isn’t profitable or sustainable to exchange time for money over the long-term. There will come a point when you have less time and can’t increase your income.
Real estate investment: If you’re interested in learning more about this type investment, I suggest that you read the article about the various ways you can invest in real estate.
Alternative investments: Crowdlending, crowdfunding real estate, whiskey. Subscribe to my mailing list to receive the monthly update and learn more about investment methods.
These examples are only a small sample of what you can do to make money or your knowledge work for you.
Robert Kiyosaki states that schools are there to help children become great employees. However, they don’t teach how to be entrepreneurs or good entrepreneurs.
It is therefore important to learn financial concepts and train on them.
According to Kiyosaki,…
Assets are titles or contracts that generate income for their owners.
On the other hand, a liability generates expenses.
This is where I must stop to highlight a controversial idea that was presented by the author.
Kiyosaki says that our residence is not an asset, but a liability. We don’t get income from it; rather, it is a constant expense (electricity water, gas repairs ).
Many disagree with this idea, since a home is always considered an asset. The author believes that it is not a good idea to purchase a primary residence unless other assets are available that can generate enough income to cover the loan installments.
Let’s get back to the lesson he left us in this section.
Robert tells us that wealth is a combination of real estate, stock market assets, intellectual properties, and other assets.
Hence…
Wealth is when assets can generate enough money to pay for the investment expenses and the daily living costs of the investor.
This is what we call financial freedom.
Robert Kiyosaki explains how the income they have is a key indicator of their class.
With the very little income they have, the poor live day to day. They don’t have assets or liabilities.
The middle class assumes they are purchasing assets and acquire liabilities.
The wealthy (or future riches) create wealth by acquiring more income-generating assets.
The bottom line is that the middle class without financial education often buys liabilities, even though they don’t realize it, and then goes into debt to pay them.
This is what the author refers to as “entering the rat race” or “rat race”, in English.
Although “The Rat Race” may be a pejorative term, it provides a visual representation of the current situation for the middle class. A rat is stuck in its wheel when it starts running faster than it can on its wheel.
To escape the “rat race”, you need to change your mindset. We must understand that what income we have is an opportunity to create more income. There is no way to spend it on liabilities.
This article will help you get out of debt if you are in this position.
You might also want to watch the video I have embedded below. It refers to a book by the author that explains 4 ways to make money and generate income.
What does Kiyosaki really mean?
It’s exactly as follows:
It is necessary to invest and acquire assets while you work for another person. This will give you your first passive income, and it will grow over time.
The author did too.
He began his career as a Xerox salesman, and then began investing a large portion of his salary in real estate.
He was so pleased with the performance of his investments, he worked harder and sold more copiers to make more money.
He was able to double his income from real estate investments in three years. He quit his job to manage his financial affairs fully.
An employee who earns money (receives his wage) must pay income tax. In many cases, the employer withholds this tax directly from the wages. You can invest or spend the money that is left over from your salary.
The wealthy, however, have tried to reverse this process (finding loopholes) in order to have as much money to invest first and then pay taxes later.
This involves creating their own businesses. Companies can deduct expenses that individual cannot. As a result, companies end up paying lower taxes and generating a higher net profit.
Absolutely…
It’s a matter of using companies to minimize taxes and maximize their taxation through them.
We can draw a conclusion from this section that by starting to pay ourselves, we can make more capital available for assets and liabilities acquisitions.
Robert Kiyosaki…
Opportunities are not always in your reach. There are many good opportunities.
Professional investors are able to find opportunities and turn a poor investment into an extraordinary investment by using their knowledge and research.
However, to make exceptional investments it is crucial to master four skills.
How to spot an opportunity that no one else has; identifying the elements that add value to an investment.
How to get financing: If you don’t have enough funds or you don’t want to spend so much money, then you need external financing (through financial leverage). The more attractive the investment, the better the terms of financing.
How to get intelligent people to work together: We must be focused on what is most important or we will create another job. That is why we need to surround ourselves with competent and intelligent people who can manage our investments.
Understanding how to accept risk in investment is key. You must also learn to manage your emotions in both success and failure. It is actually the ability to overcome failure that will make you successful, not your will to succeed immediately.
Let’s move on to the sixth lesson.
The author suggests that it is important not to have a job that is permanent (as the Poor Father did), but to find jobs that allow you to learn, even if you aren’t well-paid.
It is important to learn as much information as possible and be familiar with everything so that you can later apply what you know in business and investments.
He recommends that you learn the following subjects:
Accounting: In order to invest in stocks, you must be able read the annual reports from the companies that you are interested in. If you are looking to start your own company, the same applies.
Investment strategy: Although this subject is harder to learn “academically”, it is equally important. It is a faculty that has been refined over time.
The laws of market: It is essential to understand the law of supply-demand in order to be able sell your products and set their prices.
Law: Whether we like it or not, all our lives and businesses are subject to rules that must be respected. Understanding our rights and obligations will help us to prosper our business, and our investments.
You know everything you need to be a better person than this.
These six lessons are followed by the five obstacles that keep people from achieving financial independence.
Fear: Middle-class people tend to choose the most secure option. They are trapped in a job that is not financially rewarding. It’s difficult to reach your goals if you aren’t willing to take chances and think big.
Envy and cynicism: People who have these fears don’t bother trying to succeed, but they do criticize those who try and succeed. These types of people are not to be trusted and it is important to not let their unobjective criticisms get to you.
Laziness: It is essential to take control of your life. Otherwise, nothing will change. You must be proactive and persistent to achieve this goal.
Bad habits: It is crucial to reduce unnecessary expenses and make savings, then invest them. You can read my article about how to create a family budget that maximizes your income.
Arrogance: We shouldn’t assume we know all about money. Listen to others and don’t stop learning.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is trying to communicate to us that, more than the six lessons, it is important to act.
If we don’t put the theory into practice, it is pointless to learn everything about personal finance and financial freedom.
It’s an easy-to-read book that is also interesting and motivates.
You will find that it is no longer true that only the wealthy are born rich. It will be clear that you can make financial freedom a reality if you learn how.
I recommend that you start your financial education with “Rich Dad Poor Dad“, as it is one book that can transform your life.
Keep in mind, however, that “Rich Dad Poor Dad”‘s goal is to motivate and lay the foundations for financial freedom. It does not give concrete solutions that can be immediately implemented. It is important to set goals and then put them into action when you read it.
After you’ve finished this book, I recommend you continue reading this list of top books about financial education and investment. They complement each other well.
Hello, Clare Collins here.
I'm a graphic designer by trade but avid reader in general. Reading is my passion, and it always has been.
I have only just started this book review blog and I can't believe it's taken me all these years to start this blog. I absolutely love this hobby and hope I can put across my own viewpoints on the books that I review.
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