I must admit that, while I’ve never read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, the title itself interested me. Then I came upon this site:
Which debunks everything Kiyosaki wrote in his book. I was awestruck. Not only is this site the most thorough debunking of a piece of work I’ve ever seen (and that includes UFO’s, Bigfoot, and cult religions) but it is, in some ways, very entertaining. While reading through the site (which is very long) I was actually rooting for Mr. Reed to further debunk Kiyosaki.
So I post this in Cafe Society to get others impressions on both the book and the debunking website. Has anyone out there read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”? If so, after reading through Mr. Reed’s site, what is your impression of the book.
FTR: I am not Mr. Reed, nor do I work for him, or even know him. I came across the site almost by accident. But I must admit that it is very entertaining.
His book is crap. I just read the review you posted Labdad, but you’ve got to at least scan through the Reed article (which is quoted in the article) to fully appreciate what a monster this author (Kiyosaki) is. The books and tapes he sells are worthless, and if you go to one of the charts Mr. Reed draws up, you can see that not even his soundbites are geniune.
For example, for someone who advocates that you should spend less money than you make it’s interesting that Kiyosaki declared bankruptcy in the mid 80’s. He also advocates “Minimizing your income” which makes it really hard to spend less money than you make.
Also with regard to his investment practices, Mr. Reed correctly points out the following quote IN THE BOOK from Kiyosaki:
“The reason you want to have rich friends who are close to the inside is because that is where the money is made. It’s made on information. …the sooner you know, the better your chances are for profits with minimal risk. That is what friends are for. (page 154)”
Here he is openly advocating the practice known as insider trading, which, at least as of the year 2002 is HIGHLY illegal and in fact is why Martha Stewart is in trouble today.
I was shocked when I read Mr. Reed’s website, but it has really enlightened me as to what kind of crook Kiyosaki is.
Kiyosaki talks a lot about buying real estate with no-money down as if that is somehow less risky than investing in securities. Real estate can be a good investment but it can also be risky. It is less liquid than stocks and bonds. There is also the risk that you wont be able to rent the property.
Another thing. It’s a little hard to make rich friends unless you hang around where rich people are. A little hard to do as most people generally socialize within their own education and income level.
I haven’t read the book(s), but know that when a friend spent an hour in my kitchen trying to sell me on the new cyber-Amway, Kiyosaki and his theories were frequently mentioned. Not a good association, if you ask me.
I’ve read his first book, I’m reading the guide to investing now, and I have another book of his sitting on my shelf. I hope I haven’t been a chump. Could more people chime in with some more information?
I read the first book, and am working on the second (The Cashflow Quadrant). It isn’t great literature (as he himself admits) but it is very fine, sound, and down-to-earth advice on how to be financially independent. I’d say the books describe more of an attitude of how to become rich than an actual checklist of what to do, but I found it very refreshing and enjoyable, and it gave me lots of good ideas. I’d strongly recommend it, but wouldn’t try to Amway it onto someone who wasn’t interested…Timmy