Robert Kiyosaki
|
|
Robert Toru Kiyosaki (清崎ロバート, born April 8, 1947) is an investor, businessman, and author. He was born and raised in Hawaii, attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and served in the Marine Corps as a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War. After leaving the Marine Corps, he worked as a copier salesman for Xerox before embarking on a career of investing and teaching. He is married to Kim.
| Contents |
Books
Kiyosaki is best-known for his books on investing. His first bestseller was titled Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and is an attempt to change the mindset of the average employee. Kiyosaki talks about his "poor dad", his actual father, who was the Superintendent of the Hawaii State Department of Education but had very little real net worth, as well as his "rich dad". According to Kiyosaki, his rich dad was his best friend's father who became very wealthy by investing his smaller income into income-producing investments, and became truly rich in so doing.
Kiyosaki uses the "rich dad, poor dad" comparison to illustrate his view that the majority of people are stuck in what he refers to as "the rat race"—living paycheck to paycheck and spending all of their time working to pay bills. In his books, Kiyosaki advocates tax-advantaged investment vehicles, such as real estate or businesses, rather than the traditional individual ownership of securities. He describes what he calls the cashflow quadrant, which is an attempt to differentiate between Employees, Self-employed or Small business owners, Businesspeople (as in those who buy and sell businesses, rather than running their own), and Investors.
Didactic games
In an attempt to open more minds to the thought processes of the rich, Kiyosaki has created several games to reinforce the points in his books. His first game, Cashflow 101, teaches players how to get out of the rat race by acquiring assets that produce passive income in excess of expenses. Cashflow 202 is a more advanced game which attempts to help players learn about more sophisticated investing strategies, such as stock options. Kiyosaki also targets adolescents with the game Cashflow for Kids and his book Rich Kid, Smart Kid.
Assets v liabilities
One of the basic points he tries to get across is to think of an asset as simply something that puts money in your pocket, and a liability as something that takes money from your pocket.
Thus your own home is always a liability under this thinking, and only an asset for the bank, since the mortgage payments take money from your pocket and puts it in the bank's. Even after the mortgage is paid off, the home is still a liability because of rates and maintenance. Whether an investment property is a liability or an asset depends only on whether rental income exceeds the costs of interest, rates and maintenance.
Controversies
Kiyosaki's views are somewhat controversial, and some have questioned his status as a successful investor and businessman prior to the formation of his present venture, CASHFLOW Technologies, Inc. They claim that his millions have come only as a result of selling books and audio presentations about topics he hasn't personally succeeded in. Also, they accuse Kiyosaki of being heavy on anecdotes and light on substance, and not really providing much concrete advice. One reason could be that he advises focusing on good investments rather than diversifying, and under these circumstances it is hard to give specific advice. Furthermore, they speculate on the identity of his "rich dad" and whether this individual even existed, reasoning that such a man, whom Kiyosaki describes as "one of the richest men in the Islands", and his family who carry on his tradition, would have been very well known in a small state as Hawaii.
Nevertheless, Kiyosaki's books are not only a successful venture for him, but are also effective in conveying a paradigm shift from worker to entrepreneur for many of his readers. Ironically, it is probably his radically different viewpoint, going against the time-honored grain of "go to school, work hard, and invest in a safe, diversified portfolio of mutual funds", that has made him the target of the mainstream financial base. In this way, he might be considered the Robert Atkins of financial self-help writers.
Partial bibliography
- 2000 Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
- 2000 Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom
- 2000 Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!
- 2001 Rich Dad's Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Children a Financial Headstart
- 2002 Rich Dad's Retire Young, Retire Rich
External links
- Kiyosaki's offical website (http://richdad.com)
- John T. Reed, probably the most outspoken Kiyosaki dissenter (http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html)
- Kiyosaki's response to Reed's criticisms (http://www.mastermindforum.com/kiyosakiresponsetoreed.htm)
- An article on Kiyosaki from Hawaii Business Magazine (http://www.hawaiibusiness.cc/hb62002/default.cfm?articleid=6)pl:Robert Kiyosaki