Title: Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki
Year: 1997
Genre: Self Help, Personal Finance
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki is the 1997 personal finance book by the American businessman, explaining how his two father figures in his life taught him valuable lessons around managing finances and becoming rich.
Now when it comes to this book I cannot actually remember where I first came across it, whether it was a YouTube video or an article but it has been a book I’ve been vaguely familiar with without actually reading for a while.
However, I have recently gotten into reading more self-help books and become more interesting in investing and personal finance, especially as I have started to teach Zumba classes as a side hustle but wanted to learn ways that I can either use my side hustle or day job money to invest and hopefully be able to live of that money in the future (it may be a hang-up from growing up as a millenial during the 2008 financial crash which largely gave me the belief working just one job for money and the “job for life” isn’t really beneficial these days).
In this book, Kiyosaki explains the lessons he was taught about money from his Rich Dad and his Poor Dad. His Poor Dad was in fact his birth father and though he wasn’t necessarily impoverished, his poor dad’s ideology around money revolved around working hard, getting paid and then using that money to pay off bills and live off – essentially working for money and living paycheck to paycheck.
Meanwhile, Robert’s Rich Dad was his childhood best friend’s Mike’s father – he runs several businesses and is instrad of the opinion of making money work for you, investing it and seeing it grow and living off the profits, rather than working for income. Throughout the book, Robert explains his thoughts on both ideologies and touches on various times where his two fathers seemed in direct contradiction with each other, as well as ultimately for him why he followed his Rich Dad into business.
The book demonstrates a large amount of examples and case studies where Robert was able to use relatively small amounts of money and taking advantage of markets and legal loopholes was able to grow them into large nest eggs for himself and his wife, allowing them both to officially retire at 47 which are inspiring to read, although being based in the UK many of the actual examples he used were very US-centric and involved growing money based on loopholes over there.
As I sai dpreviously about James Smith’s Not A Diet Book and Adam Peaty’s The Gladiator Mindset book, these type of books and what you learn can be very subjective to the individual. As mentioned above, many of the examples were US specific so in terms of practical steps I didn’t learn very much but the book has taught me a lot in terms of mindset around money.
In particular, it has made me more interested in learning more about investing and also using more of my money towards courses and improving my own skillset, rather than just saving or putting it into a managed Stocks and Shares ISA which I do at the moment.
Also how Kiyosaki explains that he found business opportunities from just being out and about or through networking are both inspiring and for someone quite introverted like me has made me more interested with seeing if his methodology will work anywhere.
Also for a book that talks about leaving the Rat Race it has made me think twice. As mentioned above I teach Zumba classes and I had been at a crossroads about whether to continue with my existing career or not. The book has made me think that having a more solid plan may be in order before making any decisions and using some of my day job money to invest in my skills.
There are parts of the book that could rub up the wrong way as it’s writing style is quite direct at times. Also Kiyosaki has worked and knows Donald Trump who has a few mentiones in the book, which may make some people automatically reject the books views and message. I personally read past that and instead try to understand the message and although politically he is extremely devisive, Trump is successful at running businesses so mentions of him here weren’t too distracting.
Overall, I would recommend giving this book a read – especially with the current cost of living crisis affecting many people and this may provide one or two ideas to try in the future.
