Rich Dad Poor Dad

Many of you may realize where the title of my post comes from; many of you may not. If you do not, I highly recommend you get familiar with the concepts behind Rich Dad Poor Dad. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a financial education company co-founded by Robert Kiyosaki. A lot of their concepts go against the main stream logic of save, invest for the long-term using 401k, SEPs.

For the longest time I have conceptualized a lot of the thoughts behind Rich Dad Poor Dad; however, I have always thought I was the lone sheep and everyone else was correct. The old stand-by of invest long-term, save and pray did not seem very logical for me however everyone else was doing it so it must be right. Well the books I have been reading in the Rich Dad Poor Dad series have finally confirmed my suspicions and make perfect sense to me.

"Who Took My Money" by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter is one book in a long list of books they have published. "Who Took My Money" is the second book I have read in this series. First of all the title of the book does not fit concepts in the book, it just doesn't give the book justice. The idea of the book is to go against conventional wisdom and not plow all your money into a savings account and or 401k. Robert Kiyosaki states that the financial markets can and will crash in the future so as a result the average person has their money at risk. As a result, Robert Kiyosaki recommends becoming an expert in one or more key areas that can make you financially independent.

His focus is to get across the point that people need to concentrate on cash flow as opposed to capital gains. Figure out what your money can do for you today as opposed to saving, wishing and hoping that your money will increase and be there for you when you retire in 20, 30 40 years. In other words do not stash your money into a 401k and pray that it will be there when you are ready to retire because it just may not be there or at least 30, 40 or 50% might be gone is it was for a lot of people during the tech bust of 2000-2003.

His ideas for cash flow are to start a business, invest in real estate and invest in paper assets. By starting a full-time or part-time business you can gain cash flow, maintain legal protection and increase tax benefits. Then by selectively buying real estate you can rent the properties and gain additional tax benefits and increase cash flow. Lastly, to stay diversified you can invest in the financial markets.

A couple warnings...First Robert Kiyosaki warns and then re-warns about some of the concepts in the book that not all people can perform what he is recommending. I believe he does this because to be successful with this tactic you must be very passionate and educated about what you are doing. In addition, he does not give you a step by step outline of what you must do to be successful. As well as he should not, because it is impossible to do so and will set people up for failure. You must do your own research and due diligence. There are a lot of people that criticize Kiyosaki because they are looking for that hand holding and for someone to tell them exactly what to do and when to do it.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5 stars! I really like the concepts in this book and plan on applying a version of them to my life. I can't tell you how sick and tired I am of working for corporate America. I know there is more to life then going to a job that does not fulfill my hopes and dreams. This blog will keep track of my progress.