Debunking “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’ve heard of Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” series. What you may not know is that some, if not all, of the stories and facts maybe fiction. Arguably, it may not matter if the story is true. John T. Reed thinks otherwise.
He’s published a very thorough analysis of Kiyosaki’s books and came to the conclusion that most of it is a load of honky.
All I know about Robert Kiyosaki is what I read in his book (and from other sources noted above). Based on what I read and what I know about the subject matter in question, I am extremely skeptical as to whether he has done or seen many of the investment things he claims to have done or seen. He claims to be an experienced, millionaire, real-estate investor, yet the book is full of statements that I would expect only from a rather ignorant, not very bright, novice, investor wannabe.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is one of the dumbest financial advice books I have ever read. It contains many factual errors and numerous extremely unlikely accounts of events that supposedly occurred.
Not exactly a glowing review. Read the rest of the ongoing analysis. It seems to be very well researched and most of the information is backed up with facts.
It’s also interesting to note that Reed has published a book called Succeeding. It doesn’t appear to be a direct competitor to the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” series, but certainly is in the genre.
Technorati Tags: rich dad poor dad, kiyosaki, reed, robert kiyosaki, john reed, debunk
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Through a Glass Darkly said,
Wrote on August 10, 2006 @ 11:33 am
Interesting. That book was on my list of things to read, but I might be too gullible about financial stuff at this point to read it. Should I be wary?
thatedeguy said,
Wrote on August 10, 2006 @ 11:38 am
Actually, it was on my list as well. I haven’t read it as yet, but don’t know if I will given the information on that page. Of course, like any good pfblogger, I would compare it with other sources and not necessarily fall victim to poor information. I’m sure you would do the same.
Bill Perry said,
Wrote on August 10, 2006 @ 2:37 pm
I read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” 3 years ago. Before I had read it, I’d heard both good and back about it. I, for one, don’t pay much attention to “reviews”. The reason for this is that, each of us is different. I have a friend who INSISTS on telling me about each movie she sees right after she sees it. And she always tell me either “it’s great. you’ll love it!” or “It sucks!”. Point is, don’t put too much stock into what others tell us. Just because they like it or find it useful, doesn’t mean you will. And vice versa.
While I admire John Reed’s research prowess, I have personally found Robert Kiyosaki’s writings useful TO ME.
I think that too many people are extremist from the standpoint of “good/bad”. I prefer to take out what I see as the best parts of everything I read/see/hear and help form it into my own philosophies.
Whether or not Rich Dad was a real person is irrelevant (once again, to me), because the ideas and concepts are still worth throwing around in your head.
Bill
Flexo said,
Wrote on August 11, 2006 @ 10:54 am
Good vs. bad is one thing, and is a matter of opinion. Factually correct vs. factually incorrect is something else entirely, but is less of a matter of opinion.
Sure you may *feel good* after reading a book, but if it’s factually incorrect, you’re doing yourself more harm in the long run than you realize.
Kiyosaki makes his money by selling books and seminars. If he really wanted to tell people how to make money based on his experience, he’d be telling them to write books and develop seminars.
But Bill is right.. whether his anecdotes are true or not is irrelant, except that people want to emulate them.
Keith said,
Wrote on August 14, 2006 @ 11:49 am
I have read some of the book so far and to be honest it is doing for him what he has set out to do. Generate Income. Isn’t that what you want to do?
If I may be so bold, some of us expect to read a book with the answers written down in a nice step by step proceedure. Fact is making money does not have a instruction manual like your VCR or that new desk you sit your computer on. I find that some of his writings are right on the money. Much of wealth is generated by making educated decisions based on your current conditions.
Not everything in this book is on target for me, but if I boil it all down to a single paragraph it adds up. After all we all do not agree with the same church….do we?
prlinkbiz said,
Wrote on September 20, 2006 @ 11:41 am
For anyone who gets their info about RK from John T Reed:
http://www.mastermindforum.com/kiyosakiresponsetoreed.htm
Daniel said,
Wrote on September 28, 2006 @ 7:34 am
That’s exactly right: if you boil it all down to a single paragraph, it adds up. His stupid books (I’ve read most of them) can be boiled down to one paragraph. The other hundreds of pages are filler.
if you want to learn a lot about economics and investing (stocks), check out peter navarro… very informative. in his economics course, he goes into details about producer behavior (for example) and shows you how maximum margin per production unit will show you how many players will be involved in the manufacture in a given industry, and based on that, what type of strategies those businesses will use to gain greater market share. that’s just in 2 hours of about 50 hours of lectures.
Ronnie Corbett said,
Wrote on October 21, 2006 @ 5:10 pm
I don’t think the people who make these comments have understood the book. It is not the actual details that matter, it is more a way of thinking. It change my way of thinking and I have started to make real money as a result.
Real estate is not for me, but note he says that these strategies do not work in a declining market. You can’t get clearer than that. So find markets that are going up.
My money now works for me, and I have retired, I am just an investor. I invest for cash flow as Robert talks about. I only use real estate as a small part of my investment portfolio, RK himself says he does not invest much in real estate, he is more into oil and gold. I understand his logic. that the paper dollar is going down in value, but I do not invest in hard assets. Again, his books are really about a way of thinking rather than specific investment advice.
anexa said,
Wrote on November 7, 2006 @ 3:32 am
The details matter when they are inaccurate and misleading. You should never need to lie to get a point across and you shouldn’t advocate something and ask people to take the leap if you haven’t done so yourself. Also, I’ve read 4 of his books and not only are the stories repeated over and over again, they have no direction, no specific plan other than to buy real-estate, and fail to give beginners a good idea about where to start. He always says to pick up one of his other books to learn the “how” or the “where to start”. I did this with 4 books and I am done. There is nothing of substance in these books. Some of the ideas are interesting and anything that exercises your thinking can be useful, but for the majority of people this kind of writing could be very damaging.