Robert Toru Kiyosaki (born
April 8, 1947) is an investor, businessman, self-help author
and motivational speaker. Robert Kiyosaki is best known for his
Rich Dad, Poor Dad series of motivational books and other
material.
He has written over 18 books which combined have
sold over 26 million copies. Although beginning as a
self-publisher, he was subsequently published by Warner Books, a
division of Hachette Book Group USA, currently his new books
appear under the Rich Dad Press imprint.
Three of his books, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Rich Dad's
CASHFLOW Quadrant, and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing, have been
on the top 10 best-seller lists simultaneously on The Wall
Street Journal, USA Today and the New York Times.
The book Rich Kid Smart Kid was
published in 2001, with the intent to help parents teach their
children financial concepts. He has created three "Cashflow"
board and software games for adults and children and has a
series of "Rich Dad" audio cassettes and disks. He also
publishes a monthly newsletter.
Robert Kiyosaki is married to Kim
Kiyosaki. He was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii and is a
fourth-generation Japanese American, and the son of the late
educator Ralph H. Kiyosaki, Robert Kiyosaki is an alumnus of
Hilo High School. He attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
in New York, graduating with the class of 1969 as a deck officer
and served in the Marine Corps as a helicopter gunship pilot
during the Vietnam War, where he was awarded the Air Medal.
Robert Kiyosaki left the Marine Corps in 1974 and got a job
selling copy machines for the Xerox Corporation. In 1977, Robert
Kiyosaki started a company that brought to market the first
nylon and Velcro "surfer" wallets.
Passive Income
A large part of Robert Kiyosaki's teachings focus on generating
passive income by means of investment opportunities, such as
real estate and small businesses, with the ultimate goal of
being able to support oneself by such investments alone. In
tandem with this, Robert Kiyosaki defines "assets" as things
that generate money, such as rental properties or businesses,
and "liabilities" as things that cost money, such as house
payments, cars and so on. Robert Kiyosaki also proclaims
financial leverage to be critically important in becoming rich.
Financial Literacy
Robert Kiyosaki stresses what he calls "financial literacy" as
the means to obtaining wealth. He says that life skills are
often best learned through experience and that there are
important lessons not taught in school. He says that formal
education is primarily for those seeking to be employees or
self-employed individuals, and that this is an "Industrial Age
idea". And according to Robert Kiyosaki, in order to obtain
financial freedom, one must be either a business owner or an
investor, generating passive income.
The Cashflow Quadrant
Robert Kiyosaki speaks often of
what he calls "The Cashflow Quadrant," a conceptual tool that
aims to describe how all the money in the world is earned.
Depicted in a diagram, this concept entails four groupings,
split with two lines (one vertical and one horizontal). In each
of the four groups there is a letter representing a way in which
an individual may earn income. The letters are as follows.
E: Employee — Working for someone else S: Self-employed or Small business owner — Where a person
owns his own job and is his own boss. B: Business owner — Where a person owns a "system" of
making money, rather than a job to make money. The System makes
you money. I: Investor — Investing money in order to receive a
positive cash flow in return. Money makes money.
For those on the left side of the divide ("E" and "S"), Robert
Kiyosaki says that they may never obtain true wealth because
they have to work for their income. Conversely, those on the
right side of the divide ("B" and "I") are supposedly following
the only road to true wealth because they gain their income from
their assets.
Books
Robert Kiyosaki is best known for his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad,
the #1 New York Times bestseller. Robert Kiyosaki followed with
Rich Dad's CASHFLOW Quadrant and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing.
He has now had at least a dozen books published.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Originally self-published before being picked up commercially to
become a best seller, the central concept of the book is an
anecdotal comparison of his "two fathers." His "poor dad" was
his biological father, who became Superintendent of the Hawaii
State Department of Education but had very little real net
worth. Contrasted with this is his "rich dad," his best
friend's father who became a rich man in Hawaii by investing his
smaller income into income-producing investments. Its main
purpose as a self-help book is to help people rethink their idea
of money and especially their concept of themselves as employees
who will gain financial rewards from conformity and education.
Robert 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" or living paycheck to
paycheck and spending all of their time working to pay bills. In
his books, Robert Kiyosaki advocates tax-advantaged investment
vehicles, such as real estate or businesses, rather than
ownership of securities. This idea is further developed in his
later books and "Rich Dad" became Robert Kiyosaki's personal
brand for various publishing ventures.
Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's
Guide to Financial Freedom (2000)
Cashflow Quadrant is a personal finance and investing book
written with Sharon Lechter, C.P.A. as the sequel to Rich Dad,
Poor Dad. In it, Robert Kiyosaki discusses what he calls the
Cashflow Quadrant: a grid consisting of the letters "E", "S",
"B", and "I". The Cashflow Quadrant itself is just an
illustrative tool to show the difference between Employees, Self
Employed/Small Business owners, Business owners (particularly
those owners not directly involved in the day-to-day operation
of the company), and Investors. Robert Kiyosaki discusses the
differences between concepts and ideas characteristic of each
quadrant, particularly as they relate to passive income and tax
advantages. Again, as a self-help author, he invites readers to
consider their own ideas about money.
Rich Dad's Guide to Investing:
What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do
Not! (2000)
Rich Dad's Guide to Investing gives the reader a roadmap to
becoming the Ultimate Investor, one who uses other peoples'
money to create investments that people want to buy into. While
the first two books use broad strokes, this one goes into much
more detail about actually implementing some of the strategies
heretofore discussed.
Rich Kid, Smart Kid (2001)
Rich Kid, Smart Kid is a retelling of Robert Kiyosaki's views,
condensed and clarified to try and help parents better
understand and teach their children key financial concepts. It
includes a series of activities that a parent can do with their
child to make them aware of property, finance and the various
ways and places businesses make money.
Rich Dad's Prophecy (2002)
Rich Dad's Prophecy predicts that the market will crash around
2016 when the oldest Baby Boomers start cashing out their 401(k)
plans. Individuals whose savings are locked into 401(k) plans
will suffer because these retirement plans are not flexible and
do not do well in a bear market. Robert Kiyosaki believes this
may be his most important book yet.
Why We Want You To Be Rich co-authored by Donald Trump (2007)
Why We Want You To Be Rich is a book written by both Robert
Kiyosaki and Donald Trump. It encourages individuals to become
financially literate to combat the upcoming problems facing
America, such as the shrinking middle class and the entitlement
mentality.
Other Books If you want to be Rich & Happy don't go to School? (1992)
The Business School for People Who Like Helping People (2001) -
endorses multi-level marketing.
Retire Young, Retire Rich (2001)
Rich Dad's The Business School (2003)
Who Took My Money (2004)
Rich Dad, Poor Dad for Teens (2004)
Before You Quit Your Job (2005)
Rich Dad's Escape from the Rat Race - Comic for children (2005)
Games Robert Kiyosaki stresses the value of games, particularly
Monopoly, as tools for learning basic financial strategies such
as "trade four green houses for one red hotel". Robert Kiyosaki
has created several games to reinforce the information in his
books.
Cashflow 101
"Cashflow 101" is a board game designed by Robert Kiyosaki,
which aims to teach the players concepts of investing and making
money.
There are two stages to the game. In the first, "the rat race",
the player aims to raise his or her character's passive income
level to where it exceeds the character's expenses. The winner
is determined in the second stage, "the fast track". To win, a
player must get his character to buy his "dream" or accumulate
$50,000 in monthly cash flow.
The game forces the players to do the accounts by themselves. In
place of "score cards", there are financial statements.
Therefore, players can see more clearly what is happening with
their money. It generally shows how assets generate incomes and
liabilities and 'doodads' affect expenses.
Cashflow 202
"Cashflow 202" is a more advanced game than Cashflow 101. It is
designed to help players learn about more sophisticated
investing strategies. Cashflow 101 was generally meant to teach
investing techniques that would work best in an "up market"
where property values steadily increase, whereas Cashflow 202 is
supposed to teach investment strategies for a fluctuating market
where property values depreciate as well as rise.
Cashflow for Kids
"Cashflow for Kids" is basically a children's version of
Cashflow 101, good for ages 5 through 9. There is also a
Cashflow for Kids e-game available for free.
Cashflow The E-Game
"Cashflow The E-Game" is a computer software version of the
Cashflow 101 board game. It is not necessary to have the board
game in order to play the computer game.
Cashflow 202 The E-Game
"Cashflow 202 The E-Game" is a software expansion of the
computer game "Cashflow The E-Game". Its counterpart is the "Cashflow
202" board game.
Rich Dad Advisor Series
The Rich Dad Advisor
Series is a series of books written on different business
topics. These books are seen as more technical in nature as they
tend to be written by lawyers, accountants and other
professionals, they are however written for the lay person and
it is recommended you see your own advisors. Books in the series
include:
How to Buy and Sell a Business: How You Can Win in the
Business Quadrant
Protecting Your #1 Asset : Creating Fortunes from Your Ideas :
An Intellectual Property Handbook
Sales Dogs : You Do Not Have to Be an Attack Dog to Be
Successful in Sales
Real Estate Riches: How to Become Rich Using Your Banker's Money
Loopholes of the Rich: How the Rich Legally Make More Money and
Pay Less Tax
Real Estate Loopholes: Secrets of Successful Real Estate
Investing
Rich Dad's Real Estate Advantages: Tax and Legal Secrets of
Successful Real Estate Investors
Own Your Own Corporation: Why the Rich Own Their Own Companies
and Everyone Else Works for Them
Audio/visual Products Rich Dad's Secrets To Money
You Can Choose To Be Rich: "Think It" "Learn It" "Do It"
Rich Dad's Roads To Riches: 6 Steps to Becoming a Successful
Real Estate Investor
How To Increase The Income From Your Real Estate Investments
How To: Find and Keep Good Tenants (Audio)
How To: Find Great Investments (Audio)
How To: Get Your Banker To Say "Yes! (Audio)
