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Robert Toru Kiyosaki (ロバート・トール・キヨサキ, 清崎 徹, born April 8, 1947) is an investor, businessman, self-help author, and motivational speaker. He is married to Kim Kiyosaki. He was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii and is a fourth-generation Japanese-American. Kiyosaki is an alumnus of Hilo High School. He attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in New York, and served in the Marine Corps as a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War. Kiyosaki left the Marine Corps in 1974 and got a job selling copy machines for the Xerox Corporation. In 1977, Kiyosaki started a company that brought to market the first nylon and Velcro "surfer" wallets, which grew into a moderate success. In 1985 Kiyosaki founded a business and investment education company that taught to a large number of students throughout the world.

Kiyosaki is best known for his "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" series of motivational books and other material. He has written 18 books which combined have sold over 26 million copies Although beginning as a self publisher, he is now published by Warner Books, a division of Hachette Book Group USA. 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 games for adults and children and has a series of "Rich Dad" audio cassettes. He also publishes a monthly newsletter and gives motivational talks around the world. *

Robert Kiyosaki's Teachings

A large part of 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, 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. Kiyosaki also proclaims financial leverage to be critically important in becoming rich.

Kiyosaki stresses what he calls "financial education" as a 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 Kiyosaki, in order to obtain financial freedom, one must be either a business owner or an investor, generating passive income.

Kiyosaki speaks often of what he calls “The Cashflow Quadrant.” This is the name given (by him) to the system in which all the money in the world is earned. And “The Cashflow Quadrant” is what he calls a diagram (designed by Kiyosaki) depicting this system. The diagram consist of 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 their own job and is their own boss.
  • B: Business owner – Where a person owns a “system” of making money, rather than a job to make them money.
  • I: Investor – Spending money in order to receive a larger payout in return.

For those who are on the left side of the divide (E and S), it is said by Kiyosaki that one may never obtain true wealth. Conversely, those who are on the right side of the divide (B and I), he says are following the only road to true wealth

Books

Kiyosaki is best known for his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” the #1 New York Times bestseller. Kiyosaki followed with Rich Dad's CASHFLOW Quadrant and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing - all 3 books have been on the top 10 best-seller lists simultaneously on The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The New York Times. He has now had at least a dozen books published. A partial list of his books is included below. *

Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! (2000)

“Rich Dad, Poor Dad - What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!” Written by Robert Kiyosaki & Sharon L. Lechter. Publisher - Warner Business Books / First published in (2000) / ISBN 0446677450 / Barnes & Noble - Reviews

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 (arguably fictitious, see “Criticism and Controversy” section of this article) "rich dad," his best friend's father who became "the richest 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.

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 ownership of securities. This idea is further developed in his later books and "Rich Dad" became 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, 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 (not directly involved in the day-to-day operation of the company), and Investors. 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 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 aren't flexible and don't do well in a bear market. *

From the Publisher:* The #1 New York Times bestselling authors of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series deliver a financial plan to help Baby Boomers survive an impending economic crash. Anyone with a 401(k) knows that investing in mutual funds is not safe, or so claim Kiyosaki and Lechter. Even worse, they warn that a devastating economic crash is imminent because Baby Boomers will soon be required by law to drain trillions of dollars stashed in 401(k)s, IRAs, SEPs, and other mutual fund savings accounts as they start to retire. In short, the country's financial system won't withstand the drain, and relying on a 401K and Social Security will mean financial disaster. Here, Kiyosaki and Lechter provide a financial roadmap for readers to prosper during these troubled times.

Didactic Games

Kiyosaki stresses the value of games; particularly Monopoly as a tool for learning basic financial strategies such as "trade four green houses for one red hotel". 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 or her character to buy their "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 raise.

Cashflow for Kids “Cashflow for Kids” is basically a children’s version of Cashflow 101 it is good for ages 5-9. There is also a cashflow for kids e game. You can get it for free at http://www.richkidsmartkid.com.

Cashflow® The E-Game “Casfhlow® 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”. It’s counterpart is the “Cashflow 202” board game described earlier in this article.

Appearances

PBS

Several local stations of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), including KOCE of Los Angeles, WLIW of the New York/New Jersey area, and WGBH of Boston, have featured Kiyosaki during fund-raising drives. During this television special, Rich Dad's Guide to Wealth with Robert Kiyosaki, he provides viewers with what he calls "financial education", as opposed to academic or professional education.

News

Robert Kiyosaki has been seen giving financial advice on various network television news channels.

New York City's Madison Square Garden (October, 2002)

This speech was the subject of a CNN story.

Criticism and Controversy

Kiyosaki's books and teachings have been criticized by some for having anecdotal lessons, but lacking concrete advice on what exactly one should do. Many readers find his work highly motivational and educational, but some find it lacking information to put it to use. Kiyosaki responds that his material is meant to be more of a motivational tool to get readers thinking about money, rather than a step by step guide to wealth. He also says the books are supposed to be "interesting" to people, which precludes involving a lot of technical material. *

Questions have arisen concerning Kiyosaki's true financial acumen, particularly in light of his ubiquitous, vocal and trusted presence in the popular culture of financial advice. For example, Kiyosaki claimed in one article that investors in any mutual fund with a 2.5% annual fee would, over a long time period, surrender 80% of the earnings to the fund. That this is nonsense requires only a rudimentary knowledge of compound interest to realize.

Kiyosaki has also been criticized for being overly repetitious in his teachings. Some consider this a tactic to produce “filler” material in order to make it appear he is covering more material. Kiyosaki claims that this is an intentional teaching style that he feels is important.

Kiyosaki has made appearances on PBS that are thought by some to be little more than expanded infomercials. This choice of programming has been generally controversial among PBS viewers, and is discussed on John T. Reed's criticism of Kiyosaki.

Critics of Kiyosaki's work have thought some of his advice to be financially poor or even dangerous. For example, he advocates focusing on a few "good investments" rather than diversifying or putting money into 401(k)s. Kiyosaki advocates risk-taking and recommends people "have guts" to take risk (see the "Risk-Taking" section of this article). These standpoints conflict with the views of conservative investors.

Kiyosaki's boardgames have been criticized for being excessively expensive - USD $200 for the most expensive Cashflow 101.

Kiyosaki downplays the importance of traditional/tertiary education to the importance of financial success. There are individuals who would object to this assertion, as well as studies to the contrary.

Some have questioned Kiyosaki's status as a successful investor and businessman prior to the formation of his present venture, CASHFLOW Technologies, Inc. They claim that his wealth has come only as a result of selling books and audio presentations about topics he has not personally succeeded in and that he is probably worth far less than the $50 to $100 million USD he once claimed in an interview. They note he has claimed to be bankrupt as recently as 1985, a high school dropout and a deserter from the military. Some of these items do not agree with records and may have been stated for "dramatic effect". In several of his books he makes claims about his accomplishments which appear to be exaggerations, fabrications or misdirection.

It may be difficult to discern fact from fiction and anecdote in many of his works. Some readers believe that Rich Dad is fictional and that Kiyosaki created him as an author surrogate (a literary device). In the past, Kiyosaki has maintained that Rich Dad actually existed, but that he died decades before the book was first published. However, he has never revealed his name or any other identifying information. Attempts by outsiders to determine Rich Dad's identity have not revealed a conclusive (or even likely) candidate, despite the prominence such a wealthy individual would likely have had in Hawaii in the 1950s. In the February 2003 issue of SmartMoney magazine, Kiyosaki appeared to back off his claim that his "rich dad" was a real person, instead stating “Is Harry Potter real? Why don’t you let Rich Dad be a myth, like Harry Potter?”. Some supporters of Kiyosaki claim to have researched the issue and come up with the notion that “Rich Dad” is really a (now deceased) man named "Richard Kimi". *

Kiyosaki is also an endorser of network marketing (such as Amway, Tahitian Noni, Mary Kay, Quixtar, Juice Plus, etc.) which some consider to be little more than pyramid schemes. He reasons in his book, "The Business School For People Who Like Helping People", that the companies teach the skills necessary to be a successful business owner, like leadership, the ability to sell and teach, and emotional intelligence. Critics say he endorses the industry in order to sell more of his books and material to their members.

Partial Bibliography

  • If You Want to Be Rich & Happy: Don't Go to School? : Ensuring Lifetime Security for Yourself and Your Children (1992) ISBN 0944031382
  • “Rich Dad, Poor Dad - What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!” Written by Robert Kiyosaki & Sharon L. Lechter. Publisher - Warner Business Books / First published in (2000) / ISBN 0446677450 / Barnes & Noble - Reviews
  • Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom (2000) ISBN 0446677477
  • Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not! (2000) ISBN 0446677469
  • Rich Dad's Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Children a Financial Headstart (2001) ISBN 0446677485
  • Rich Dad's Retire Young, Retire Rich (2002) ISBN 0446678430
  • “Rich Dad's Prophecy: Why the Biggest Stock Market Crash in History Is Still Coming... and How You Can Prepare Yourself and Profit from It!” / Publisher: Warner Books, Incorporated / Pub. Date: ([2002) / ISBN 0641622414 / Barnes & Noble - Reviews
  • Rich Dad's Before You Quit Your Job : 10 Real-Life Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Building a Multimillion-Dollar Business (2005) ISBN 0446696374

External Links

1947 births | American motivational writers | American financial writers | Hawaiian businesspeople | Hawaiian writers | Japanese Americans | Living people | Naval aviators | United States Marine Corps officers | United States Merchant Marine Academy Notable Persons and Alumni | Vietnam War veterans

Robert Kiyosaki | Robert Kiyosaki | ロバート・キヨサキ | Robert Kiyosaki | Кийосаки, Роберт | 羅伯特·T·清崎

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Robert Kiyosaki".

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