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My Beef With Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Robert Kiyosaki!
Ever heard of Rich Dad Poor Dad? I have to start by admitting that I used to like Robert Kiyosaki. In fact, one of the very first books on finance and money that I ever read was his first one called Rich Dad Poor Dad. That book, to it’s credit, did change the way I looked at money, but it also reinforced the acceptance of debt in order to prosper, which by now I believe is not only nonsense, but horrible financial advice.
The best part of that book was reading about and understanding the difference between how rich and poor people teach their children about money.
Ultimately, I found Rich Dad Poor Dad, & Cashflow Quadrants to be somewhat beneficial, but I still would not recommend them. Even Dave Ramsey, someone that I greatly admire and respect, recommends his first book. It’s even in the recommended reading for coordinators of Financial Peace University. Ramsey clearly disagrees with him on the debt issues, but admits there is something of value to be used. Me and Dave actually disagree on something. 
The Beef
My beef isn’t with the first set of books, or really any of them for that matter, it’s more about Robert Kiyosaki’s recent advice about saving money, and how his financial seminars are conducted. Anytime he is confronted about it he claims to not know anything about it, yet it continues to happen. His seminars have become a way for him to make tons of money by employing bullying tactics to get money from people wanting to learn his “secrets”.
Some disturbing complaints about RDPD
Rich Dad Investigative Report – CBC
Review by I Will Teach You To Be Rich
For starters, there are paid seminars that apparently mostly promote more expensive seminars. You may pay $500 just to learn and be talked into “investing money” to the tune of 12 to 45 thousand dollars, so that you may have the privilege of learning “advanced investing techniques”. I’m sorry but that is a scam, and I don’t respect anyone who scams others for the sake of profit and wealth.
In one of these “cheap” seminars the instructor instructs the audience to go “RIGHT NOW” and ask their creditor for a credit increase to at least $100K. I’m not even kidding at all! When the instructor is asked questions about the validity of such a request the instructor becomes angry and verbally abusive.
Why Robert Kiyosaki is Dangerous
The danger isn’t in reading his books, IF you can separate the good advice from the bad. The problem is in reading his books and then falling for his get rich quick schemes, or as he may call them “secrets”. His secrets involve using massive debt as investment leverage. You know…the “use other people’s money to make money” lie. That is a dangerous approach to managing money, and one that can show you the fast track to bankruptcy and fast.
His good debt bad debt philosophy is not as harmful if you are using that advice to buy a home. Although, I adamantly encourage the 100% down plan, if you are using it to buy the home you want to live in you will probably be fine. This is assuming of course that you have taken some necessary steps beforehand. Like having an emergency fund of six months of expenses, have an additional 20% saved up for a down payment to avoid paying PMI, and buy within your means. (It’s not a bad idea to get a 15 year mortgage instead of a 30 either.)
BUT, when you take his advice on using debt to invest in real estate for example, you are doing more harm to yourself than good. There are not many investors with the financial know how to be able to pull this off, and the reason why is because they can never predict the future. When you try to predict the future and then sign your name on the dotted line to do so, you are risking everything. It may seem like a great idea to invest using other people’s money, but the one’s telling you to do so are likely trying to suck you into their “secrets revealed” box set or in this case a $45,000 seminar.
I don’t care who you are, your financial advice is not worth $45,000 dollars. In my book, the name Robert Kiyosaki has become a definite RED FLAG! In the end, Mr. Kiyosaki is ONLY interested in making as much money as he can, not helping others become wealthy. I do not believe he cares about you or your future.
I listen to and follow the advice of people who care about where I end up. I personally believe that there are far too many legitimate personal finance authors and bloggers out there that really want to help you, to even recommend reading one of Robert Kiyosaki’s books. There might be some good morsels in them, but you’d be better off getting your financial advice from someone who cares about the people they claim to be helping.
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[...] but hardly the least, my man Brad (@enemyofdebt) set it off with this post about his beef with Rich Dad, Poor Dad author @Kiyosaki_Robert. Brad is hardly the only one unimpressed (I’m guilty as charged too) [...]
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[...] My Beef With Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Robert Kiyosaki! [...]
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[...] My beef with Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Enemy of Debt [...]
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[...] My Beef With Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Robert Kiyosaki from @enemyofdebt This post has some must read comments as well. People have incentives. For Robert Kiyosaki he makes more and more money the more and more he gets you to his seminars. His books are bait he puts out for his seminars. Tread carefully. [...]
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[...] My Beef With Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Robert Kiyosaki! at Enemy of Debt [...]
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[...] My Beef With Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Robert Kiyosaki! [...]
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[...] But, lately, Kiyosaki has been the target of a lot of complaints on how he’s marketing his products. I read about this at the Enemy of Debt blog a few weeks ago. [...]
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Wow, never knew that these “Kiyosaki Seminars” exist. I have listened to Rich Dad Poor Dad, and liked it a lot. However, If someone then turns around and asks for that much money to tell YOU how to get rich, ,kind of smells fishy. Let alone – what happens if the 100K investment fails. Is it backed with a Kiyosaki Warranty – Money back guarantee. I doubt it.
I know Julie, fishy indeed. I think Mr. Kiyosaki has changed because of his wealth. You can disagree with his views on debt and still take something away from his books, but now I think it would be better to just look elsewhere for financial advice. It’s too bad too.
Oh yeah, I doubt anything is backed at all. The reason for the credit increase is so that they can then afford his “advanced” investment seminar. That is scandalous. Shame on Robert Kiyosaki for employing such tactics.
That makes me sad that someone will use his ‘fame’ status to scam people out of money that way. Especially when the people he’s scamming are the people coming to him because they ALREADY have a debt problem.
GEEZ. The world is full of jerks like this and unfortunately they always seem to be able to get away with it.
Thank Goodness for Dave!!
Thank goodness for Dave Ramsey is right. People don’t have to agree with Dave Ramsey on everything either but at least they can go home knowing that he isn’t scamming them. I truly believe Dave has the heart of a teacher that he talks about all the time. Those are the kind of people I will listen to when it comes to how I manage my money.
What about Dave’s acceptance of kickbacks to refer people to commissioned sales people (his investment “ELPs”) rather than fee-only advisors who would be bound by a fiduciary oath to serve the client’s interests?
What about proof that that is happening? Do you have undercover video of him receiving kickbacks? Do you even have proof that his ELP’s are commissioned salesmen?
Dave is very adamant about his ELP’s having the heart of a teacher for the exact purpose of avoiding what you are accusing him of. I have heard him pretty much fire ELP’s on the radio show for taking advantage of people. I think your accusation has no real merit other than that there are some people out there that hate him because his investment advice is “simple”. “Kickbacks?” In his investment lesson he is quite clear that he recommends using investment services that are not sold by commissioned salesmen, so I find this claim to be laughable.
I have dealt with two different investment ELP’s and one of them actually pushed me towards a bank product because it was a better deal. The first one sent me to the second one because he was too busy to take my money and wanted me to get quality assistance. Besides, what does Dave Ramsey have to do with this article anyway?
Robert Kiyosaki is a scam artist and I have links proving it. I just find it funny that you would use a post meant to criticize a proven case of an “investment guru” (your field) taking advantage of people and use it to take shots at Dave Ramsey. If you have facts let’s see them.
He admits it right on his site: http://www.daveramsey.com/elp/faq/
“Do ELPs pay a fee? Yes. For ELPs, the program is a form of local advertising.”
And he’s on record in several places as recommending commission-paid brokers rather than fee-only CFPs or RIAs. Here, for example: http://www.daveramsey.com/article/daves-investing-philosophy/lifeandmoney_investing/
For the record, I’m not a fan of Kiyosaki at all. His advice is shoddy, he’s derogatory toward anybody holding a full-time job, and his seminar business is shady from the ground up. My comment wasn’t intended as a defense of him in any way.
I was simply responding to the way in which Dave was brought up as somebody who you can trust 100%, because I don’t think that’s true.
Dave Ramsey’s advice for getting out of debt is excellent, and I commend him sincerely and emphatically for his success in helping people do exactly that. His investment advice, however, leaves much to be desired.
If you would prefer to move this conversation to email in order to maintain the original topic of this post, please do.
Can’t argue with that Mike. I will admit though that when someone uses the word kickbacks it makes it seem as though they are saying something shady is going on. I do not believe there is anything wrong with Dave Ramsey getting paid to promote people he endorses. I wouldn’t exactly call that kickbacks in the sense that he is unethically receiving money to promote harmful services. I will concede that Dave Ramsey is mostly an expert in real estate and becoming debt free. Investing is not something I consider his strong suit but I never considered his advice harmful to my plan. If it is in fact bad advice, I am open to hear why it is and even to the possibility that I may disagree with Dave Ramsey on the issue as well.
When I say I trust Dave Ramsey it’s not that I blindly accept everything he says to be the “right” way, I just do not believe that he is being dishonest for the sake of making more money. I do believe he follows the same principles he teaches but that certainly doesn’t mean that his way is the right way. As I said above, I really would like to know more about investing, and if what I learn convinces me that Dave is wrong then so be it. I do agree with him that single stocks are risky enough for me to want to leave alone, and that mutual funds is a great alternative assuming that the funds are not just picked out of thin air. I do know that Roth IRA’s (per your email) are good retirement vehicles but am curious to learn about the other advantages from tax-deferred investment options.
The other thing is, I do not see why it is more beneficial to pay an annual fee when you can pay an upfront commission one-time. I could swear that I have heard Dave recommend against commissioned brokers but as you pointed out, I am in fac wrong about that. Maybe I am confusing Dave with others advice because I have read many finance books that say to avoid working with anyone that is being paid to sell you something because they get paid more, as opposed to pairing you up with the best options available. I think Dave clearly expects his ELP’s to educate the client rather than take advantage of them for money. If what you are saying is true then why would there be investment ELP’s willing to overlook the things you point out as bad advice? Surely their motives could be different than Dave’s I agree, but that does make me curious.
And yeah I did kind of think you were taking up for Kiyosaki, but also admit that it was a total assumption not because of anything you said in your comment. I also want to apologize to you because you were right, it was me that brought Dave Ramsey into the conversation, so your comment was completely relevant. I hope you can see why I thought it wasn’t relevant though as I was kind of under the impression that you were sticking up for Robert’s actions, and jumping on Dave in the same comment. Thanks for clearing that part up.
Thank you so much for the comment Mike. You really have me thinking this morning and instead of just accepting what Dave Ramsey says to be true about investing, I’d like to be educated myself as to why he is wrong. I am hoping that you can help me see what I am missing so that I can also give people better investment advice. (Trust me, there’s a reason why you do not see a category about investing on EOD.) LOL I’m honestly scared of all the possibilities, which is why Dave’s advice seems soothingly simple and easy to follow. Personally we have not made it to the investing part of the baby steps so I have not done much research myself, but did plan to. Maybe I should start now since I will have my full emergency fund by the end of the year.
I agree with you 100%. One of the first finance books I read was ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ also. I read it because of all of the hype surrounding it. It turns out, I learned some good foundation from that book–things like, ‘Assets buy luxuries’, ‘Poor people work for money, rich people’s money works for them’, and ‘Have your job and your business’. This is sound advice and I credit this book with starting me on my road to Financial Freedom and my interest in reading as much about finance as possible. But…..
Like you, I believe Kiyosaki started out with the intent to inform with the first book and board game. But, after the success of the two, I believe he got greedy and saw this avenue as his own ‘get rich quick’ scheme. All of the subsequent books, in my opinion, have no value whatsoever, except to put money in Kiyosaki’s pocket.
It’s true that money does change people. Either it changes them for the better, or the worse, and Kiyosaki seems to have gone down the dark path. One of the first signs that Kiyosaki was in it for the money was the price of his board game. $200 for a board game is a bit ridiculous, but to the games credit it is a fun game to play and it does teach the players about assets, liabilities, net worth. My wife’s parents actually bought the game a long time ago.
Personally I believe that if Kiyosaki’s investment techniques work so well for him he wouldn’t have to charge so much to teach others the same system. I think it only proves his using debt system sucks. Why else would someone that built wealth feel the need to rip people off?
I don’t think money changes people. I think money makes you more of whoever you are. If you are generous, you become more generous. If you are proud, your pride grows. If you are obsessive with money, the obsession grows. If you are greedy, the greed grows.
Great post by the way. I had no idea.
I would actually agree with that Kaye! Nicely said!
I agree with Kaye too- If you check out the Link Labeled John T. Reed’s View you will find there was a LOT wrong with the first book.
-Rick Francis
I agree Rick. The problem for many it seems is that it was the “first” finance book they ever read which means that there’s not much to compare it to. Now that I have read many books on finance I can totally see where his first book was void of quality content. I think Robert was good at taking one simple concept and turning in to an entire book. For instance his cashflow quadrants book makes a good point about the different types of people and their characteristics but it was very broad.
For those of you keeping score at home, that’s:
EOD 1
RDPD 0
Haha! Yeah baby! Thanks Chris!
I’ve heard about this matter and am glad you are getting the word around! The books have decent advice, but the tatics of his business model are NO GOOD!
No good at all!
I do not really like Suze Orman all that much but I would prefer and even recommend someone read her books over the RDPD series. Thanks for stopping by Christine! 
B-Rad, I’ll have to disagree. I would never recommend Mrs. FICO to anyone. Both authors (Snoozy and Dick) can make good points, but neither should the “poster child” for investing or debt advice. I believe people should read as many PF authors as possible to get a whole view of the options out in the world. Personal finance is personal and following only one program can add blinders to a person’s education of finance and investing.
So true! I completely agree with you and “Young Mogule’s” point of view. I too learned a lot from RDPD and even enjoyed the first half of his latest book “Conspiracy of the Rich.” However he does encourage a reckless lifestyle when it comes to debt.
A friend of mine pointed out one of the things he says over and over in his books: When talking about creating passive income he often says things like, “When I need more money, I just write another book.” At times in his later books it really feels like that!
So yes, I’m a RDPD fan but would not recommend it to anyone who I wasn’t confident in their ability to extract the good principles from the risky. Great review Brad!
Agreed. Read his books at your own risk, and only if you can decipher the good from the bad. Thanks Deacon Bradley for your thoughts!
I agree! Rich Dad Poor Dad, was a great but vague read… But the rest, not so much.
John T. Reed has a website that does an excellent job pointing out Robert’s inconsistencies and problems in general… Just google “John Reed Rich Dad”
In this case a picture is worth a thousand words, love it!!!
Good job!
Thanks Don, I will definitely check out what John Reed has to say. Maybe I will do a follow up review on what I find. Thanks dude!
Even the books only had about one page of good information, buried in 200 more pages of repetition and drivel. But it’s always a tell-tale sign that your rags to riches story is bogus, when you start charging people money to attend seminars on how you did it. The way you really got rich? Convincing people to pay you a fortune to attend seminars that won’t make them rich.
I have heard many people claim the same thing, and I would definitely agree. Mostly drivel with some good tidbits occasionally. like I said the most I got from his point of view was attitude. Rich people and poor people have different attitudes about money and how they teach their children reflects that difference.
Oh and you are OH SO RIGHT when you say “But it’s always a tell-tale sign that your rags to riches story is bogus, when you start charging people money to attend seminars on how you did it. The way you really got rich? Convincing people to pay you a fortune to attend seminars that won’t make them rich.” Amen! I’ll add that he is putting people in debt to accomplish this. There is nothing more sickening to me than that.
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
Brad – Thank you for making this known to all of us. You know I read Rich Dad Poor Dad many many years ago and like you the advice to get into debt to make money was something I was all about. The problem was I got in to so much debt I wasn’t able to do anything. Thus I didn’t become a rich dad, but a poor dad.
I’ve heard of the seminars before, but knew they weren’t for me. Glad I never went to one of them.
That sounds like a blog title. “How to become a Poor Dad by using Rich Dad’s advice” LOL
Building wealth by using debt eventually runs out of advantages. Eventually you run out of people willing to loan you more money, which is why I believe he charges $45,000 to attend his bogus investment seminars.
I was completely turned off by RDPD advice and seminar tactics as well!
Good for you Lakita!
It seems as though greed has become his inspiration to allow him to take advantage of people in that way. I can’t believe the stuff that was said to those people in the video. Unbelievable! That’s why I had to write about this.
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2010/road_to_rich_dad/main.html
Thanks Adam, you may not have noticed I linked to this in the article above. Thanks for sharing though.
By the way, RDPD was also my first book on personal financing, and I too completely disagree with his acceptance of debt. I think, however, having certain “good” debt (mortgage, student loans) are (somewhat) necessary for us Canadians to have in today’s society, as long as we are able to live comfortably while repaying these debts. An example of my disagreement with Kiyosaki’s philosophy would be vehicle debt; in many cases, this is bad debt since it gives you nothing but transportation until the car is gone.
I’ve been a modestly successful investor for 4 years now, and I must mention that David Chilton’s “The Wealthy Barber” is by far the best related book on personal financing, and it’s a quick and easy read to boot. He touches on 10 core principles which have helped shape my way of thinking when it comes to personal financing.
Pay yourself first? Not likely, Mr. Kiyosaki… but I’ll be sure to put that 10% of my salary away that Mr. Chilton encourages us to.
Brad–I take a more benign view here. I’ve read his book (I have it actually) and have heard him speak, and I think he’s brilliant. Not that I’d follow all his advice, or anyone else’s for that matter.
It looks as if he’s monetizing his popularity. Maybe he believes he’s taken things as far as he can go, and he’s cashing out. Maybe he sees dark days ahead for the economy and thinks it’s time to make it while you can–I really don’t know. But what I do know is that there are people with the money and the motivation to go all the way to paying top dollar to get the inside scoop. I think that is a bit of an issue, but it’s an individuals choice.
There probably are no secrets he hasn’t already divulged in his books or seminars anyway, but maybe he’s found a way to put a slick spin on them. The reality is that no one really has a secret, not with all of the information freely available on the web. There’s a saying, “if it’s new it isn’t true, if it’s true it isn’t new”.
Apparently, even people with big bankrolls haven’t figured that out yet.
The problem I have with him, and the reason I wouldn’t recommend him to others, is because of his seminar tactics and the methods he uses to extract money from unsuspecting people who think they are learning secrets. Those things happen as shown in the video, and he allows his name to be attached to that. I cannot support that at all by continuing to read or promote his materials.
I tend to judge someone based on what they are doing now, as opposed to what they’ve done in the past. He has definitely taen a turn fr the worse, even if you consider his earlier stuff to have value.
Great comment Kevin!
I have read his book. I found very little to use in it.
Yeah as Kathy pointed out it is highly repetitive and loaded with drivel.
Howdy Donna!
I have to admit I do like Robert Kiyosaki. I find that he ALWAYS motivates me to think AND to do something about my finances. For that, I am eternally thankful. However, I strongly disagree with many of his views regarding debt. I do think that he knows how to minimize risk AND has advised in subsequent books NOT to do what he did to become financially-free. I do not know how much people will listen to those cautions (minimize risk and don’t overleverage) given the hypocracy: do what I say and not what I did. Additionally, even some of what he says can be dangerous.
He motivated me at first too, and actually caused me to start reading up on personal finance more, but as I learned more and more, the more I realized how useless his books really are. There are some pieces of good advice but nothing that you couldn’t get completely from someone else that is not so attached to scandal and get rich quick schemes. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Roshawn.
The problem is though that many of the other PF gurus aren’t as inspiring in the area of wealth-building or have a very similar message to Kiyosaki. I read and listen to a lot of them. Dave Ramsey’s focus is debt elimination, and Suze’s “gift” is empathy.” Kiyosaki inspires you to think about and act differently with regards to your finances. It’s educational, but not all his advice is practical. I also think he deliberately choooses provacative language to sell his products, but for the most part, his message isn’t that different from many other real estate guru’s: OPM, leverage, cash flow, tax reduction. etc. He is a contrarian, but perhaps his biggest distinction from other RE people is sells his message so well, he has a mainstream platform.
Here’s the thing for me. I cannot be inspired by a man that rips people off plain and simple. He may have a few good tidbits to share, but he could have ALL the answers and I would still write this post, never buy another one of his books, nor recommend him to anyone. To me it’s like liking a serial killer because he did something nice when he was younger. It doesn’t take away from the fact that he became a serial killer. It doesn’t matter to me if any of Kiyosaki’s material is great, (which it’s not) he’s still a conman making money off of the hopes and dreams of others. Did you watch the video? Do you support that?
No I didn’t watch the video. I must have missed it in your post.
Here’s what I don’t understand: If someone is rich AND they are so good at making money, why do they need to charge so much money to teach me how to do it?
Exactly Chad, and the best answer to that question came from Kathy Kristoff.
I read many of Roberts books, I even was following him on twitter. Then I saw the video of how he was ripping people off and I have since stopped listening to his advice.
The reality was he had a great business writing books but with the seminars it shows that he defiantly doesn’t care about his customers. Debt is not the way to riches, I am a business owner and carry next to nothing when it comes to debt and I feel a whole lot better because of it.
I could also say I was a fan of his until I saw the video, although I wasn’t an active fan. His views on debt kept me from taking him seriously. When I watched the video a few weeks ago I knew it was over for me.
I wonder….will he loan you the $45,000 to take the advanced course? LoL.
Thanks for the article. I did not know about the seminars. However the last book I bought by Mr. Kioysaki totally sucked. I am done!
Crazy!
I really do like Robert but I don’t agree with how he runs his seminars. I still believe that leverage is on of the keys to building wealth but it has to be done in a way that you are comfortable with and that you can handle.
You can do it without leverage it will just take longer.
Cheers!
Brandon
Welcome Brandon!
I think how he allows his seminars to be run reflects the kind of guy he truly is. You are certainly welcome to your own opinion about debt but I think leveraging debt is one of the most risky and unnecessary ways to build wealth. I also would disagree that it takes you longer too, but I suppose that really could go either way. Some do it faster and some don’t on both sides of the coin. With that said I wouldn’t say that leveraging debt is a key to building wealth, but it certainly is one way to go about it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Brandon! I hope you return to discuss other posts in the future.
There are thousands of salesmen out there selling expensive books, seminars, and mentoring services on investing. Kiyosaki is just another in a long line of snake oil salesmen. You really should read Reed’s review of Kiyosaki at
http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html
and then look through Reed’s list of real estate investment “gurus”:
http://www.johntreed.com/Reedgururating.html
Note how many sleezy “investment gurus” charge huge fees for their seminars. Like Kiyosaki, these guys have never made any substantial money from investing. They make it by selling expensive books and seminars to ordinary people who can least afford to throw their money away. I’d recommend applying Reed’s BS detection checklist to anyone you’re thinking about following:
http://www.johntreed.com/BSchecklist.html
Thank you very much for this comment Carter. Very helpful. Yeah I caught a glimpse at what Reed had to say in my link from him above. He really does not like Kiyosaki at all. I really like the list he put together too. That is very helpful.
I sincerely appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to share this with me and my readers. Thank you very much and please come back soon.
YUK…. sounds like going to a time share meeting!
As for pf advice… I don’t think I will ever attend a big swissy seminar (it goes against the point of saving cash, right?)… especially with churches, local groups and things running Dave’s courses at minimal cost.
LOL exactly Forest! The only reason the get rich quick gurus are rich is because people buy into their “secrets” seminars. Building wealth has no secrets!
Hey Brad, interesting post. I also read Rich Dad, Poor Dad recently, and wrote a review on it. For the most part, I thought it was a good motivational book. It didn’t have much specific financial advice though. There were a few parts I didn’t agree with, but I didn’t know what was so controversial about the book or the author.
I guess the seminars are where the controversy comes from. How did you find out about the seminar fees and the things that go on there? Did you actually go to one? Or just read about other people’s experiences?
I personally would never pay to go to seminars, unless I did a lot of homework. And although his book was okay, his seminars seem like the kind I wouldn’t want to attend.
Yeah I admit his books aren’t bad although I think there are much better ones out there that have more meat in them. I found out about the seminars by watching the CBC report linked in the article. It clearly shows that his seminars are scandalous. He tries to act like he is upset about it but still things are the way they always have been for them. If I have to pay $500 or more to go to a seminar to me that is a red flag. I believe there is good information out there for free and if I really want to learn it, I can do some reading. Robert Kiyosaki’s books have some okay insight in them but that’s as far as it goes really. There definitely is a motivational aspect to them as well, but there are so many other books that motivate and offer something substantial. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
I love the graphic you put up for this blog post… Haha.
I also have my doubts about Robert Kiyosaki since I read reviews and criticisms of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, but I have to admit that the basic thesis of his book is solid: Think about where your dollars go, and use them to buy assets rather than liabilities. Notwithstanding his other gimmicky advice, this one is pretty sound.
I cannot really call myself an “enemy of debt”, as I believe that debt can sometimes be useful (I wouldn’t be able to buy a home for many years without it, that’s for sure!). However, debt for the wrong reasons or too much debt is no good. What is your take on the building sovereign debt crisis?
I do agree that there are some tidbits of useful advice in his first book so it you want to read it, may I suggest, you get it from the library. This man definitely does not deserve to receive any more royalties.
I was first introduced to RK via his Yahoo! finance column. Um, in the first one I read, he said that poor people were stupid, lazy and evil. I’m not kidding–those were his exact words. It was shocking. He then went on to extol the virtues of Nazis and other fascist regimes, because they “got stuff done!” Yes, I’m serious. Even more disturbing, his fans came out in droves when I wrote a WTF?!?! comment, defending him, trying to explain to me what he “really” meant. Chances are, the skeeze wrote exactly what he meant.
He has always smacked of a scam artist to me, but after reading those really disturbing articles, I decided that I could find gems of wisdom from someone else.
I’ve never read RDPD or Suze Orman or any personal finance book but I’ve seen them on TV and have cringed at the amount of misinformation and absolutes that they preach.
I definitely think that people need to find things to motivate them to action. Unless you act, your situation is never going to change. However, you also always need to check your facts, check your facts and check your facts. People are human and they make mistakes. They also don’t like to admit that they don’t know something so many people tend to make things up.
The best road to wealth is hard work, action, smart use of opportunities, education, common sense, good sense of self preservation, and clarity. These are just some of the requirements. Oooh and for some, Lady Luck is kind.
I hate to sound mean but people that pay for the 3 day training.. Did you really think you were going to learn all about real estate in those 3 days? I mean did you really think the instructor.motivator was going to be able to put his years of experience and time into 3 days and you were going to understand it (master it) and leave knowing how to make money? If you did you were a moron.
From my person experience I signed up for a the 3 day training in August of 2010 it was fine for me My lady and I only paid $200.000 What did we gain from that?
- Scripts (these are important)
- An action plan
- Ways to negotiate short sales
- How to find motivated sellers
- how to find motivated buyers
- Assignment of Contract
Ok there was more but those were the main ones for us we walked out of there knowing how to replace our income. 2 weeks after our training we got our LLC set up and we’ve landed 2 deal for $5k each (assignment of contract yes)
The problem is most of the people that attend these training courses don’t put things into action. TRUE we would learned this and more from books, but when you have questions about things it’s hard o get answers. That’s why this training was important to us.
Most of you don’t realize but you can sit down with a consultant and pay 500 (which is what some of you paid for your training)for a few hours!
Our training gave us exactly what we needed to start making money as soon as we were done. He went over it 4 times extensively
200-500 investment of training (yes some up selling too) = 5k a month if you are assigning the contract. You gotta learn to put things into action
You paid $200,000 to learn something you could have learned for much less. If you are okay with that then fine, but most people don\’t want to pay $500 to be upsold on more product. They should get something for that $500 \”investment\”. Come on, you can learn so much for so much less by going to business school. I\’m not impressed with the route you took although I admit that if you are okay with getting ripped off even though you eventually see results then so be it. Robert Kiyosaki is a crook.