Rich Dad, Poor Dad Book Review

Rich Dad, Poor Dad Book Review

This book review is about Rich Dad, Poor Dad, which was first published in 1997. It teaches financial literacy to its readers. The author, Mr. Robert Kiyosaki, has two fathers, one who is poor and one who is wealthy. However, the rich dad is not his paternal father; instead, he is a friend of his dad. The two fathers have varying insight on how to earn money, and the author had the opportunity to contrast the two conflicting views as he grew up. He realized that rich dad’s views were more powerful and useful to him. In the book, he guides the reader through the six main points that his father educated him on how to make money work for someone, rather than the person working to gain it.

The relevance of the book.

The book is an attempt by the author to impart financial wisdom to its readers. It depicts that being open about one’s relationship with money. With the future, the individual can become rich by reading books that teach about investment and then using the methods to invest margins of money into stocks. He creates an image of wealth that is dependent on ethical wisdom, as the purpose of ethics is to be strategic while considering the future and working to maximize one’s potential. It also shows a contrast between financial freedom and remaining in economic dependency, where the former will have more risks, but significant reward, and the latter will have lesser risk but an assurance of getting something in the end.

Strengths.

This book teaches people to exercise control over their emotions while making money.

These emotions in question are of fear and desire. It shows that fear of not having money is like working in order not to fail, which is a slippery slope. When an individual gets money, greed gets the better of the individual and makes one think of all the items one can purchase. Desire is the reason for the temptation of pay rise as everyone wants to buy more expensive toys as they go through life. Once an individual develops a character that eradicates this, one’s view of the world will change, and one will apply the right kind of work to be wealthy.

Also, it teaches that fortune favors the bold as it is the means of generating significant amounts of wealth. It explains that every month, investing money into an income-generating asset before handling bills is considered a wise decision (pg. 153-155). When one decides to focus on the bills first, they do not have any pressure and feel too comfortable to create more sources of income.

A good example is seen when the author decided to buy a property that is worth 75,000 dollars for 20,000 dollars, which he would resell to make 60,000 dollars. This was at a time when it was considered the best option to save 100 dollars every month for forty years to become rich. He and his spouse did this for six deals, spending hours on the idea. They made more than 190,000 dollars in assets from this idea, a demonstration of how risk and being bold is more profitable than the conventional notion of saving 100 dollars every day for forty years. How long would they have needed to save to get there?

The book, therefore, considers it to be wise to behave in accordance with a successful investment strategy. By understanding the methods of investment, an individual can invest with ease, and the reverse is also true. Without putting one’s goals on solid, well researched, and defined strategies, one is bound to compete for small amounts of money while others are reaping huge profits. The book is therefore summed up by the belief that there is a difference between working with the intent of not failing and working to win. This means that working to win, one can become successful.

Weaknesses.

In my opinion, the book is mostly a collection of numerous old clichés about money. In his writings, he seems to work to make the clichés the main gist of the book rather than the experiences and stories. Also, the author uses this book to create a hypnotic effect to believe that all that matters in life is getting money. The book looks into an extensive list of financial subjects like the stock market and real estate investment, but not investment and entrepreneurship. The author plays to people’s fantasies of getting wealthy without further education and does so by using vague language in order to make people believe in his teachings, a method of gaining popularity mentioned in the bestselling book 48 laws of power by Robert Greene (Greene, 215. ).

On page 5, the author approvingly mentions that his rich father says that money is power, whereas his poor father says that he has no interest in money. He, therefore, shows that he is a firm believer in money. On page 85, he mentions that his rich dad was making him wait for long periods at such a young age, ignoring him intentionally. He went on to say that he believed it was so because the father wanted him to recognize his power and desire that he may work to have such one day. It is also on page 126, where he mentions that he found the principles of finding value will always be the same, whether in stock, property, and even a spouse.

On page 151, he mentions that it is essential to have rich friends, and his reason for that is that the individual may get inside stock market data, which he or she can use to make low-risk profits. He finishes while saying, that is what friends are for. This is a poor and narrow definition of what friendship is about as it objectifies the idea of friendship where value is found on profit and distinction. He also mentions in the book that when he was young, he was not invited to parties as he was considered a poor kid (pg. 9). One can argue that he shows that success, instead being rich, is the best revenge now that he is rich enough to afford being given a party invitation, unlike when he was a young boy.

In sum, the book shows that an ordinary individual can become very rich; however, it is not as fast or smooth as the book may mention. The book also teaches the reader that risk-taking is the most effective method of being successful rather than the conventional way of depending on education. However, though the book has a negative insight into education as a source of income, it teaches that the idea of getting educated creates a sense of routine that creates the assurance of having a good salary and net worth; however, risk-taking is one that is full of highs and lows, hence more stressful but reaps more significant rewards.