'Rich Dad, Poor Dad's' Robert Kiyosaki Says He's $1.2 Billion In Debt Because 'If I Go Bust, The Bank Goes Bust. Not My Problem'
'Rich Dad, Poor Dad's' Robert Kiyosaki Says He's $1.2 Billion In Debt Because 'If I Go Bust, The Bank Goes Bust. Not My Problem'
Despite the "get rich quicker" mentality,Kiyosaki's books were revolutionary for me. They basically taught me that it's impossible for the working class to get rich. You need to invest in either a business or real estate.
The missing part is that it's practically impossible to invest in a business or real estate. You need vast amounts of capital or a loan with nearly zero interest. Oh and the ruling class has been sucking us dry for decades.
Still, his books are very valuable knowledge.
The part is greatly disliked about his books is how he glosses over the fact that he had a TON of resources at his disposal. A father figure that's already in business, that tutored him specifically, gave him many connections in the business world, and also let him sit in on business meetings for nearly a decade. The man had more exposure, teaching, and connections than most business majors before he even set foot into the business world.
For a normal person that would take years of schooling and a really tough time making those connections and is an entirely unrealistic comparison.
TL;DR You are right, basically impossible for a normal person to achieve because the resources at his disposal.
There was a video I watched recently about how "this self taught developer did it the right way, follow his idea!"
He already worked in a high paying job that gave him the opportunity to design something for them and then they let him attend meetings to learn as much as possible from consultants they hired...
Ffs yeah if you start on 3rd base getting home isn't the hardest thing to do...
It depends on the type of investing you want to do. The working class can absolutely invest in ETFs at varying risk profiles and build a retirement. They can't drop $100k on an online startup and hope it explodes. They can invest in starting their own business.
It's really hard to go from thousandaire to billionaire, but you can absolutely hit millionaire.
My wife is from a developing country so we invest through her family. I doubt we will ever be rich from it but it does add up. Obviously not an option for everyone but if it is for you might want to look into it.
I read about 1 page of that guy's book years ago, pegged him as a scammer, and put the book back on the shelf. Looks like I got it right.
Another article says his net worth is 100m, so that would mean he might have 1.2b in debt but 1.3b in assets.
I'm not sure that suggests he's a scammer on the surface.
Inside you there are two dads
Neither is a billion dollars in debt
One of them is a billion in debt. But the other one has a billion. Now I'm broke.
His two dads can't make up their mind
His two dad's should get a room
For a second, I thought maybe he was engaging in the popular tax avoidance strategy where you keep your investments in stocks, and then rather than sell them for liquid cash and pay capital gains tax, you take out low rate, interest-only loans using the value of the stock as collateral. It's the sort of bullshit loophole available to the billionaire class to avoid paying their share of tax...
...but no, guy's just leveraged up to his eyeballs in real estate and gold-buggery, and has the audacity to claim to be a finance guru.
I don't get why people idolize him so much. Paying to go to seminars and such. Yes buy assets not liabilities, not complicated but he regularly pushes over leveraging yourself and working in the grey area of financial independence. Him and Ramsey provide good advice on targeted subjects but going all in and following these idols will lead to ruin for most.
How can he be rich if we don't give him money?
He's the most huckstery of the major personal finance canon authors. And his book is pretty meh in comparison to like The Simple Path to Wealth or even I Will Teach You To Be Rich (which I have my own problems with). I feel like he just got in at the right time to go viral, he shouldn't be famous based on the book itself.
iTT: People who think bankers got held accountable in 2008
*poor dad
I love this dude, he says some fucking weird ass shit.
So, ah, that's not how that works.
If he "goes bust" and can't make repayments the bank will take his cars and silver and gold.
This guy is a great author, and those four words "rich dad, poor dad" are masterfully crafted. The book basically says borrow money to buy houses not boats. It's not revolutionary, it's just packaged in a way which is appealing to... poor dads.
No bank in the world is going to hand anybody millions (never mind over a billion) without some reasonable assurance it can be paid back one way or another.
If he was in real estate, they’re taking his property.
IIRC, the advice was basically a recipe for overleveraging yourself in debt trying to make money with “throw everything and see what sticks” (and then blaming them for not being “savy” enough when it becomes apparent they can’t manage the debt.)
Which is what happened to a friend of mine that kept bouncing from one self help book to the next (he was a big fan of what’s-his-but-zero-debt-guy until his church group read it.)
“It really resonated with what you said… I have a responsibility to my kids!”
“Uhm, I was talking about not having a third when you already need help with two.”
“No no. I get it now…” (and now we’re not friends because he asks for advice, doesn’t listen to it and blames you for when it doesn’t work. It also wasn’t about finances per se.)
You say that, but Deutsche Bank and others have been very happy to loan Trump money over the years and they must know he won't pay it back.
It was basically instructions on how to become a grifter, with very little actionable advice. Here is a podcast the breaks down books like this.
https://pod.link/1651876897/episode/1a9316ba1134a0c2484e8fc6e416b978
Remember we're probably not talking about a single person, but an company. His company is likely over valued because of how famous his books/seminars are. And yes, while he probably has real estate, it's probably not the same business. When they come after him, they probably hit one side of the business and not the other.
It's very possible someone gave him a ton of loans that are undeserved because they overvalued the names. We see it all the time in the stock market.
Thank you, I always assumed it was more capitalism pearl clutching and to know it's another 'get a mortgage' flip answered all my questions.
Yeah it's the common sense stuff we all know to be true. "Save and invest your money! Compound interest magic! Investments increase in value!"
IIRC he makes a case for ripping off his employees. Justification is that if he have them more money they would just waste it, but he will invest it.
You might be surprised then, to see how many people seem to lack understanding of that apparently obvious concept.
Aspirational propaganda. You're only poor because you're not as smart as me and I've found all of the secrets to being rich! Why isn't everyone rich, this is crazy to me.