Book Review Of Rich Dad Poor Dad

Rich Dad Poor Dad
by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Release: 1^st April 2000.
Genre: Self Help

Summary:

Welcome Back Readers!

I know Rich Dad and Poor Dad is a very old book which I am going to review, but for me this is the most interesting self-help that I have ever read. Trust me, I finished it within few hours without taking any break. The reason I could finish it up so fast was because of its simplified formulas and simple thought process of him and his rich dad. To be very honest with you, I was not at all interested in reading this financial literacy. Since long I was trying to not read this book because I always used to think that financial literacy or personal investments lessons are tough for a common person to understand who have not gone through any such courses in schools. This was the reason that I read this book after so many years and I regret for I should have read this book when I was in college. Anyways, its never too late, but I would like to suggest those who have not read this book to read it as early as possible. Soon you will get to know why I am saying this.

Basically, Rich Dad Poor Dad is the story of Author “Robert T. Kiyosaki” himself. The book starts from his childhood (his building block phase). Since his childhood he wanted to be rich as other rich kids in his school who used to have new baseball gloves, new bicycle, new everything. His desire to be rich arose from that time. He had two fathers, a rich and a poor one. One was highly educated and intelligent and the other never finished even his eighth grade. He calls his own dad as poor dad, and rich dad was the father of his best friend Mark.

Both were successful in their careers, both earned substantial incomes. Yet, one always struggled financially while the other became one of the richest men. One died leaving millions of dollars to his family while the other left bills to be paid. Their suggestions were other side of coins. Both strongly believed in education but never recommended the same course of study. There were differences in their opinions, one believed that "The love of Money" is the root cause of all evil while other would say "The lack of Money" is the root cause of all the evil. Having two dads offered him the choice of contrasting point of views. But, he had to follow one path, and he followed rich dad’s path.

Lessons Learnt from Rich Dad:

His Rich Dad always believed that poor and middle class work harder and harder for money, but for rich, money works for them. Rich dad always used to say that rich are rich because they have kids, but poor would say they are not rich because they have kids. His rich dad also stressed on education, but not to work for money but to buy company so that money would work for him. Since 9 till the age of 35, his rich dad used to guide him and strongly believed that money is not something to play safe always, rather its like a game where you need to take risks to reach to the next level. He made him learn how he could get out of this rat trap (work hard, spend on expenses, debt and then again work hard) and become a financially free person.

My Review:

As I already mentioned, it is the most simplified version of financial literacy. He not only focuses on the reason why most people are working for money instead of making money, but also the solution to get out of this rat race and become financially independent. It was not eye opening, but I would rather say that this was an eye widening concept for me. I could have never realized the importance of personal investment. He has also listed 10 lessons that he learnt from his rich dad which includes how small small steps makes bigger difference in financial status.

People like us always get trapped in self doubt and what if clause, what if the market crashes, what if my share goes down, all these hold us back to take calculative risk. But, according to him this can be overcome by technical knowledge as well as courage to take risk because since childhood we are told to play safe when it comes about money. In schools we are punished whenever we make mistakes but in real time we learn only from our mistakes. Mistakes make better version of ourselves. So, he also encourages the reader not only to gain knowledge but also act, and while acting we might end up by making mistakes but that’s ok.

Rich always focuses on the assets column and poor has only expenses, but middle class buy liabilities that they think are assets. Narrator is not against liabilities or comforts, but he is only trying to convey that you should first focus on your asset column and those assets will make money for you which can be used to pay your expenses. The money from assets should also get you liabilities which you are expending from your hard-earned income. The ideal cash flow should be something like the below diagram.

What all things I liked about the book

·       The top reason why I liked this book is due to its simplicity, author uses very basic and simple diagram to make us understand the cash flow. How the cash flow should be ?

·       He has also shared his personal example on how his small and simple math calculation made him rich.

·       He has also explained how education systems are training future generation to work for money. It is generation job seeker, but not the job creators

·       According to him, to become rich doesn’t need lots of money but need financial IQ.

·       He also emphasizes that money making is not a rocket science, once you stopped working for money, one day money will follow you.

What all things I disliked about it

·       Honestly speaking I don’t have any reason to dislike this book. In fact, I wish I could have read this in my college days.

Reason to read it

·       If you want to spend your life financially independent, then you must go through this.

·       If you want to get yourself out of this rat trap of working hard for money, spend and then debt, then again I would suggest you to go for it.

·       If you are in college and don’t want to spend your life just paying electricity bills, phone bills, bla bla bla ... then you should soon educate yourself with this fundamental of financial literacy. Soon you start your money-making process, soon you will be free from your job and get retired peacefully.

Any Reason to skip it

·       If you do not like changes and want to follow the old processes, then you may skip this book.

My Ratings: 

I would like to rate 5 out of 5 stars and of course I am going to act upon it.