Rich Dad Poor Dad. Robert T. Kiyosaki
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and middle class get angry.
While President Trump promises to reduce taxes for the poor and middle class, the reality is the rich will always pay less in taxes. The reason the rich pay less in taxes goes back to rich dad’s lesson number one: “The rich don’t work for money.” As long as a person works for money, they will pay taxes.
Even when Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was promising to raise the taxes on the rich, she was promising to raise the taxes on those with high incomes—people like doctors, actors, and lawyers—not the real rich.
Twenty Years Ago
Although Rich Dad Poor Dad was not an immediate success, like The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album, Rich Dad Poor Dad did make The New York Times bestseller list by the year 2000 and stayed on that list for nearly seven years. Also in the year 2000, Oprah Winfrey called. I was on Oprah! for the entire hour, and, as they say, “the rest is history.”
Rich Dad Poor Dad has become the number one personal finance book in history, with sales of the Rich Dad series of books estimated at nearly 40 million copies worldwide.
Was There Really a Rich Dad?
Millions have asked, “Was there really a rich dad?” To answer that question, you can listen to rich dad’s son, Mike… when he was a guest on the Rich Dad Radio Show. You can listen to that program by going to Richdadradio.com
Rich Dad Graduate School
Rich Dad Poor Dad was written as simply as possible, so that almost everyone could understand my rich dad’s lessons.
For those who want to learn more, as part of the 20-year celebration, I wrote, Why the Rich Are Getting Richer—What Is Financial Education… Really?
Why the Rich Are Getting Richer goes into greater, more specific detail on what rich dad really taught his son and me when it came to money and investing.
Why the Rich Are Getting Richer is Rich Dad Poor Dad for graduate students… it’s Graduate School for Rich Dad students.
A Warning… and an Invitation
While I did my best to keep Why the Rich Are Getting Richer as simple as possible, what the rich really do is not easy. Or easy to explain. What the rich really do requires real financial education, financial education not taught in our schools.
I suggest reading Rich Dad Poor Dad first, then, if you want to learn more, Why the Rich Are Getting Richer may be for you.
Thank you… for 20 Great Years
To all our readers, past, present, and future…
all of us at The Rich Dad Company say,
“Thank you… for 20 great years.”
It is our mission to elevate the financial well-being of humanity…
and that starts with one life and one person at a time.
Having two dads offered me the choice of contrasting points of view: one of a rich man and one of a poor man.
I had two fathers, a rich one and a poor one. One was highly educated and intelligent. He had a Ph.D. and completed four years of undergraduate work in less than two years. He then went on to Stanford University, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University to do his advanced studies, all on full financial scholarships. The other father never finished the eighth grade.
Both men were successful in their careers, working hard all their lives. Both earned substantial incomes. Yet one always struggled financially. The other would become one of the richest men in Hawaii. One died leaving tens of millions of dollars to his family, charities, and his church. The other left bills to be paid when he died.
Both men were strong, charismatic, and influential. Both men offered me advice, but they did not advise the same things. Both men believed strongly in education but did not recommend the same course of study.
If I had had only one dad, I would have had to accept or reject his advice. Having two dads offered me the choice of contrasting points of view: one of a rich man and one of a poor man.
Instead of simply accepting or rejecting one or the other, I found myself thinking more, comparing, and then choosing for myself. The problem was that the rich man was not rich yet, and the poor man was not yet poor. Both were just starting out on their careers, and both were struggling with money and families. But they had very different points of view about money.
For example, one dad would say, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” The other said, “The lack of money is the root of all evil.”
As a young boy, having two strong fathers both influencing me was difficult. I wanted to be a good son and listen, but the two fathers did not say the same things. The contrast in their points of view, particularly about money, was so extreme that I grew curious and intrigued. I began to start thinking for long periods of time about what each was saying.
Much of my private time was spent reflecting, asking myself questions such as, “Why does he say that?” and then asking the same question of the other dad’s statement. It would have been much easier to simply say, “Yeah, he’s right. I agree with that.” Or to simply reject the point of view by saying, “The old man doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Instead, having two dads whom I loved forced me to think and ultimately choose a way of thinking for myself. As a process, choosing for myself turned out to be much more valuable in the long run than simply accepting or rejecting a single point of view.
One of the reasons the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class struggles in debt is that the subject of money is taught at home, not in school. Most of us learn about money from our parents. So what can poor parents tell their child about money? They simply say, “Stay in school and study hard.” The child may graduate with excellent grades, but with a poor person’s financial programming and mindset.
20 YEARS AGO TODAY...
THE DEBT CLOCK
Fast forward 20 years… and the U.S. national debt is beyond staggering. At press time, it’s nearing $20 trillion. That’s trillion… with a T.
Sadly, money is not taught in schools. Schools focus on scholastic and professional skills, but not on financial skills. This explains why smart bankers, doctors, and accountants who earned excellent grades may struggle financially all of their lives. Our staggering national debt is due in large part to highly educated politicians and government officials making financial decisions with little or no training in the subject of money.
Today I often wonder what will happen when we have millions of people who need financial and medical assistance. They will be dependent upon their families or the government for financial support. What will happen when Medicare and Social Security run out of money? How will a nation survive if teaching children about money continues to be left to parents—most of whom will be, or already are, poor?
Because I had two influential fathers, I learned from both of them. I had to think about each dad’s advice and, in doing so, I gained valuable insight into the power and effect of one’s thoughts on one’s life. For example, one dad had a habit of saying, “I can’t afford it.” The other dad forbade those words to be used. He insisted I ask, “How can I afford it?” One is a statement, and the other is a question. One lets you off the hook, and the other forces you to think. My soon-to-be-rich dad would explain that by automatically saying the words “I can’t afford it,” your brain stops working. By asking the question “How can I afford it?” your brain is put to work. He did not mean that you should buy everything you want. He was