Robert Kiyosaki wrote this as an introduction to the rules the rich use when it comes to money. *Spoiler alert* many of the financially responsible things you’ve been taught won’t make you rich. If you don’t want to get rich, go to school to get a good job to work most of your life to hopefully retire comfortably. If you want to get rich, you’ll need a whole new set of rules based on the concepts of assets/liabilities and cashflow (net monthly income on an investment). This book will teach you those rules.

Where I found it:
After several financial conversations, my husband’s carpool buddy thought we might enjoy it and lent it to us.

My takeaways:
This book opened my eyes to macro money. Previously I had always focused on spending less and stashing money away. Now I know, if you are saving money, you are losing money. The value of the dollar is going down and if you want to maintain your wealth, you can’t just let your money sit or invest in something cookie cutter or that you don’t understand (such as 401K index funds). I’m going to keep a very strong emergency fund, but I want to get any extra reserved money in action working for me instead of sitting stagnant in a fiat currency and actually loosing value.

This book stresses the importance of working with a team. Stop taking advice from people with “poor” mindsets. You want to surround yourself with brilliant people so that you are always the stupidest person in the room. You’ll be surrounded by people you want to learn from.

I also learned it is possible to have “good” debt, or rather debt that makes you richer. The house you live in is not good debt, but if you can buy an extra house and have renters pay off the mortgage for you, that’s good debt (if you protect yourself).

Recommendations:
I recommend Rich Dad Poor Dad to anyone who won’t go overboard. This book has many truths and great lessons, but it could be a death trap if you aren’t prudent. Yes, debt can be a great wealth source. You also could face a negative turn in economic conditions and find yourself in trouble. Robert studied these rules of money since he was 9 and still lost everything he had and had to start completely over. I imagine he understood everything he presented in the book well before losing everything.
That being said, I would give this book to anyone in my family over the age of 12. It is a simple read and goes very quickly, yet is filled with so many “aha!”s. When someone lent it to my husband, it changed my entire financial paradigm and sent me out to learn more. This book was the beginning of my financial quest of knowledge.

Further Knowledge:
The book had the most impact when I also started listening to Robert in live events. Check out