Who is Robert Kiyosaki?

Robert T Kiyosaki is a Hawaiian born author and motivational speaker. He studied at the New York U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, joined the Marine Corps and fought in the Vietnam war. Kiyosaki has risen to fame as a motivational author and speaker in the areas of personal finance, real estate, investing and business. His Rich Dad Poor Dad series of books have sold millions of copies worldwide and through his education programs he is reaching thousands of students with his financial messages.

Kiyosaki was born and raised in Hawaii of Japanese / American parents. After moving to New York and graduating from college, Kiyosaki enlisted in the Marine Corps. He become an officer and helicopter gun pilot, serving time in the Vietnam war. Upon his return Kiyosaki worked as a salesman for the Xerox printing and photocopying company.

His first success in the business world came with a company he started in 1977. Kiyosaki’s company was importing nylon and Velcro wallets that went on to become associated with surfers, earning them the title of “surfer wallets” and making Kiyosaki good profits.

Eventually Kiyosaki went on to become an educator in the areas of business and finance. In the mid eighties he established an educational company where students worldwide could learn about his financial philosophies.

Kiyosaki developed a board game to educate people financially, while at the same time remaining entertaining. The Cashflow 101 board game went on to become very successful for Kiyosaki. Cashflow 101 is now also available online, where players are able to learn the basics of investing and personal finance.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Robert Kiyosaki’s real success came with a series of books based on the rich dad and poor dad characters. Kiyosaki writes the books in an entertaining method where financial novices can remain entertained and at the same time learn his personal finance theories. The rich dad, poor dad characters are fictional people, loosely based on people in Kiyosaki’s life. Basically, poor dad is the man that goes to work hard for his money in a government job, just getting by each week, paying the bills and feeding the family. Eventually going on to retire poor and unhappy. Rich dad is more of a risk taker and uses his money to invest in real estate and businesses, eventually leading to an abundance of financial wealth where he retires early with a large fortune.

The Rich Dad, Poor Dad series consists of more than 8 books based on themes of investing, real estate, personal finance and business motivation. Many of them have gone on to become best sellers in their genre with the most popular (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) selling more than 17 million copies.

Kiyosaki Critics
Robert Kiyosaki has created a loyal group of many followers world wide with his financial philosophies, but there are also critics of his teachings. Some critics have accused Kiyosaki of giving novice investors false hope and encouraging them to make financially risky investment decisions, especially in the areas of real estate.

Summary
Kiyosaki briefly retired at the age 47 in 1994. He remains involved with the Rich Dad educational company, aiming to spread his financial literacy message worldwide. Other founding members of the educational group include his Wife Kim Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechture, CPA (co-author of the popular Rich Dad, Poor Dad book).

Credits: Woopidoo

WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE GAME THE RICH PLAY?

Most of us have heard of what is commonly referred to as the 80-20 rule. The principle states that, for many events, about 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. It is also known as the Pareto principle, the rule of the vital few. It is named after an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, who noticed that 80 percent of the land in Italy was owned by 20 percent of the people – vital few. In business, a good rule of thumb is that 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers – so take good care of them.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, believed that 90 percent of all money is earned by 10 percent of the people. He called it the 90-10 rule of money. For example, if you look at the game of tennis, I would say that 10 percent of the players earn 90 percent of the money. In the Philippines, approximately 90 percent of the wealth is owned by 10 percent of the people.

Question: What is the name of the game of the 10 percent earning 90 percent of the money?

Answer: Cash Flow

To better understand the game of cash flow, the following are examples of how cash flow game is played in real life.

Many students, who graduate, enter the job market, find a good job, and watch their cash flow to the government via income taxes. The more they earn, the higher the percentage they pay in taxes. To save money, they eat at Jollibee or McDonalds, and cash flow to Jollibee or McDonald. They deposit their paycheck in their bank, and cash flows to the bank in the form of fees each time they use an ATM to get their money. They buy a car, and cash flows to the car company, finance company, gas industry, auto insurance, and, of course, to the government for an auto license. They buy a house, and cash flows out of their pockets to pay for the mortgage, insurance, cable TV, water, electricity, and government for property taxes.

Every month cash flows to the stock market to invest in mutual funds for retirement plans, and cash flows from mutual funds to fund managers in the form of commissions and fees. Later in life, when people are old and feeble, cash flows to hospitals for medical expenses and nursing home. And when they die, cash flows to pay taxes on what they left behind, if ever there’s any. For most people, their entire lives are spent trying to keep up with their outgoing cash flow.

The reason 90 percent of people struggle financially is because cash is always flowing out to someone or something else – flowing to the 10 percent who know the name of the game. The harder the 90 percent work and the more money they earn, the more cash flows out to the 10 percent.

This is the story of most Filipinos. Most work very hard. Some even went back to school for higher degrees and specialized training. Some made more money and saved some of it, but most never got control of their outgoing cash flow. When some lost their job and was forced to stop working, no cash flowed in – yet they still had to honor their outgoing cash flow obligations. Clearly, some are in real financial trouble.

Question: What can I do?

Answer: Learn how to play the game of cash flow.

Question: How?

Answer: Educate yourself financially.

Credits to The Conspiracy of the Rich by Robert Kiyosaki.