Book Review: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Book Review: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

The book I want to introduce today is so famous, how big is it? Almost no one knows about my colleagues and friends.

The official sales data is that the total global sales volume exceeds 35 million copies. The book has topped the New York Times bestseller list for 6 consecutive years.

To this, I just want to say: Awesome my brother!

However, I only read it recently, and it's really an afterthought, no wonder I'm still so poor.

Buffett once said this: "How much wealth you can accumulate in your life does not depend on how much money you can make, but how you invest and manage your money. Money finds people better than people find the money. You must understand that money works for you, not you. Work for the money.” This shows the importance of financial management.

Understand that money works for you, not you work for money. This sentence is the core point of this book, but before we get to the point, let us first understand the author's "rich dad" and "poor dad".

About the author

Robert T. Kiyosaki is a Japanese-American, investor, and educator; Sharon L. Lechter is a certified public accountant and consultant. They hope to awaken and enhance people's " financial intelligence " through best-selling books and training seminars, and these concepts are the missing courses in the existing education system.

About this book

The author of this book, Robert Kiyosaki, has two fathers: "Poor Dad" is his biological father, a highly educated education official; "Rich Dad" is the father of his good friend, an entrepreneur who has not graduated from high school but is good at investing and financial management.

The author follows the life path designed for him by "Poor Dad": to go to college, to serve in the military, to participate in the Vietnam War, and to go through ordinary early life. Until 1977, Kiyosaki witnessed the "poor dad" who had worked hard all his life lost his job, and the "rich dad" became one of the richest people in Hawaii. Kiyosaki resolutely followed the footsteps of "rich dad" and stepped into the business world, and since then he has boarded the rich express train.

The author was fortunate enough to catch up with the good times of America's economic upswing (for someone with high financial intelligence, no matter the economic environment, money can work for him), and his early wealth was built mostly through buying and selling real estate and investing in small businesses. In times of economic downturn, authors shift gears to uncover new opportunities.

He first invests in assets and then generates cash flow from assets to satisfy his luxury material needs. Through his " material desires ", he motivates himself to find ways to make money; at the same time, he increases the pressure of " debt due and unpaid " by " satisfying himself first " and stimulating his potential. Today, the author has invested in the global layout and obtained wealth.

Content overview

The book is divided into three parts, a total of 10 chapters.

The book tells about the author Kiyosaki's growth experience under the combined influence of " rich dad " (his friend's dad) and " poor dad " (actually not poor, poor dad has achieved a high position in the government education system), also cited the examples of many of his friends, aiming to illustrate the importance of using the mind to improve financial quotient and putting it into action.

In the face of completely different suggestions from the two fathers, he chose his own life path through independent thinking and practice: from " minting coins " in his student days, to learning driving and management in the military, to entering large enterprises to engage in sales ... step by step Exercise and improve your various abilities and stimulate your financial quotient potential.

What kind of book is Rich Dad Poor Dad?

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" is an investment and financial bestseller that has been on the charts for a long time and even has a 20th-anniversary edition. The author of this book is Japanese-American entrepreneur Robert. Robert Kiyosaki, the rich dad series of books has been translated into 51 languages ​​worldwide and sold more than 41 million copies.

Author Robert Kiyosaki grew up in Hawaii, and his financial values ​​were guided by two fathers, his biological father, " Poor Dad," and his neighbor's father, " Rich Dad ." Two dads have very different views on money, and Robert Kiyosaki lets readers revisit this memory with him through the story of one poor and one rich.

The narrative style of this book is very fascinating. It starts from the author's childhood story and talks about his various experiences of going out of society and starting a business. The book challenges ordinary readers to receive financial education from " middle-class families ", and describes the " rich " thinking mode in the tone of a rich dad. I have even heard many people call this book a book of financial enlightenment.

Why should I read this book?

In my opinion, the most important role of books is not to tell us what to do but to teach us to make choices, to let us know what to choose and what not to choose, and Rich Dad Poor Dad is such a book.

Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki had two dads:

A father, smart and learned, with a Ph.D., is a highly educated education official but has been in financial difficulties for many years

A dad, who didn't even finish eighth grade, left a fortune to his family, charities, and church to become one of the richest men in Hawaii.

Both dads are successful, charismatic people, yet their financial successes are very different, and they both give the author a lot of meaningful advice, and their advice is very different, that's why what?

The author spends a lot of time in the book thinking about why there are two very different proposals, why they do it, what the thinking behind it reflects, and so on.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki Book Summary

When I was working, a friend who was very good at financial management bought 7 or 8 suites before 2008, so that after 2008, when the housing prices soared, he rented out several of them. The monthly rent received was several times his already high salary. They would chat and say: If you want to get rich, you can't rely on work.

After working for so many years, because of the nature of work, I have seen many companies and contacted many entrepreneurs, so I often have opportunities that are not often found in other occupations. In the process of dealing with entrepreneurs, I look at wealth from the perspective of entrepreneurs, Combined with the idea of looking at wealth as an ordinary employee, many ideas have found resonance in this book.

1. Positive outlook on wealth.

Many of my classmates and I followed the path set by the author's poor father, became high-achieving students all the way, and finally got a degree recognized by society, but in this process, the concept of wealth was not clear. At the time of graduation, I felt that I could get an offer of 100,000 a year and I was simply satisfied.

This is really what the author said: So many talented people are underpaid. Only when we entered society did we realize that this ideal was actually insignificant compared to the hard work we had put into our studies. We actually spared a big circle, thinking of being a quality talent, finding a glamorous career, and earning a good salary.

But in the final analysis, the endpoint is still a good income. If you put your talent and energy directly on the goal of making money, you may find the most direct path forward at a different speed. Several of my classmates understood this very early. When they were in school, they directly started a clothing company. Now they are on the road to realizing financial freedom.

2. Work does not produce wealth.

The so-called work cannot generate wealth, it is relative. Work does not give workers wealth commensurate with the value they actually create. Marx explained this very incisively in "Das Kapital". The laborers sell undifferentiated labor, but the capitalists pay the laborers much lower than the actual value of general labor, thus exploiting the laborers' surplus value...

Aside from the class nature point of view, the above theory is also valid in the actual operation of the company. If the laborers cannot bring additional value to the enterprise, why should the company hire these people? Even those occupations with higher incomes, such as lawyers, doctors, and investment banks, get higher incomes because they have some hard-to-obtain knowledge and skills, but relative to the value they create, they are relatively low.

Therefore, how to correctly price your labor and get the due return for all your efforts?

The author's point of view is to "Mind your own business" and encourage people to devote energy to doing things that are beneficial to their wealth growth, such as starting a company, doing industrial investment, financial investment, etc. These methods may not be suitable for real social ecology, but the point is important: work can cause people to fall into a rat race, and life enters a cycle of paying bills to support their families.

3. the correct consumption concept.

The author said that people all have desires. Because of greed, they have to work and satisfy their material desires, but material satisfaction can only be temporary, and their appetites will increase, so they want more. I think that's an accurate exposition of human nature. The question is, what is the difference between the consumption of the poor and the rich?

Take my colleague as an example. He went on a trip abroad and spent more than 400,000 dollars on shopping. This is enough for three to four ordinary families for a year, but it is not a burden for him. The rent and the income brought by the purchase of financial assets are much more than this, so in the same year, he bought himself a luxury car.

I also know some girls who have just graduated for a year or two. They spend two or three months frugally, just to buy an LV bag for themselves, and then they are reluctant to put them on the security check machine when they cross the subway for fear of getting dirty.

This is the difference between the consumption of the rich and the poor: the rich do not have to consider the impact on their financial situation, while the poor do the opposite, buying luxury goods and the like to create the illusion of their own purchasing power. Think about it from another angle. If it is not the second generation, everyone is poor.

At this time, save more money and use it for investment, whether it is to improve your comprehensive ability or to buy real estate or financial products, not for consumption. , ten years later, the results are completely different. Consumed products may have been lost physically long ago, and the joy they brought has long since passed. If you invest, it may be a small fortune at this time.

Also read :12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson

4. Give up the illusion of finding a safe occupation.

Of course, the author is talking about capitalism of all evils. No company can last forever, and no company can guarantee that you will not leave one day. In this financial crisis, capitalism has revisited these stories again: auto workers in Detroit in the United States, investment bankers in the City of London in the United Kingdom, industrial workers in Shenzhen, China...

The most embarrassing fact is that perhaps Dedicated youth in an enterprise, no longer young, one day I found that the position I was engaged in had become a sunset industry and lost my job. At this time, I had to start from scratch and compete with the 20-year-old boys who graduated.

Civil servants and employees of state-owned enterprises seem to be very safe for now. However, the sense of security can never be given by others, which is common in doing business and in relationships. The sense of security given by others can only be an illusion of self-deception.

5. Rich people make money.

The rate of return on capital is much more "expensive" than people. A well-educated, hard-working young man can earn 200,000 dollars a year in a first-tier city, which is not bad. If you consider the huge amount of money the family spends raising this young man, the return on this income is not high.

However, for financial assets, a return of 10% a year can only be considered common. The wealthy have a large number of assets, and they can also access many channels that ordinary people cannot reach or pay attention to, and find a channel for rapid appreciation of their capital.

6. To acquire wealth is to create value for others.

The process of acquiring wealth is actually the process of creating value for others. In layman's terms, it is to make a cake of wealth. Since you have the ability to make such a cake, you naturally have the right to share a part of it.

Being poor is a concept, always thinking "I can't do this" and "I can't do that". It is these self-imposed shackles that completely hamper a person's ability to pursue wealth.

In our society, there are many not free, but only for the pursuit of wealth, there are really not so many "can't" restrictions, replace these "can't", always think about "how can I do this", "how can I do that". Be a positive thinker and doer. Material wealth originates from profound ideology, spiritual enrichment, and appraisal of will.

Book Review by Rich Dad Poor Dad

One of the main reasons why the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is always struggling in the quagmire of debt is their concept of money Not from school, but from family.

Chapter 1 A person's ideas have a huge impact on his life.

One dad said "I can't afford it" and the other forbade it. He said, "How can I afford it?" The two sentences are a declarative sentence and a question sentence; Rich dad used to say, "The more you use your head, the more you make more money." In his opinion, saying things like "I can't afford it" is a form of mental laziness.

Although both dads work very hard, I've noticed that when it comes to money problems, one dad always finds a way to solve it, while the other dad is used to going with the flow. In the long run, one dad's financial ability is stronger, while the other's financial ability is getting weaker and weaker.

"The rich should pay more taxes to take care of the less fortunate" vs "Taxes punish diligence and reward laziness"

"Study hard to get a job in a good company" vs "Study hard and find and be able to acquire a good company"

"I'm not rich The reason is I have kids” vs “The reason I have to be rich is that I have kids”

“Be careful when making money and don’t take risks” vs “Learn to manage risk”

“Our family’s house is our biggest investment and asset " vs "Our house is a liability, if your house is your biggest investment, you're in trouble"

I believe that the government will care about you and meet your requirements. Care about things like raises, retirement policies, medical benefits, sick leave, paid vacation, and other perks. Love the life program that leads to a stable career through a college education. For him, labor protection and job subsidies sometimes seem more important than the profession itself. vs Believes incomplete economic independence and opposes the "take it for granted" mentality that creates a population of weak, financially dependent people. He advocates competition.

Saving hard vs. investing constantly

teaches you how to write a great resume to land a good job vs. teaches you to write an ambitious career and financial plan to create an entrepreneurial opportunity.

"I'm never rich"; "I'm a rich man and rich people never do" vs "The difference between poor and bankrupt is: Bankruptcy is temporary, poverty is permanent"

"I'm interested in money Not interested" "Money doesn't matter to me" vs "Money is power"

Want to study hard, get good grades, get a good job that pays well, be a professor, lawyer, or accountant, or do an MBA vs study to earn money, to understand the laws of motion of money and make this law of motion work for me. "I don't work for money" "Money works for me"

Money is power, but even more powerful is education about financial management. Money comes and goes, but if you understand how it works, you have the power to harness it and start building wealth. The reason for just thinking about it is that most people have not mastered the real working laws of money after receiving a school education, so they work for money all their lives.

Summary:

The reason why the rich are rich is that their attitude towards money is very important.

Rich people are always willing to solve problems rather than compromise;

Rich people are willing to take risks;

Rich people understand how money works.

Chapter 2 Rich people don't work for money (turn passive into active)

"If you understand the big lesson of life, you can do anything with ease. But even if you can't learn it, life will still push you around. So in life, people usually do two things, some people live in While pushing him to turn around, seize every opportunity that life gives, some people let life dictate and don't fight against life. They complain about the unfairness of life, so they hate their boss, work, and family. Not knowing that life also gives them opportunities."

"If you're the kind of person who doesn't have perseverance, you'll give up every push from life to you. That way, you'll live your life steadily and without doing anything wrong, Always be ready to rescue yourself when something never happens and then die of boredom. You will have many friends just like you and want to live a stable and unmistakable life. But the truth is, you give in to life and don't take risks. You do want to win, but the fear of losing outweighs the excitement of success. The truth is, deep down, you always think you can’t win, so you choose stability.”

“It’s easier to change yourself than to change others."

The poor and the middle-class work for money, and the rich make money work for them.

True learning takes energy, passion, and fervent desire. Anger is an important ingredient because passion is a combination of anger and love. When it comes to money, most people want to earn it safely, they rarely have the passion to make money, so they have to have the fear of not having money.

"Get up, go to work, pay the bill, get up again, go to work, pay the bill...their lives are endlessly chasing these two feelings: fear and greed. Give them more money, and they Repeat the cycle with higher spending. This is what I call a 'rat race'"

"They don't try to discern the truth, they don't think, they just react to feelings. They get scared and go to work hoping the money will do it. Get rid of fear, but money can't get rid of fear. So fear chases them, and they have to go to work again... Fear makes them fall into the trap of work, earn money - work - earn money... Money rules their lives, they refuse to tell the truth, money controls their emotions and their souls."

"Keeping your mouth shut about money is as much a mental illness as being dependent on it."

"I've met a lot of people who say they're not interested in money, but they work 8 hours a day and keep complaining about being boring. If they're not interested in money, why bother with a job they don't like? This kind of person is better than making money. People are sicker."

"People need to have feelings, it makes us real, and the word emotion expresses the drive to act. See your feelings for real, use your mind and feelings in the way you like, not with Do it yourself. Watch your emotions carefully, don't rush into action. Most people don't understand that their emotions take the place of their thoughts, that emotions are emotions, and you have to learn to think for yourself."

If you don't control your fears and desires first, even if You have money, you are nothing more than high-paid slaves. “

The main cause of poverty and financial problems is fear and ignorance, not the economic environment, the government, or the wealthy. Your own fear and ignorance make it hard to extricate yourself, so you should go to school and get a college education, and I teach you how not to fall into the trap. "

From now on, it is important for you to use these feelings for your long-term benefit and not let your feelings control the mind. Most people let their fear and greed rule them, which is The beginning of ignorance. Because of fear or greed, most people live in earning wages, raises, labor protections, without asking where the path of life leads to where this emotion dominates the mind.

"Intensifying fear and desire is a manifestation of ignorance, which is why many rich people are often afraid. Money is carrots and people are phantoms. If the donkey could see the whole image, it might reconsider whether to go after the carrot. "

Once a person stops seeking knowledge and information, one becomes ignorant. Therefore, one needs to constantly struggle with oneself: whether to open one's heart by learning, or close one's mind.

"In a country with high levels of education and government Prices don't go up in a well-managed society, they should actually go down, the reason for the price going up is greed and fear caused by ignorance.

"Business schools are better at making accurate and cheap 'calculators', they can't do great things. All they do is look at the numbers, fire people and screw up the business, all they think about is lowering costs and raising prices, In fact, it creates more problems. The calculation is important, and I hope more people know how to calculate, but it's not everything."

Learn to let your emotions follow your thoughts, not your thoughts.

How we think and not just react to emotions. Don't solve your problems by getting up to work because you're afraid you won't have the money to pay your bills. Are you going to take the time to think about such a problem, and is working harder the best way to solve it? Many people are afraid, to tell the truth to themselves. They are so overwhelmed by fear that they dare not think, so they go out and look for work because fear rules them.

I always hear things like, 'everyone has to go to work', or 'rich people are liars', 'I'm going to change jobs', 'I deserve a higher salary, 'you can't be at your mercy' Me', 'I like this job because it's settled' instead of saying, 'Have I lost something, so as to save you from being emotional and giving you time to think carefully."

I have to admit, this Really important lesson in knowing when a person is expressing feelings rather than expressing clear thoughts. This lesson has benefited me for the rest of my life, especially when my words, too, came out of reaction rather than reflection.

You will see what others cannot, and the opportunity is right in front of you. Most people don't see this opportunity because they're too busy looking for money and security, so they're limited in what they get. When you see an opportunity, you have learned and will continue to find opportunities throughout your life.

Also read :Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Summary:

Don't be pushed by life, but try to take the initiative.

Thoughts control emotions.

Don't follow suit, learn more, and think more.

When encountering things, you can't just look at the surface and think more than others. (See "what I wish I knew when I was 20")

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