Is Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki worth reading?

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki has been on my reading list for years now, which might explain why I’m still broke. The book is ridiculously popular and must have made Kiyosaki an absolute fortune.

It tells the story of Kiyosaki’s two “dads”: his biological father, who was highly educated but struggled financially, and his friend’s father, who was uneducated but became a self-made millionaire. I don’t know how true the stories or dads are, but they adequately serve the purpose of illustrating basic financial principles.

There are a few themes that run throughout the book. The first is the importance of financial education. His smart dad was highly educated but followed the expected path of working and saving what little was left over at the end of each month. Consequently, he was broke. In contrast, the rich dad understood how money worked and was therefore loaded.

According to Kiyosaki, financial education isn’t taught in schools, and many people are unaware of the importance of investing, creating passive income streams, and building assets. To achieve financial independence, he argues that you need to invest in your financial education and learn how to make your money work for you.

The idea of assets versus liabilities is another ongoing theme. Essentially, an asset is something that puts money in your pocket, while a liability is something that takes money out of your pocket. The problem is that too many people blow their cash on liabilities such as cars, gadgets, and shiny new objects. Instead, to be rich, you need to invest in stuff like stocks, properties, and businesses.

If you have more assets than liabilities, you have passive income. This is the key to financial independence, meaning you can escape the rat race and being a slave to the paycheck. Once that happens, keep building passive income streams, and you too will be rich. Then you can buy all the gaudy stuff you don’t really need.

Is Rich Dad Poor Dad worth reading?

I guess it depends on your level of financial literacy. I consider myself reasonably literate regarding cash, purely because I have had to write about it. I also find investing in stocks fun. So while I found the book interesting and picked up a few things, I wasn’t blown away by my new-found knowledge. Having said that, I am far from rich, so I must be missing something.

If you want to learn the basics of finance and improve your literacy on money-related topics, then it is an excellent place to start. Rich Dad Poor Dad explains the subject well. Although it doesn’t specifically tell you how to get started, it shows the right path.

I say, give it a go. It is cheap and could potentially help you on your way to Scrooge McDuck levels of cash.

You can get Rich Dad Poor Dad by clicking on this link here.

(This article contains affiliate links that don’t cost you a penny but earn me a tiny commission. Passive income and all that jazz.)