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

During reading a great book, you have two opposite feelings, the first one is that you are enjoying reading it & you do not want it to finish. The second feeling is that you want it to finish, so you make sure that you get every detail in it. Really, I was blaming myself for delaying reading this book, although I heard about it a year back from one of my friends.

The Book which I am speaking about is “Rich Dad Poor Dad” written by Robert T. Kiyosaki, who has proved in this book that he writes to share a real knowledge he has got through long years of studying, thinking, trading, doing business, failing & sure achieving a great financial freedom.

Robert’s unique experience is that he has two fathers, (Real one who is highly educated but poor (Poor Dad), and his friend’s father who is the (Rich Dad). He was able to experience how the low financial intelligence of his poor father, made him just works for the money whole his life. The rich dad on the other side understands that he should make the money works for him. They both have a very different mind, for example: One dad would say, "The love of money is the root of all evil." The other, "The lack of money is the root of all evil." One dad had a habit of saying, "I can't afford it." The other dad forbade those words to be used. He insisted I say, "How can I afford it?" One is a statement, and the other is a question.

• Everyone could be rich, the money is an idea & every one could make it real.
• I should do my work for my employer the best way I can, but I have to keep in my mind that I have to have my own business.
• Education is the best investment you can spend your money for. But you have to take action, do test it yourself.
• My house, which I am living in, is not an asset. Because assets generate money, not let me spend money, like paying maintenance, tax & mortgage, so it is a liability.
• I should pay myself first, so by saving from my work income, I could have a little capital to start by own business.
• I should not by luxuries from the money I work for, I should wait till the time I make my money works for me, and then it will bring me luxuries.
• I am responsible of teaching my children the importance of money, because simply, schools do not do that.
• Educating myself, for the purpose of working for a good company in a good position, is not a wise decision. This will put me in the rat race, get up morning, go to work, wait for the paycheck, and pay due bills and so on.
• Mostly, poor people wait patiently for the promotion and when they get it, they just consume more on things maybe they do not need.
• There are many people who build empires from scratch, so I can do also.
• Self-discipline is a very important to get financial freedom. You should believe that every decision of spending your hard earned dollars is, actually, a decision of being a poor, middle class or rich.
• You have to pay well to the professionals who work for you like share brokers or real estate agents. If you do your best to cut their commissions, how come they will do their best to give you their best deals & information?
• It is not important what do you know now. It’s a very fast changing world. It is important how fast you could learn new things.
• Do not listen to people who just know to say “play it safe.” you have to accept the risk to get rich. This does not mean to throw your money blindly, but educate yourself, read, attend courses, ask who did it before, and take action.
• If you give 100 people $10000 each, 80% percent of them will be suffering more after one year. Because they purchase many things on credit by making down payment, then they have to struggle to pay the loans.
• It is OK to like luxuries, it is OK to buy them, just postponed that till you, really, could afford it.

• “Our staggering national debt is due in large part to highly educated politicians and government officials making financial decisions with little or no training on the subject of money.”
• “One dad said, "The reason I'm not rich is because I have you kids." The other said, "The reason I must be rich is because I have you kids."
• “Money comes and goes, but if you have the education about how money works, you gain power over it and can begin building wealth.”
• “Being able to know when to make quick decisions is an important skill.”
• “Most people want everyone else in the world to change but themselves.”
• "The poor and the middle class work for money." "The rich have money work for them."
• “They think that more money will solve the problem. Few realize that it's their lack of financial education that is the problem."
• “I know people who have millions who are more afraid now than when they were poor.”
• "The main cause of poverty or financial struggle is fear and ignorance, not the economy or the government or the rich.”
• “The best part was that our business generated money for us, even when we weren't physically there. Our money worked for us.”
• “Accounting is possibly the most boring subject in the world. It also could be the most confusing. But if you want to be rich, long term, it could be the most important subject.”
• "Rich people acquire assets. The poor and middle class acquire liabilities that they think are assets"
• "If you want to be rich, you've got to read and understand numbers."
• “If your pattern is to spend everything you get, most likely an increase in cash will just result in an increase in spending.”
• “The philosophy that a pay raise means you can buy a larger home or spend more is the foundation of today's debt-ridden society.”
• I am sure if you read the book you will enhance your financial intelligence, so you can get better life. Although I am a professional accountant, this book was great & let me understand many things better way.