Rich Dad, Poor Dad - is this book some sort of cult, or something?

[beer]

The reviews on amazon for this book were positive and a few friends had mentioned it. I was looking to kill some time and wanted to read a bit of it. I got a hold of a copy and I've read the first bit of it, and it just seems to be one giant seminar, along the lines of those for pyramid schemes, that tell you absolutely nothing. How does this book explain anything at all?

 

[Schadenfreude]

What's it about?

 

[magomago]

what my friend told me:

poor dad says get goods gardes and you'll be fine

rich dad says screw school and think about money

something like that

and essentially shows rich dad is the ownZZzorz

 

[HappyPuppy]

Sometimes you have to read the whole book before you say, "What fvck was that all about? I just wasted 3 days reading this piece of crap and it hasn't changed my life one little bit."

Yeh, that's what it's all about. It didn't pique your interest in the first 3 pages, so it's ho hum.

:roll:

 

[Ns1]

I've read a few of those uh motivational books or whatever the fvck you want to call them

for the MOST part they're all worthless, but there'a few pages here and there that are worth noting

 

[ZeroBurn]

i got this book too, although after a little reading it seemed rather ... off

so i looked it up, and this probably explains why:

http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

heh, what a scam. ah well

 

[0roo0roo]

few pages of common sense, rest is filler fluff. as are most of that type of book.

 

[tami]

my friend, who recently got married and purchased an apartment (he has since sold it and decided to rent instead), recommended that my fiance read this book. apparently, the "women don't seem to like it"

anyway, thanks for the cliff notes, mago...

i still need financial tips.

 

[NesuD]

I thought it was a very good book.

poor dad says get goods gardes and you'll be fine
rich dad says screw school and think about money

That is a grossly innaccurate oversimplification.

Poor Dad = How to work for money.

Rich Dad = How to make money work for you.

That is also an oversimplification but at least it is accurate.

 

[Anonemous]

Originally posted by: ZeroBurn
i got this book too, although after a little reading it seemed rather ... off

so i looked it up, and this probably explains why:

http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

heh, what a scam. ah well

coo scam. make stuff up with contradicting logic.

 

[element]

all those get rich quick schemes make me laugh.

if those schemes were THAT good at making money, why are these gurus spending all this time selling the product(books, tapes, cds, whatever) on how to make money? Why not just use the info in there to make money instead?

Cause the way they make money is by selling you that useless info.

lots of dumbasses in the world to buy this sh!t = lots of money for those get rich quick salesmen.

 

[z0mb13]

secret of making money:
1. write a book about common sense
2. sell it to millions of people
3. create seminars
4. profit!!

 

[cmdrmoocow]

Originally posted by: element
Why not just use the info in there to make money instead?

The guy that does the RD/PD series actually does use his own advise for himself. (No, I don't have a link as backup)

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: ZeroBurn
i got this book too, although after a little reading it seemed rather ... off

so i looked it up, and this probably explains why:

http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

heh, what a scam. ah well

This is basically what I thought. Thanks for verifying it.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: element
all those get rich quick schemes make me laugh.

if those schemes were THAT good at making money, why are these gurus spending all this time selling the product(books, tapes, cds, whatever) on how to make money? Why not just use the info in there to make money instead?

Cause the way they make money is by selling you that useless info.

lots of dumbasses in the world to buy this sh!t = lots of money for those get rich quick salesmen.

I agree. Bottom line, a bachelors and a masters give you a statistically quantifiable earning power superior to anything else (phDs usually go into research, not for financial ambitions).Even if you want to start your own operation, you need lots of initial equity that comes from years of working for someone else, and a hell of a lot of knowledge that DOES come from college-level business classes.

I didn't think this book was something like a scheme. It does not take long to realize that it is, though. It's amazing how many pages I read without actually being told anything at all. And anyone suggesting that it is better to forego at least 4 years of college for financial aspirations is a fool.

 

[Nikamichi]

Originally posted by: z0mb13
secret of making money:
1. write a book about common sense
2. sell it to millions of people
3. create seminars
4. profit!!

:thumbsup:

 

[MaxDSP]

got this book based on all the great reviews it had, but halfway into the book, the guy was just going in fsckin circles. He was preaching the same crap over and over again. To call it a simplified view would be understatement.

 

[badmouse]

I'd never tell someone not to go to college, but please don't assume that a random college degree will prepare you to be a successful business owner - that's not the point of a degree.

 

[Queasy]

I thought it was:

Step 1: Collect underpants
Step 3: Profit!

Oh well. That's what I get for taking economic advice from South Park.

 

[mcveigh]

so many idiots here. how many actually own their own business?????

I've never read the book, don't want to. but the principal is true, who cares where he got his money.
you will never get wealthy by working a 9-5 job. Like Scrooge McDuck says, "work smarter, not harder"

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: mcveigh
so many idiots here. how many actually own their own business?????

I've never read the book, don't want to. but the principal is true, who cares where he got his money.
you will never get wealthy by working a 9-5 job. Like Scrooge McDuck says, "work smarter, not harder"

Yeah, I read part of the book and it was mostly just a bunch of anecdotes that ran around. The basic premise was to make your money work for you with investments, real estate, and running your own business instead of you getting stuck in the rat race and trying to work for money.

Really didn't tell me anything I didn't know already.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: mcveigh
so many idiots here. how many actually own their own business?????

I've never read the book, don't want to. but the principal is true, who cares where he got his money.
you will never get wealthy by working a 9-5 job. Like Scrooge McDuck says, "work smarter, not harder"

Tell an investment banker he won't get rich by not owning his own business :roll:

Some people like a stable income. By working and spending modestly, you have a far more stable income - most business startups fail and if you have a family, it's irresponsible to do something like that because you could wipe out everything you own.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: mcveigh
so many idiots here. how many actually own their own business?????

I've never read the book, don't want to. but the principal is true, who cares where he got his money.
you will never get wealthy by working a 9-5 job. Like Scrooge McDuck says, "work smarter, not harder"

Ayup.

Turn liabilities into assets. Assets generate more capital, liabilities take it away.

 

[halik]

Last time i went to Borders, they had a rack full of this crap in the finance / investment. I grabbed Barons investing handbook, laughed at the other junk and left.

Do you honestly think that you can become rich/wealthy by reading someone's book????

If those things actually worked, everyone would be a millionarie. All of that junk is written by nobodies, promising you mad money if you buy the book and go to a money-making seminare.

None of the really successful businesmen (Jobs, Allen, McNealy, Gates etc) have ever written this kinda garbage.Books like these are sold through infomercials and include tapes so you can educate yourself in your car :roll: Think Lesko (the guy in a riddler suit) or the movie American Beauty.

The best Advice is : Get yourself some education, get an MBA or econ masters if you wanna have real insight into how all of it works. You will not get rich listening to a guy that got money by a statistial improbability - pure luck. Theres thousands of people with 0 cash for ever one of the ones that lucked out.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: cmdrmoocow

Originally posted by: element
Why not just use the info in there to make money instead?

The guy that does the RD/PD series actually does use his own advise for himself. (No, I don't have a link as backup)

Read ZeroBurn's link, there's good evidence Kiyosaki made most of his money from the books, and is not a very good businessman outside of his book scam.

One section:

The making of a financial genius
There are probably many ways to became a financial genius, but Kiyosaki has certainly chosen an unlikely route:

? flunked sophomore year of high school and had to repeat
? U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
? 3rd mate oil tanker (or was it ?Love Boat? type cruise ship?)
? Marine helicopter pilot (or was it fighters?)
? refused to return to ship when it was ordered to return to combat (or just missed the boat)
? Xerox salesman
? failed businessman (nylon surfer wallets)
? failed businessman (rock and roll memorabilia)
? failed author (1993 book If You Want to Be Rich & Happy, Don?t Go To School?)
? failed MBA student
? homeless person
? bankruptcy (or maybe not)

Kiyosaki tries to make a virtue from all his failures and false starts?saying that?s how you learn and you have to get back up and all that. Fine. But couldn?t we see a little more actual success after all these great lessons were learned before we ?run away to join your circus?? And how did all this screwed-up stuff happen to a guy who had the benefit of ?Rich Dad?s? brilliant wisdom back at age nine? If ?Rich Dad? is really a completely phony story, how much of this other stuff can we believe?