Rating: 
Summary: Essential Look at How You Must Think and Act to Prosper!
Review: This book deserves more than five stars for its exceptional clarity, authenticity, relevance and eloquence.Those who love the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books will adore this one. I found it to be the best book in the series since Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
Mr. Robert T. Kiyosaki speaks with the authority of experience. He did retire young at 47 while his wife was 37. At that time, his expected annual income was between $80,000 and $125,000. Many people yearn for early retirement with wealth, mostly because they hate their work. Mr. Kiyosaki was soon back at work, establishing new businesses. Most of his wealth was created after he retired. "I keep working because there are so things that need to be done." So, he has clearly moved from earnings a living, to living a mission of self-expression. That's very wonderful, and I hope you will accomplish the same result!
Although the subtitle says this is "how to" book, it's really more of a "what to think" book. The fundamental concept is to leverage your mind, your plans, your actions, and your priorities to get wealth faster and more easily.
As usual, Rich Dad provides some wonderful quotes. Here are a few of my favorites.
"David could beat Goliath because David knew how to use the power of leverage."
"Cash flow is the most important word in the world of money. The second most important word is leverage."
"Leverage is the reason some people become rich and others do not become rich."
"Because leverage is power, some people use it, some abuse it, and others fear it."
"Getting rich begins with words and words are free."
" . . . do more and more with less and less."
The first books in the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series have been about cash flow. This one shifts over to leverage. Section 1 is about leveraging your mind, section 2 looks at leverage from a plan to retire, section 3 addresses leverage from actions. The book goes on to give you a final exam on your attitudes and a challenging thought to chew on to help get you focused properly: making lots of money with no money to start with.
Now, any book about leverage would normally have lots of pages on how debt leverage works. In fact, that is only a small part of what this book talks about. You will find that discussion in part of chapter 16, which looks at all of the forms of leverage in real estate.
One of the strengths of the book is a fine discussion of how to think about risk and reward. It's not how often you fail, but how big the costs of your failures are compared to the rewards of your successes . . . and your determination to keep trying until you succeed. For instance, 9 out of 10 new businesses fail. But the value of the 1 in 10 that succeed should vastly outweigh the costs of the 9 failures.
The book is excellent in warning you against the risks that you are unconsciously taking. Most people have 100% of their financial futures tied up in government pension and Medicare payments and the stock market. Mr. Kiyosaki correctly points out that this assumption is probably faulty, because there are far more Baby Boomers depending on these two resources than there are resources. One part of the leverage concept is to have more streams of cash flow. He also has excellent ideas on how to reduce risk in your current and potential sources of cash flow.
You are also given a list of good habits to pursue. And top tips from the prior books are repeated in a convenient section near the end of the book.
If you follow the advice in this book, it will be worth more to you and your family than all the other investment and retirement books that you read combined. But you have to take action! Thinking about taking action won't get you there.
I would describe this book as being a lot like Tony Robbins's book, Personal Power, except it is focused effectively on the emotional and mental disciples needed for financial security and investing.
By the way, I have known many people who have retired young with the assistance of being rich. They all embody the principles captured in this book. By contrast, at age 65 only 5 percent of all Americans will be able to afford to live a wealthy life style. Most will be looking for more income. Which group do you plan to be in?
Think and live the thoughts that will make you as rich as you want to be! The solutions are there if you look for them.
Rating: 
Summary: GOOD FOR SOME, BUT NOT FOR EVERYONE
Review: I agree in principle with much of what the author has to say in this book, providing one has an adequate supply of disposable income to even consider a financial plan in the first place. If all one's money is going out the door for the basic necessities of life and very little, if any, is coming in, you are not going to retire young or retire rich!
While everyone should have some sort of plan, even if it is a monthly budget, there are far too many people living below the poverty line who could not even consider investing for their future. They simply have nothing to invest but time, frustration and worry. The part of me who is a business management consultant, counsellor and teacher agrees with the author that yes, we all need a financial plan of some description; however, as one who also counsels in behavioural psychology and life skills, I have seen far too many individuals in my office, particularly single parents, who could only dream of a financial plan for their future. Their biggest concern is where the money is going to come from to pay the rent that is inevitably past due, where the money will come from to pay for Johnny's medicine, or how they are going to put food on the table when there are four hungry children at home and daddy cannot find work.
Yes, there is merit to the book if, and only if, one is in a financially secure position to implement that long-term plan in the first place. The title of the book leads one to believe it might be for everyone while clearly it is not. For some it may only serve as a reminder that financial freedom and security are two critical aspects of life that become reality only in dreams. Even with all the author's good words of advice, there is still no guarantee we will all "retire young...or retire rich!"
Rating:
Summary: Kiyosaki Actually Did It
Review: Robert Kiyosaki "retired" when he was only 47 years old. (His wife was only 37 at the time.) Most people would consider that an early age at which to retire. In order to accomplish this, you need a "fast" and "sure" financial financial plan.
The way to do this is to use the power of leverage, otherwise known as "other people's money" (OPM). Kiyosaki's vehicle of choice was real estate, and he credits mortgage brokers with enabling his early retirement. That's because he was using their money to retire (through mortgages on his apartment houses), rather than his own money. He is a "value" investor who invests for cash flow and depreciation (read, tax breaks), which are known ahead of time, rather than appreciation, which is uncertain.
In fact, Kiyosaki's "fast" plan is really about getting other people to help you get ahead financially. For instance, if you own 500 (fully rented) apartments, and each unit yields you $50 a month after mortgage payments and expenses ($600 a year net), that's an income of $300,000 a year. The more units you own and the more people you serve, the more money you make. The greatest opportunities lie in low income housing, where the U.S. government wants "qualified" (experienced) landlords to help it solve the problem of housing poor people, and will provide generous subsidies. Alternatively, you can own and manage one or more (small) corporations using teams of people that you assembled yourself. If you know how to work with different types of people, you can "play the fastest game in the world."
I am looking at my 47th birthday as an opportunity to "retire" in a similar fashion to Kiyosaki. I believe I have a "critical mass" of capital, although I don't have his experience with turning around failed companies. Will his methods work for me? I'm about to find out.
