Rating: 
Summary: Simple message, timeless message
Review: As long as this philosophy makes it to the best seller list every so often, we're doing okay. The abridged tape version is an ideal 3-hour inspiration check. The message is as simple as it is timeless and dates back at least through the popular literature of Ragged Dick and Horatio Alger 150 years ago. Just stick it into the tape deck and get reacquainted with the way the real world operates. Just wish Rich Dad had mentioned as much about entrepreneurs "creating" assets as buying assets.
Rating: 
Summary: So little offered
Review: Not worth the time really. I was given the book or would not have otherwise read it. I found many words with very little actually being said.
Wealthy Barber at least gets you pointed safely in the right direction without filling your head with dreams of wealth and power untold.
Rating:
Summary: If you must read it, get it from the library. Don't buy it!
Review: This is a great book if you want to be inspired to improve your financial situation. It's a great book if you want to look closer at the school systems and what financial information if any is being taught there. But if you want to be wealthy, I suggest you do not read this book. This book is full of promises, but very little facts. The author gives multiple examples of him making a lot of money, but doesn't explain the process. When I finished reading this book, I was excited and ready to make a lot of money! The only problem was that I still didn't know how. For example, the author states how he bought a $65,000 house for $20,000 and sold it for $40,000. That's great! But how exactly did he buy a $65,000 house for $20,000? And where did this $20,000 come from? He says you can buy a house without exchanging money, but he doesn't clearly say how. The author tries to explain money lessons through his Rich Dad stories, but too often the lesson is a "you'll see" type of deal. Although the author puts down traditional investing (mutual funds etc), I think that's the method I'll stick with. It may not be as exciting as his, or reap as many financial rewards as he CLAIMS his does, but it's a formula that works for the average person.
Rating: 
Summary: Philosophically worth it
Review: One reviewer said he wanted "to believe in Kiyosaki." Others clearly don't. Why do you have to believe or not believe in the guy? He wrote a book that has a great philosophy: don't look at money as the answer. Design your desired lifestyle (big or small) and devote yourself to building assets that provide income to meet its expenses. Really, it's the same goal as anyone's retirement strategy--but you set your own timeline, and you don't depend on anyone else to provide your "pension." I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of this so clearly before I read the book. The guy promotes his own products, sure. He says right in the book that he's not the "best-writing author." He's a sales guy. More power to him. He doesn't really tell you the steps to make the assets, other than telling you to become as financially smart as you can. He tells you to find your own resources and learn so that you can build your assets intelligently. How is that bad advice? He seems to disdain education, but he actually just says that he believes that it's outmoded in many ways. Frankly, he has valid points. I have a masters degree and enjoy learning for its own sake, but I can tell you that education is a tool like any other in life, and not everyone is cut out for the same educational path. You make your own educational paths for your own needs, and much of my most valuable learning took place outside of the traditional classroom. Some of his stories seem far-fetched, but as the Millionaire Mind book (that many people are recommending in these reviews) will tell you, people of great net worth learn to take opportunities and manage risk--often, the greater the opportunity the greater the risk. I would not take any of his examples (I think of them as parables, actually) and use them--that's directly against the advice of the book. The book gives you the guy's way of looking at money and tells you to go start the rest yourself. He gives you some good extended reading tips in the back of the book to help build your skills and philosophy. I'd recommend this book for a beginner who needs to get a good perspective on how to look at personal finance. I would not recommend it for a person who wants concrete investment advice. I would especially not recommend it to a person who will read it and run out to implement the thing as a how-to book--that is not what it is. I would also not take the book as seriously as many of the reviewers do. I would especially not base my entire life strategy on one book or author. This is a good read, and I loved the ideas. Take from it what you want and "file" the rest.
Rating:
Summary: Good information KIyosaki takes a while to prove his points
Review: This book is really great for the young investing mind. Specifically if you haven't already started bad habits you can really learn a lot from this book. Kiyosoki is very thick in his conclusions, meaning he takes a long while to reach his point. I would recommend this book to any young person or even mid-age investors. It will not give you specifics put it will begin to bring things together and put it all in perspective once and for all. Most people have high school and some form of formal education, that does not teach good money spending and investing ideals. This book just may do the trick for you and polish up those spots empty in a formally educated person.
Rating:
Summary: Buy "The Millionaire Next Door" Instead
Review: This book is a best-seller because people want to believe that there is a fast and easy way to get rich. If you read Kiyosaki's books and try to take notes, however, you will realize that there is very little practical information and a lot of blanket statements. This is NOT a personal finance book nor is there a shred of evidence anywhere that Kiyosaki has become rich through investments (he is probably rich now from the sales of all of his books). There isn't even any evidence that his "rich dad" ever existed. With his apparent preference for real-estate, he was lucky to publish his books during a downturn in the stock market and an upturn in the housing market. Many of his statements about "what the rich teach their children" are simply backhanded ways of saying that insider trading and other illegal schemes are OK. Forming a corporation really will not help your personal financial situation (ask a good CPA what the benefits of forming a corporation are) nor will it enable you to buy a Mercedes that you couldn't buy otherwise. If this book makes you think about your personal financial situation, that is definitely a good thing. There are many books that will REALLY help, like Eric Tyson's "Personal Finance for Dummies" and "Investing for Dummies" (don't let the dummies part fool you) or anything by Jane Bryant Quinn. "The Millionaire Next Door" is full of actual statistics about actual millionaires and is much more inspiring to people who are realists. There are numerous good books out there about starting or buying a business, but they all take you through the work you need to do in a step-by-step manner. It's abolutely worth reading financial books, but this one will not provide you with ANY practical advice.
Rating:
Summary: Greatest book I've ever invested in
Review: The last reviewer didn't like this book because it wasn't telling the story he must have wanted. I loved this book because it did just what it said it would. It taught what rich people know and poor and middleclass don't. This book opens your mind to new possibilities and gives you the hope to better your life and the lives of your children. I think Kiyosaki did a wonderful job expressing that in order to make a good living, you need to fully understand finances and how to make your money work for you.
Rating:
Summary: This book made me over $10,000 in profits out of nothing!
Review: i picked up this book about 4 years ago...when i was just a young freshman in college...after reading this first time, i started becoming more interested in creating businesses and investing... sure, there were tons of books out there for me to search...but that's part of the journey of becoming rich...you must first learn the secrets and seek to seek more until you know exactly what you want and how to get there... rich dad poor dad will not give you the specific details...it is not a one-stop guide to riches...it won't give you anything really specific...but it will encourage you to start thinking in the right perspective...the specifics are all up to you... just like robert kiyosaki said, i'd rather die working to get rich than to work all my life for a company for 25 years and become a poor man...you will come to realize that having a "safe and secure job" is not SAFE at all in this time of age! This is the information age! It is not the industrial age anymore and so many people i talk to don't know this or just don't get it. I know people who think they're rich just because they work for a great company and make a big salary...that doesn't mean anything! Their money (just like the masses) depends on the system...what rich dad and robert kiyosaki ultimately teaches in the most GENERAL and BASIC way is that you must create your own system... this book can be helpful for the masses but from what i have seen, it really comes down to your own personal choice...many people seem to not want to build businesses...but rather keep seeking for the "hot" jobs...keep seeking for employers...keep sending out their resumes...keep going out for interviews competing with other struggling average americans...this is not the way to become rich...the true secret is to build your own business because it is the information age now... simple as that...simple but not easy...this book lacks specifics but that it ultimately up to you...i have listened to lots of RK's tapes and read his other book "Cashflow Quadrant"...and i honestly think that Robert Kiyosaki is not the smartest guy in the world...he seems pretty lazy and average but he thinks like the RICH...he has the mindset of a RICH man... the thing is, you can be LAZY and still be RICH because of the power of LEVERAGE in businesses and assets...after 4 years, i've created an online business where i have created money out of nothing...yes, i accumulated up to $10,000 in profits...where i invested NOTHING!!! will i tell you the specifics? Of course not! That is part of capitalism...if you pay me $1 billion, i still wouldn't...maybe i would...but you get my point... the price of information is priceless if you choose to use that information...i bought this rich dad book for like 20 bucks 4 years ago...and because of that, i am now on my way of becoming rich for the rest of my life...through building money out of nothing and creating businesses...and i know it's not a instant journey...it's a lifetime journey...but it's exciting...you control your destiny...not some employer telling you to do work that you ultimately don't really care about... when it comes down to it, you either follow your own plan or you follow someone else's plan...the sad reality is that 90% of people in our schools are taught to follow someone else's plan... this one book will not chagne your life...most likely...it can though...i encourage you to pick this book up and read it and really reflect and study its philosophy...question your old beliefs about money and about being rich... do some seeking...some searching...find out your passions...find out what you are good at...know yourself...and then the next step is to read rich dad poor dad... Best of luck... BJ Min
Rating:
Summary: SO Simple & SO Easy To Understand!
Review: Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki, is such a simple and easy to understand book that even I, a fifteen-year-old novice to the money-making world of assets, investments, and real estate - who has never read a book about such things in her life - completely understood everything in this book. Kiyosaki lays everything out in front of you and explains all of it, basically, in "kid terms." I say "kid terms" because anyone could have understood it. He took a situation that often can be very complex, confusing, and frustrating to learn and understand, and made it fun, simple, and easy to comprehend - exactly what everyone is looking for when they want to learn something new, especially if that something will help generate extra income. What I learned from Kiyosaki was how to be successful with the money you are already making and what to invest it in so that you have even more money coming in - money that you are not even working for! Now I know the difference between an asset and a liability and even what they are! I know Robert Kiyosaki has many more books and I intend to read them sooner than later. I would recommend this book to anyone who is uncertain about what a balance sheet is and/or how it works. I would also recommend it to anyone who wants to be more knowledgeable about how money works and how to make more of it without actually having to work harder. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a great book for money-making beginners and for anyone who wants a simple, straightforward book about making money. In addition to reading this book, I have also played the board game Kiyosaki created called, Cashflow. This game helped me to further understand his book and the concepts he explained. Without the experience I have of playing this game, I would not be as knowledgeable as to how to use a balance sheet and understand how everything on it is categorized.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting financial advice, ambiguous moral
Review: I'll admit right from the start that I am not terribly financially inclined, and I rarely read books on this topic. So, what drew me to RICH DAD, POOR DAD? Well, the title. I thought this was going to be an inspiring story about how the so-called poor dad was just as happy as the rich dad, a story to illustrate that money cannot buy happiness. I also assumed that one father would be the biological father, and the other the stepfather. Imagine my surprise to find that Kiyosaki's poor dad was not poor, and the rich dad was not Kiyosaki's. The rich dad was the father of a friend. See, due to zip code technicalities, Kiyosaki, whose family was comfortably middle class (the father was a teacher), ended up going to school with the children of wealthy people. He endured discrimination as a result, wasn't invited to certain parties, was snubbed at school, etc. But rather than learning the obvious lesson that it was wrong for rich people to discriminate against those with less money, or that discrimination in any context is wrong, Kiyosaki decided that he would be one of the rich people so that no one could discriminate against him anymore. He decided to model himself after the father of a friend, the "Rich Dad." I find the psychological implications of this story to be quite unsettling. The message I took away from RICH DAD, POOR DAD is that more than feeling oppressed by his family's lack of money, Kiyosaki felt oppressed by his father. As an aficionado of the Jungian/Myers-Briggs-based personality and temperament theory, I think I can understand the source of Kiyosaki's sense of oppression. David Keirsey, in PLEASE UNDERSTAND ME II, says that there are four temperaments: Artisans, Guardians, Idealists, and Rationals. Artisans are usually the financial wizards, the business entrepreneurs. Kiyosaki is obviously an Artisan. Due to his desire to instill in Kiyosaki a respect for doing things the way they've always been done, I'm inclined to believe that Kiyosaki's father is a tradition-loving Guardian. (Think of Guardians as the "guardians" of tradition; Keirsey notes that Guardians usually become teachers because, as Kiyosaki correctly points out, teachers are often interested in teaching their students to conform to the status quo, to do things the way they've always been done.) There is always incredible tension between these two temperaments, the Artisan and the Guardian, both seeking what the other discards. Artisans want excitement, to try things in new ways, and to have the freedom to do whatever they want; Guardians want stability and to do things the way they've always been done. Artisans are attracted to risk; Guardians strive for safety. These two temperaments marry each other with high frequency. Kiyosaki's commentary on the school system is rather ironic. Kiyosaki is quite right that schools do not teach us what we need to know to secure our financial futures. What Kiyosaki has missed is that, according to John Taylor Gatto, author of DUMBING US DOWN: THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM OF COMPULSORY SCHOOLING, (Gatto was voted Teacher of the Year in New York City and state several years running), our school system was founded by industry barons such as Rockefeller, with the sole intention of preventing an uprising of this nation's poor. Rockefeller and the other industry barons, according to David Keirsey, were mostly of the Artisan temperament. And so, Artisans, the geniuses of the business world, very astutely knew how to create a system that ensured the survival of their businesses, and at the helm of this system they placed the Guardians. And so looked at from this perspective, the Kiyosaki anti-school viewpoint is rather circular; when you add the father motif, the overall message of RICH DAD, POOR DAD becomes a bit disturbing. But again, I'm not exactly the person you should turn to for financial advice. Perhaps Kiyosaki's advice will help you. I don't know. I can, however, recommend that you turn to Suze Orman, author of LAWS OF MONEY, LESSONS OF LIFE, for advice. I find Suze's approach and motto much more holistic, enriching, and wonderfully devoid of pre-pubescent psychological implications: "Money in and of itself has no power. Your money does not define you. You define your money." Andrew Parodi
| 
