Rating:  Summary: A highly stimulating read. Review: OK, you've read the editorials, and maybe some of the other reviews here. I have a comfortable income, but from a single source, and am starting my own business, and I found this book fascinating and very useful. The author believes understanding and education (not necessarily of the school variety) are key elements if one seriously wants to become wealthy: if you are looking for specific details on what to do, when and how, you will be disappointed. The book does not advocate one particular way to earn money, tho the author uses some examples from his own experience of buying real-estate. This book is not "Finance For Dummies". It doesn't even have an index. The book is part narrative: it tells the story of how the author learned from his rich "Dad". The rich Dad sounds like an excellent teacher, probably better than the author, whose writing style is a little flat. Being a teacher myself, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about how rich Dad taught his 2 "kids", and I agree with Kiyosaki's approach to learning and teaching. Not being a big business owner or high-flying investor, I cannot vouch for the financial details in the book. However, I think it does a great job of pointing out the fact that "financial literacy" is just as important and vital as "computer literacy": one is taught in school, the other isn't. It also does a great job of starting to teach me (hate math, no good with figures) about financial literacy: I appreciated the simple language and the diagrams (OK some of the narrative is a little hokey). The present economic climate has outgrown the old reality of "get a good education, a stable job with good benefits and you're all set." For me, it was a wake-up call. I immediately bought the other 2 in the series, and I want to try the game. I don't think this book is just a scam to get rich: if it was, I think Kiyosaki would have made sure his book is a success by spending a lot more on advertising than he actually did - almost nothing.
Rating:  Summary: Grasp future financial success. Review: This book deals with the exploding myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich, challenging the belief that your house is an asset, defining once and for all an asset versus a liability and explaining what kids need to know about money for their future financial success. If you think you know everything about money you got another thing coming. A must read to understand the rules in which the rich people play. FinancialNeeds.com
Rating:  Summary: Great book! Review: But of course, even after reading the book, we find those that focused on the "words" and not the "story" behind it. There is a very simplistic yet valuable lesson to be learned here which is priceless - do yourself a favor, keep an open mind, read the book, learn the lesson. If you are not ready to challenge your financial way of thinking, then skip this book since it will not help you. It has definitely impacted my approach to money.
Rating:  Summary: Use your library card Review: Frankly, this is a very poorly written book. I suppose the lessons about money were instructive -- to a degree. I think they were reasonably well illustrated, but talk about beating a dead horse. Granted the purpose of this book is not to shake up the literature scene, but to talk about peoples' attitudes about money and how irrational they can be. To the degree it does that, the book is worth reading. The thing is, the package ain't pretty. Having to read through the "narrative" is quite painful, if not completely uninteresting.
Rating:  Summary: A must-read and must-buy Review: Robert Kiyosaki delivers a great book here that turned my financial life around and opened my eyes to a new world of financial intelligence. For those reviewers who want more concrete examples of how he and his Rich Dad made their millions, I heartfully recommend reading the next two in his series, Cashflow Quadrant and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing, which give you that specific kind of guidance you're looking for. I've bought and loaned this book to everyone I know, and it's opened their eyes as well.
Rating:  Summary: I actually spent money on this?!? Review: Wow...what an incredibly bad book. I really do not understand what it is about this book that has kept it on the best seller list. I read it in about two hours and, upon finishing, realized that I learned absolutely nothing. Invest in real estate, the author says. Hmm, thought I. As soon as I pay off my student loans, get a job that pays double my current salary, and find a reasonable rate on car insurance, I'll be in a position to THINK about doing that. What this book lacks is REALISTIC advice. Telling readers "Don't work for money, make money work for you" means nothing when you don't have the capital to start your own business ('cuz if I did, I wouldn't be reading this book...get it?). I've been reading a lot of books on financial planning lately and this one has to be the least helpful of all the ones I've looked at. Perhaps someone who has an economics background might like the book, but I found it difficult to understand at times and just plain boring the others. There's better stuff out there. The "inside secrets" you're hoping to find are not in this book.
Rating:  Summary: What's the point? Review: I know some people who tell me that they're "challenging my intelligent" by narrating ideas all around without getting to the point and challenge whether "I get the point". Well, certainly this book is one of them! There are good points that the author try to deliver, but for the most parts, I don't need to hear. I don't need to hear when the rich dad bought him an ice cream, I don't need to hear how poor the rich dad's house is, and going to college has nothing to do with making money! There are many rich men out there such as Bill Gates or successful inventors like Thomas Edison who didn't finish their college their education, but I doubt that they got rich because didn't graduate from college! I have been working with so many "startup" businesses who "were about to prosper", 8.5 out of 10 of them fail/collapse, and my advise is, "Learn from them who are ALREADY successful, not them who are ABOUT to success," I certainly don't work with one still living in an apartment, not that those living in apartments cannot be successful, but I would rather work with one already lives in a mansion :)
Rating:  Summary: Simple or simplistic? Both perhaps Review: This book has a simple point: the rich think differently than everyone working for a paycheck. It is a powerful lesson that is worth the cost of the book alone. Half of the book is in the form of a narrative, half in advice. The narrative half struck me as simplistic. I wanted more details on how exactly the author and his rich dad made their pile and less of the childhood episodes involving stacking cans and painting fences. Still, the book sets out to teach a few simple lessons that really can change your life.
Rating:  Summary: You've been suckered into reading an Infomercial! Review: This book is redundant, overly simplified, and worse yet, offers no useful knowledge other than explaining basic accounting principals that most people already understand. His relentless advocation to invest in real estate offers nothing more than those get-rich-quick real estate infomercials; thus spawning the ever expanding library of Rich Dad books so he can claim royalties, which will one day result in a Rich Dad guide to earning royalties. If you have this book, I can teach you a system that will make you a fortune by selling his library to other people just like you with the use of a simple classified add, seen by hundreds of people looking to waste their money.
Rating:  Summary: Bestselling for a reason. Review: This book gives a brand new perspective on how to view money in general. I recommend everyone to read this book. But whilst this book gives great insights into how the rich thinks and works, the writing itself is pretty bad. The author sometimes tell long stories that seem almost irrelevant to the point, making the reading sometimes tedious. Also, the book is fairly vague in its ideas. Although it tells you how to think like the rich, it doesn't even give you examples of how they accomplished their success. But like the author says, you don't have to write a "best writing book," you just need to write a "best-selling book". The book is a great way to start your journey to better manage your wealth.
|