Rich Dad's Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Children a Financial Headstart

Rating:
Summary: A Smart Plan For The Future
Review: Although this is the first economic based book I have read, I have found it to be very informative and enjoyable. Kiyosaki does a good job at using a style of language that is very coherent and easy to understand. His view are balanced by contrasting his "rich and smart dads."
As a young man without much experience using economic terms, Kiyosaki was able to use real life examples that made the learning so much easier. Although this book was directed to parents to help their children start ou in life on the right path financially, I found it, as a senior in high school planning to go to college and grow up, to be extremely usefull.

Rating:
Summary: Rich Kid Smart Kid
Review: I did find the book interesting, but I don't think that teens my age will find a lot of interest in it.
I gave it a 3 star because even though i didn't follow through the book, i felt that the author made a lot of good point for parents. I think the author really knows what he is talking about. I also gave it a 3 star because the way his teaches parents about teaching their kids about finace is through his own experience. So i gave it a 3 star because i found some interest in the book rather than none at all.

Rating:
Summary: Rich Kid Smart Kid
Review: I liked this book because it teaches the reader how to teach their children about money and how to use it. By giving the child such things as power of his/her money can help the child learn instead of giving an hour long lecture about saving. This book also advances on what was said in the first one "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by puting the reader in the teachers seat instead of the students. So in the long run both the partent and the child is learning from this book. And that is why I gave it five stars.

Rating:
Summary: Book Summary
Review: Our current education system fails to adequately teach our children the financial skills necessary to survive later on in life. Robert Kiyosaki wrote Rich Kid, Smart Kid to fill those gaps. The fundamental premise of the book is that all children are born smart and rich. The goal of education is to bring out that natural genius within our children. Awakening this genius inside of us is a sure way to become happy. Therefore, being happy through realizing our innate potential is more fulfilling than being rich and unhappy. Rich Dad said, "If you are not happy while getting rich, chances are you will not be happy when you get rich. So whether you are rich or poor, make sure you are happy" (14).

The root of the current problem lies in America's transitioning from an Industrial society into an Information society. Kiyosaki explains the need for transitioning our thought, "In the Information Age, what you know becomes obsolete very quickly. What you learned is important, but not as important as how fast you can learn, change, and adapt to new information" (xi). These structural changes tangibly affect us regardless of whether or not we acknowledge them. Some of the problems facing tomorrow's youth include social security, healthcare, increased risk of obsolesce through increased specialization, and the need for lifelong education. Education must adjust with the times.

Currently, our education system teaches scholastic and professional skills. Scholastic education focuses on the ability to read, write, and do arithmetic. Professional education trains students for high-level careers later on in life. However, this Western brand of education fails our children in some crucial ways. Rich Dad said, "The child learns by doing, making mistakes, and then learning" (238). It's failure lies in its unconscious suppression of the innate genius within all of us, and by dismissing the role mistakes play in the learning process. This happens when our education system forces us to conform to what is only a partial definition of what intelligence is.

Financial education should be taught as soon as the child demonstrates some interest. While this may happen as early as five years old, more commonly a child's perceptions and self-identity is formulated between the ages of nine and fifteen. It is crucial to form the child's perception concerning money in a positive light during these ages. Encouraged by a famous Chicago-based study on learning, Kiyosaki believes, "...a parent's most important job is to monitor, guide, and protect a child's self-perception" (109). As a parent, the process begins by devising a "winning formula" for your children.

The formula Kiyosaki recommends should be tailored to each child based on their interests and which of the several types of genius they possess. Success requires having at least a winning formula for learning, for being a professional, and for financial success. We must be flexible enough to adjust our winning formulas when conditions render them losing formulas. The next step involves homework. Rich Dad said, "the primary difference between the rich, the poor, and the middle class is what they do in their spare time" (50). Kiyosaki recommends teaching financial literacy during your spare time.

To better serve the greater majority of students who fall through the cracks schools must adopt new teaching methods that engage students not just mentally, but also physically, emotionally, and spiritually . One way to achieve this in the classroom is by playing games. Games engage all our senses and reinforce learning. At home this entails teaching your children through pictures, games, and real life examples. Kiyosaki encourages parents to set-up three piggy banks for their children for tithing, saving, and investing. Parents should also expand their child's financial vocabulary. Appendix A and B offer many practical lessons that parents can immediately use with their children.

The larger goal to be achieved is to reorientate the way we view business and wealth. Kiyosaki says, "...if you want your children to be rich, teaching them to serve as many people as possible is a priceless lesson for them to learn" (197). Echoing the message of management guru, Peter Drucker, the primary purpose of business is to create a customer first, then to make a profit. This new perspective teaches our children and us that commitment to the public good is not incompatible with making a profit. In fact, it may be the best way to achieve social harmony. Everyone wins when we seek to develop our own unique genius and parlay our ability toward serving others while simultaneously enriching ourselves both personally and financially.

Rating:
Summary: Rich Kid Smart Kid
Review: Overall I thought this was a good book. It gave me a completely new perspective on how to make money. After reading it, I realized that I had the traditional view of working hard to earn money and putting it in the bank. Some of the ideas are a little difficult for the conventional money saver to understand, but Kiyosaki has an anecdote for just about every point he tries to make. The only drawback was that he makes many references to Rich Dad Poor Dad, and unless you have read the book(which I haven't), you are often left clueless.

Rating:
Summary: Simple Common Sense, Nicely Presented
Review: Rich Dad's Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Children a Financial Headstart is one of those books which present information that you should know, that you "do" know, but somehow do not always follow.

There are simple yet effective strategies for teaching your children about money, long before they fall into the common financial traps in the world. The book is nicely organized, easy to read, yet provides a good amount of information and material that is comprehensible to all readers.

The book is worth the time to read and to have your children read it.

Rating:
Summary: Instant Replay
Review: Thank goodness it wasn't in slow-motion!
This is the fourth book of Mr. Kiyosaki's I have read. The ideas in all of these books could have fit in to one.
So why read this one? I couldn't tell ya

Rating:
Summary: Instant Replay
Review: Thank goodness it wasn't in slow-motion!
This is the fourth book of Mr. Kiyosaki's I have read. The ideas in all of these books could have fit in to one.
So why read this one? I couldn't tell ya

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book was very insightful to parents all across the world. It teaches parents that in order to be successful in the financial world and the buisness world, you have to have a good education. (...)

Rating:
Summary: Strategies forfinancial head start
Review: This is not just another book in the rich dad series, this is a book that all loving parents must have to truly empower their children to greatness. Kiyosaki offers some striking facts to support the advice he learned from his Rich Dad.

For example, Kiyosaki starts off by citing an article in the Arizona Republic with the following statistic: "About 700,000 seniors will be cut from Medicare Choice HMO's according to a survey released earlier this month by the American Association of Health Plans."

Kiyosaki goes on to cite another statistic based on a study done by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, of every one hundred people at age sixty-five, one is rich, four are comfortable, five are still working, fifty-six are needing government support or family support, and the rest are dead.

Interesting is the first time I heard this statistic was back in 1974 when I was in the insurance business. The late Earl Nightengale also frequently stated this in his excellent classic "The Strangest Secret" which was released back in the 1960's. Things have not changed much in over 40 years and not likely to unless we change.

Kiyosaki goes on to say that this book is not about becoming the one rich person out of a 100 (although that is a noble goal)It is about the fifty-six who still need someone else to support them.

Kiyosaki then points out that many people erroneously say they won't need much money when they retire because their living expenses go down. Nothing could be further from the truth because of the rising costs of health care.

Kiyosaki then asks; "Did these senior citizens education prepare them for the financial challenge at the end of their lives?"

Kiyosaki then goes on to say that the reason he is making a point of the plight of these seniors in a book aimed at a child's education is two fold.

One, it is your child who will ultimately have to pay for the health care of these millions of senior citizens if they cannot pay for it themselves.

And number two is actually another question: Will your childrens education prepare them to be financially secure enough not to need government financial and medical support at the end of their working days?

Kiyosaki says the rules have changed in the new economy. In the Industrial Age, the rules were go to school, get good grades, find a safe secure job with benefits, and stay there all your life. After 20 years or so you retire, and the company and the government take care of you for the rest of your life.
Some people are still living with an Industrial Age mentality.

Now, in the Information Age, the rules have changed. The rules are now go to school, get good grades, find a job, and then retrain yourself for that job. Find a new company and a new job and retrain. Find a new company and a new job amd retrain. Find a new company and a new job and retrain, and then hope and pray
you have enough money set aside to last you much longer than age sixty-five because you will live well beyond the age of sixty-five.

Some other facts that Kiyosaki points out

In the Industrial Age, the employer was repsonsible for your retirement.

In the Information Age, the employee is responsible. If you run out of money after age sixty-five, it is your problem, not the company's problem.

In the Industrial Age you became more valuable the older you got.
In the Information Age you become less valuable the older you get.

In the Industrial Age, people were employees for life.
In the Information Age, more people are now free agents.

Rich Kid Smart Kid is divided into three parts, 18 chapters and 280 pages of must reading for every parent who cares for their child and for parents who are still stuck with Industrial Age beliefs.

In part 1, Kiyosaki talks about the educational process of his other dad, his real dad who was smart but poor. Kiyosaki says that if it wasn't for Poor Dad, he would have dropped out of school and never gone to college.

In part 2, Kiyosaki offers some action steps, academically and financially, parents can take to begin preparing their child for the real world. In pat 2, Kiyosaki explains the lessons he learned from his Rich Dad. Part 2 has some simple, concrete examples of things parents can do to give their child a financial head start into the real world of jobs and money.

Part 3 is about the latest technological breakthroughs in education that will enhance parent's ability to find their child's natural learning ability and natural genius. Part 3 is about giving your child an academic head start.

Rich Kid Smart Kid will help you help your children bring out their maximum potential. It is a book that your children will cherish the rest of their lives. Highly recommended.