Robert Kiyosaki is perhaps the best-selling personal finance author of the last decade. His Rich Dad, Poor Dad was one of the books that spurred me to take control of my own personal financs. However, Kiyosaki has many vocal critics, some of whom have valid complaints. His ideas are unconventional and controversial.
Kiyosaki has agreed (in principle) to participate in an e-mail interview with me. I’d love to use questions from readers. I intend for this interview to be informative and constructive, not investigative, so I’m not going to pass along confrontational questions. If you have something you’d like to know about Kiyosaki and his methods, now’s a great chance to ask.
While we gather questions, how about a few links to other sites?
First up, GRS-reader rhbee from Finance is Fun has some thoughts on the current real estate market. After the turmoil of the past few years, he notes, those who followed the tenets of smart personal finance are in a position to take advantage of the decline in housing prices:
These are the ones who lived within their means. They spent less, worked at earning more. They set aside emergency funds and put their extra cash into index funds. When they did buy a house, it was with the traditional mortgage.
Meanwhile, No Impact Man has a story about conspicuous unconsumption, making a show out of not buying into consumer culture. Colin writes, “I like to think that when any of us UNconsumes conspicuously, it helps motivate and give permission to other people, too.”
Unclutterer posted a great article on saying farewell to a hobby. Hobbies can be excellent pastimes, and some can even make you money. But they can also be money sinks or, eventually, simply a source of clutter in your life. Just this morning I gathered all my photography equipment together; I haven’t used it in a year. It’s time for me to decide what my plans are.
Finally, Free Money Finance shared how to have half a million dollars at retirement by controlling wedding costs. “Half a million?” you might ask. “How is that possible?” Through the power of compound returns, naturally. Everyone wants a nice wedding, but if you take the time to control costs, you can give yourself a head-start in life.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
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What property type does Robert recommend as the best en tree into commercial real estate – especially in today’s market?
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I would say Kiyosaki is partly responsible for today’s sub-prime crisis. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of those who cannot make mortgage payment bought their property after reading his book(s).
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I question for Robert is:
“If you had $5,000 to invest today toward PASSIVE returns, what asset class would you select, and even better name a specific investment (TIPS, S&P 500 Index, Single Family Real Estate, etc).”
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When you want to talk about your future in photography, feel free to use me as a sounding board. I’ll try to not be an enabler.
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I would like to know his feelings on what happened with real estate in the past 7 years. Was it a result of the tech bubble bursting, or does he think it came from somewhere else?
Better still, are people going to be scared of investing in real estate for the next decade?
Finally, what kind of regulation would he like or expect to see come out of the sub-prime mess?
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Great questions so far. I’ve been reading Kiyosaki’s latest book, Increase Your Financial IQ, and it’s prompted a couple of questions, all of which seem to be related. They’re all variations on “how can a normal person do what you’re advocating”. For example:
“In your new book, I love the chapter on budgeting your money. You’re a great proponent of earning more instead of spending less. I, too, think that often the ‘earn more’ side of the money equation is neglected. But this can be difficult for the average person. What kind of advice can you give for ‘earning more’?”
“In you chapter on leverage, you discuss your recent purchase of a $17 million apartment complex in Tulsa. You explain how this is different than John Doe buying a home, how you’re using leverage to obtain an income-producing asset. This is a great point, and I’d actually like to apply it to my own life. But I don’t have $17 million. How can a person apply these principles on a smaller scale?”
“You say, ‘When I want a new liability [e.g. a fancy car], I write a book to pay for it.’ This is a great concept — using positive cash flow to pay for liabilities — but you operate on a completely different scale. How can my readers, who don’t have the option of publishing a book, do something similar. What sort of income-producing assets are available for those with small initial capital?”
And so on.
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I’m currently reading a book called the Middle Class Millionaire. According to the authors one of the characteristics of this type of person is a willingness to risk failure. In fact, their surveys showed that ‘middle class millionaires’ actually had a more positive view of their truly serious failures—in other words, they learned from them—than did regular ‘joes’ like us.
I’d like to know if Robert Kiyosaki feels the same way—-did he experience any setbacks that made him consider giving it all up and taking a ‘regular’ job? Or did he turn his failure into something positive, and if so, how?
Having read some of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series a few years ago, I feel that this type of investment is out of my reach for the moment, but would be interested to see the answers to your questions, J.D., about how ‘regular people’ can get started (my guess is that he’ll tell us to leverage the equity in our existing homes to buy a small rental, and move up from there).
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I would want for him to answer whether or not he would suggest to average people to invest in index funds.
I would want for him to answer whether or not rampant speculation fueled by over-leveraging of zero down mortgages etc, really was a good and healthful thing for the economy, and for people. Does his love of leverage account for the RISK of leverage?
I have to admit, I believe Kiyosaki to be a hack, for many reasons, and I would strongly question any advice Kiyosaki gives, considering his track record.
I would also like Kiyosaki to comment on the final outcome of the story of Casey Serin, whom appeared on his Rich Dad, Poor Dad show. Casey went 2 million into debt, destroyed his family, lost his wife, and is now in real legal trouble, based on RE speculation.
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I would ask Robert what his thoughts were on someone looking to actually buy and live in their home in this market. When does he think the best time to buy and hold is?
I also am curious if Robert is still feeling that commodities are the place to be for 2008. I remember him saying that in his 2008 Forecast video posted on his website.
Looking forward to reading the interview!
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I haven’t read his book(s), but I saw a clip on PBS about him, and I’ve heard *about* his books, and flipped through Rich Dad Poor Dad at Borders.
My question:
Doesn’t the use of debt as an investment instrument introduce an inappropriate amount of risk? Ie, borrowing money to invest in real estate, especially in today’s market?
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My question:
Does Robert think application-o-ramas are a good idea? If so, where would he invest the borrowed money this year?
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I loved Rich Dad Poor Dad and wrote a favorable review on my blog.
However, I find his subsequent works, especially the ones on buying rental properties, to be a bit risky for my investment tastes!
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Hi,
One good question is about the dollar :
What does he thinks about the value of the dollar? Where is it going?
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Kiyosaki’s best book is definitely his first. His main message of “Grow passive income” is an excellent one, and it didn’t just inform all his (many other, passive income generating, future books) but also seemed to fuel an explosion in this kind of writing.
In fact, maybe that could be the question: “What do you feel about the huge number of books and Internet resources now devoted towards growing passive income – do you feel you helped inspire them, and do you wonder if there’s a natural limit to just how many people can be landlords/business owners?”
Keep up the excellent work etc.
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I look forward to reading the interview. Obviously with my moniker I am a strong believer in developing passive income streams.
Best Wishes,
D4L
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Does Robert thinks the “Rich Dad’s Prophecy” is upon us earlier than expected?
Most of The Rich Dad series focus on offensive strategies to wealth: create assets, leverage debt, start businesses, etc. What defensive strategies would he recommend?
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I’m not meaning this to be snarky. I’m stating this just to express my dismay that you’re actually interviewing him.
I don’t like RK (I think he’s a fraud and I agree with another poster that he’s got culpability in the mortgage mess along with Robert Allen), so I’m not interested in his thoughts on anything.
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db, I understand your viewpoint. I go back and forth. Sometimes I read Kiyosaki and wonder what he’s thinking. But then I’ll read other stuff, and find it tremendously inspirational. I just finished his new book this morning. I didn’t like much of it. But the last 50 pages are fantastic. To me, I’d be happy if he stuck primarily to motivational stuff. Still, I think there’s some value there, and I hope to get at it with our questions…
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I don’t think people like Kiyosaki or Tim Ferris are bad advisors per se, but I do think it’s important to realize that only maybe one in a thousand will succeed using their methods, whereas 100 out of 100 people can succeed using the methods of Dave Ramsey or Joe Dominguez/Vicki Robin.
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#1 Thanks you very much for sharing that link about spending less on weddings. I recently became engaged http://www.russellheimlich.com/blog/were-engaged/ and sent the link to my new fiance.
#2 What kind of photo gear do you have? I might be able to take it off of your hands for you!
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Ask Kiyosaki why he needs a veritable army of lawyers and disclaimers, lest he be prosecuted for who knows how many counts of fraud and deception.
I’m practically his biggest fanboi, and I’ve followed his advice religiously for the past six years… I’ve managed to get into debt so large that I’ll still be paying it off 30 years from now. I’m also one phone call away from being shipped to a jail cell.
Other than all that, Kiyosaki is awesome…
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I would just like to say him “thank you”
He simply changed forever my way of thinking about money..
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I read R. Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad & Poor Dad” series through the recommendation of my senior officer.It has become a milestone in the quest of my knowledge about finance and investment.i am very thankful for his revolutionary ideas but my question for him is what kind of investment would be appropriate for the people of developing countries were stock market is a game of few broker companies.
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RK is a total hack.
Read this review of him:
http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html
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Ask RK why he changed his basic message in Rich Dad Poor Dad (build assets/avoid liabilities) into get-rich in real estate schemes.
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I’ve read two of his books, and Rich Dad, Poor Dad, although mostly a fabrication (see the Wikipedia entry on Kiyosaki), is a good read for the beginning investor.
To his credit, Robert did make the right call in April 2006, on the upcoming bust in the Real Estate bubble:
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/richricher/3413
and Robert does have a fine piece on MSN, posted about a month ago, which those believing we have seen the bottom, should read…
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/richricher/69637
My question would be, “When will the commodity bubble burst?”
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Two questions for Kiyosaki:
1) Why is the price of his board game Cashflow so high? (Something like $195, I think.)
2) What are the names of the companies he started/ or was an is major shareholder in, as he talks about on Yahoo! Finance?
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Hey JD,
My wife, T, and I have been using the Cashflow 101 game as a focus of our once a month personal finance club meetings for the past year. We play, discuss, bring in books to report on and generally teach each other about how investing, personal finance and real estate work. The game lets you play a personality and its finances and I swear the discussion and the help we give each other as we play are really worth the $195 investment. But that being said the game cards and the current economy are no longer in sync. So how about asking Robert when he plans to update the game for today’s market?
We also receive his ongoing video series via email and we couldn’t help but notice the glee he and his group appeared to be feeling about the way rents have gone up since the bubble burst. Ask him, if he sees anything more positive about this event than the money it means for his own pockets?
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Do you think it’s really a good idea to advise hard working, undersaving Americans that investing in a 401(k) is nothing but mere gambling. GAMBLING at a riverboat casino is like gambling! Saving for retirement is not gambling.
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It is amusing how many think they know what he is saying and then want to blame him for their screw-ups. Even his own books are littered with their examples from which they learn nothing. Like the example of the real estate investor who bought a negative cashflow property because ‘she liked it’ and blamed him for it not working out.
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You should just drop the interview. You are not going to get any interesting advice from his answers and will only draw attention to his books full of fluff.
Read the criticisms in the wiki articles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Dad,_Poor_Dad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kiyosaki
For more in depth information, read John T. Reed’s analysis of Robert T. Kiyosaki’s book
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html
Read the nonsense in his latest Yahoo column. How much do you want to bet that he recommends silver just so he can end the column with a “silver lining.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/richricher/69637
Check out the 20/20 segment where he was unable to give any concrete help to entrepreneurs.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=1982669&page=1
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I’ve read his books. He’s a hack. I’d rather you didn’t give him additional credibility by interviewing him, especially if you won’t ask him the really tough questions.
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I have such mixed feelings about Kiyosaki. His specifics are lame, but his general advice is good, and he’s motivational. Rich Dad, Poor Dad was one of the books that helped me turn things around.
I’m not opposed to asking him tough questions, but they have to be couched in a non-confrontational manner. He’s not going to answer *any* of the questions if he thinks he’s being put on the spot!
I still haven’t figured out how to phrase everything, yet…
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The one thing that overrides the critics is the fact that so many people have come to look at the difference between working for money and having your money work for you through reading and hearing what he has to say. Add to that the analysis that he brings to personal finance by providing us with the Cashflow Quadrant as a prism and you have more than enough reason to let us hear what he has to say when you (and we) ask the questions. As far as the John T Reed criticism is concerned, curmudgeons are useful but need to be taken with a grain or two of tequila.
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The danger is that his advice is tailored more to what people want to hear (and buy in book form) than is shown to work. For example, he suggests not getting an education, not getting a job, and using your friends for insider stock tips.
Expert advice is usually sought from someone who has experience in the field of discussion. His experience, as portrayed in the books, has been shown to be invented.
If you must ask him questions, ask if he has any advice for others that want to become best selling self-help authors. What publishing failures has he had in the past?
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