Rich Dad, Poor Dad - From Another Perspective
Friday, July 08, 2005
I came across John T Reed's web page with an analysis of Kiyosaki and his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Anyways I thought it was quite interesting reading his perspective.
http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html
What struck me was when he notes that the only reason that Kiyosaki's book became a best seller is because of his connection with MLM and the book was distributed through these network marketing companies. I actually know this as a fact because we had somebody come to our house trying to sell us into a pyramid type-network marketing scheme. Which we declined of course. (i mean we give a lot of money away to people we don't know but we are not really into pyramid schemes). Anyways he said as part of the monthly fee you get resources like investment books...such as "The Cashflow Quadrant". This caught my eye so I kept reading...interesting stuff.
I also enjoy his attempt to find out if "Rich Dad" actually exists.
The guy owns “convenience stores, restaurants, and a construction company.” I guess I can imagine a guy who owns convenience stores and a construction company. It’s odd, but not impossible. However, I cannot imagine a restaurateur who also owns a construction company. For one thing, the restaurant business is extremely management-intensive. At good restaurants, the owner is usually there almost all of the time. Same is true of construction. Plus restaurateurs that I’ve known are very different kinds of people from construction guys.
Reed also posts info on meassages he receives from his readers:
One quoted "The 48 Laws of Power" (Viking, 1998) in describing the power strategy Kiyosaki likes to follow:
"Law 27 - PLAY ON PEOPLE'S NEED TO BELIEVE TO CREATE A CULTLIKE FOLLOWING. Judgment - People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking.
Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power." (p. 215)
I agreee with the points he makes here:
Can the ordinary person get rich? Yes
Is it as easy as Kiyosaki makes it sound? Not even close.
Can it be done as fast as Kiyosaki says? Nope.
Is education as worthless as Kiyosaki says? Every pertinent study has shown that the more education you have, the higher your net worth and income. Also, educated people live longer, have fewer divorces, better health, and so forth.
posted by aforward @ 11:30 AM,
