Topic: Robert T. Kiyosaki

[mrgrammar]

I love to play board games and have come across this game "Cash Flow" it is extremely expensive and seems to attract cultish people. Although some of my friends gush over his books. I'm curious to hear what the skeptic community has heard or knows about this guy and his book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" that seemed to start his career. Ideas? Links? blogs? or others information about him.

[Jim S]

I read a couple of his books some time ago, and they were informative, though redundant.    He focuses on cash flow, specifically, having investments that generate cash flow.  For instance, although you can make a lot of money on your home (depending on where you live, I guess), he says it is NOT an investment, because no cash comes from it.   He focuses a lot on rental real estate, as well as owning a business of your own as opposed to just being an employee someplace.

IIRC, the game is actually intended to be educational.  Parents who have decided to run their finances as the author suggests buy the game so they can teach the concepts to their kids (and friends?), and get them excited about one day being property owners or business owners. 

Cultish?  I guess I could see that.  I suspect that the people who want their kids (or friends) to play this feel very strongly that their kids (friends) should take a clue from the game and become a property or business owner.  The game was sort of introduced to me that way, though I never played it. 

HTH. 

[mrgrammar]

Thanks for replying. I guess I'm still wondering about him. I ran into a guy about a year ago that was running a group on meetup. getting people to come play this game was his schtick. He was trying to get people to come play this game with him and it seemed awfully amay (ish). When I was in my 20's I ran into people trying to convert me to amway (I'm in Utah the MLM capital of the world). He seemed to be that kind of character. I'm wondering if this Rich Dad Poor Dad author was/is a tool that was/is used by these guys? I am also wondering if his books are legit? Isn't he saying that running rental properties is an easy way to get rich and that there's no real work involved doing this. I still don't see why his game is $250 (U.S.). That kind of price seems to suggest cultish behavior to me.

[Jim S]

Wow, never knew the game was that expensive.  Sounds like it must be out of print? 

There is nothing all that special about his philosophy.  Yeah, small business owners generally have more control over their future than someone who is "just" an employee.  And there definitely are tax advantages (in the U.S.) to running a business or being a landlord.  But in either case, it will probably be a LOT of work (as you suspect), otherwise the success won't be there.

I can see where a Kiyosaki fan and an Amway fan would be similar - they both would have an entrepreneurial streak.  That's not a bad thing, right?  One just hopes that people would apply it toward a business endeavour that makes sense. 

Anyway, $250, for a game.   Yeah, looks cultish just for paying that much.  No game is that fun, there probably is usually another reason for buying the game.