The dubious virtues of capitalism

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This book seems to mostly be a hatched job of socialism parading as a fair and balanced viewpoint. The author seems sincere in his belief that a socialist philosophy is just an economic stupidity, and then goes on to extol the apparently endless virtues of what is, at heart, some fairly straightforward capitalist dogma.

While from an individual's point of view, the advice given seems likely to achieve the end goal of making the individual using it richer - at least a little - there seem to be quite a few pretty critical issues entirely overlooked.

The first is ethics. This question isn't even passed over lightly, it's completely absent from the book. The author wants you to think about how to get rich - full stop. He clearly feels enough guilt over his strategies to offer the platitude that poor people are really responsible for their own problems, and if only they'd change how they think about the world, they too could be rich. In so doing, he lays the challenges and problems of the poor and middle classes at their own feet. He explains, at some length, that taxation is bad and implies that people who pay taxes are stupid, and helpfully elucidates that America and the UK were both countries that had no taxes at one point, but fails to mention that the effect of tax was, in part, to make the countries the global powers that they became by allowing them to invest in projects that no individual could manage alone. Not that tax is bad, though, we're assured - just that smart people don't pay it.

Yes, fine. It's possible to evade taxes - rich people do it all the time. That doesn't make it an ethical thing to do - just a selfish and short-sighted one. Even the rich enjoy having public services such as a police force, army and roads. Boasting about not contributing to things we literally all need seems to be the exact thing the author subtly calls the rest of us who do - terminally short sighted and stupid.

Moving on. The second major problem is that the strategies presented would literally fail if more than a tiny minority of people adopted them. In a world full exlusively of investors, ironically no one makes and bread. The behaviours suggested in this book are fundamentally parasitic in nature - you leverage other people's hard work to make yourself rich at their expense. Smart, but very destructive to society as a whole. Still, the book will absolutely help you get rich enough to stop caring if the whole system crumbles.

Third, this is a book of it's time, and will age less and less favourably as time goes on. With radical changes coming more and more rapidly, the approach advocated by this book is going to become less and less relevant. Hard times ahead - except for the people who already have pretty much everything. If that's you, congrats. If not - you're screwed in the long run, even if you take all the advice in the book.

I'm sure the author would tell me that I'm my own worst enemy, though, because in spite of his efforts to be 'neutral' and 'balanced' in how he presents things, his own viewpoint is fundamentally that of a pretty greedy man of slightly better than mediocre intelligence.

123 people found this helpful

Almost.....

This book encapsulates capitalism and for the most part whatever your philosophy, the advice is sound...at least from a 'Western' stance. Kiyosaki is clearly very passionate about the subject matter which adds an air of confidence and authority to his book. Some have criticised that the whole,'rich dad' thing is a fabrication...I would suggest that this is an irrelevance. Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that acting 'as if' is often a given. Kiyosaki can get carried away at times and make what I would say are ridiculous suggestions such as education being for mere fools......and this lets an otherwise excellent book down. At times, Kiyosaki apologises for being unfair...and then continues to be just that and there can be a two-faced element to his arguments as a consequence. Narration is always important with audiobooks and Wheeler's approach is impeccable. I'd encourage Kiyosaki to take some time out to embrace some more Eastern practices as money alone whilst important is ultimately a mere fabrication of mankind. Nevertheless a very enjoyable listen...if at times a tad trite.

59 people found this helpful

Motivational but thin on details.

This is a bit of a mix, really, and there are some issues.

It seems America-centric. A lot of the advice offered is not directly relevant to other countries because the laws are different. For example, in the UK it is not necessary to set up a corporation to claim business expenses offset against tax; you can instead set up as a sole trader or partnership.

It also does seem that Kiyosaki is cherry-picking when it comes to anecdotes offered. This may or may not be the case, but it is the feeling I get. He seems to go off on a rant when talking about an investment that increases in value by 16% year-on-year because he's been told by other people that the investment is "far too risky," but he does not explain the investment.

Nevertheless, some of the advice I do feel is sound. To own businesses (rather than taking time to run them yourself) and to learn to make good investment decisions and make them both seem good ideas from the point of view of the end goal of generating money without working for money. That's obviously the ticket to financial security which is what the book is really about. If you have a regular income and you don't have to "work" 40 hours a week to get it, that's the goal.

The problem for me with this book and many similar books is that it describes what has worked for Kiyosaki. Kiyosaki has a unique set of skills as has every other person. In his case it led to riches; in other people's cases that may not really apply.

34 people found this helpful

Badly read

I haven't finished listening to this book yet and one of the reasons it's taking me a long time to get through is that it's read in a very monotonous tone, which makes the material feel more boring than it needs to.

But I also have problems with the content of the book, since the author spends so much time telling us to accumulate assets instead of liabilities, but doesn't really get down to the nuts and bolts of how to do that, which is frustrating.

31 people found this helpful

vague

too many vagueries and not enough specific plans of action. Whilst the principles are somewhat useful, these are meaningless without specific details on how to execute.

21 people found this helpful

Moderately Motivational

So I finally caved and got this book... somewhat useful for motivational purposes I suppose, though don’t expect any revelations.. I agree with some points and disagree with others. If you truly have no concept of personal cash flow then it’s a good place to start!

15 people found this helpful

I'll be buying assets from here on!

I really enjoyed this book. It teaches you the mentality that drives wealthy people and the core principles that made them rich. I am putting these principles into action.

11 people found this helpful

An enjoyable,outstanding eye opener !!

Would you listen to Rich Dad Poor Dad again? Why?

I will 110% be listening to this audio book again as I feel that there was too much valuable information to take in all at once, next time I will be taking notes and using them to begin educating my own children. I listened to the whole book within 24hrs as I just wanted to know more and since finishing the book I have bought 3 more of Rich Dads audio books.

What does Tim Wheeler bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Tim Wheeler was a great candidate for Rich Dads audio books as he made the listening experience more pleasurable with his tone of voice and delivery of speech. He also has the ability to make you feel as though he is actually sitting beside you and talking to you personally.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me feel a little bit angry at times as I felt like the working class are actually kept in the dark about a lot of the topics spoke about in this audio book. It also aggravated me to think that my children are now also being "Trained" at school to become only suitable for employment. I have since been proactive about changing my children's course of education and also about they're financial way of thinking. A definite must have for any loving, caring parent.

Any additional comments?

For any one serious about opening there mind and changing the way they see things I would highly recommend. A small price to pay for potentially life changing information!!

10 people found this helpful

A very thought provoking insight

This book surprised me on how well it went through the mechanics of what makes someone rich vs someone who is wealthy.

I am from the convential educational system, and over the last 15 years or so I have experienced exactly the symptoms of the new wealthy middle class as depicted in this book - study damn hard, work extra hard and you will succeed. 30 years later only find the mill needs more energy and I am shutting down, very little to show for it, lots of hours spent but 60% of my wealth in others pockets!

This is a must read for all, especially parents in the west.

From an Economics Major, Accountant

8 people found this helpful

An Inspiration

An inspirational book. Recommend this book highly if you want to learn how to take control of your finances and make money work for you!!!

6 people found this helpful