Re: Rich Dad Live! You won’t believe this . . . - Posted by eric-fl
Posted by eric-fl on September 29, 2003 at 23:03:22:
None of this is that surprising. There was a thread on here, about a year ago, about an article on RK’s real history, published in money magazine. Basically, he tried & failed several times (like most successful businesspeople), did ok on velcro wallets for a little while (merchandising them), and then got into publishing after that went south.
RK, like many gurus, happened to strike a chord with his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. I believe, when the dust settles, that Rich Dad’s (‘Rich Dad’ is a fictitional allegory by the way, by Kiyosaki’s own tacit admission) greatest contribution will be, that it underscored the importance of cash flow to the average Joe. Taken at a more metaphysical level, it taught people to consider the income stream aspects of an investment, vs. merely the capital gain implications.
That, plus the book, is probably all that 98% of people are ever going to need to know about RK. But, like many gurus, his publisher understandably wants another best-seller, and offered him a ton of money to do it. What follows, is a string of mediocre sequels. RK isn’t unique in this category. A cursory survey of my bookshelves shows many others who’ve crossed the path of continuing to rehash their original work:
Robert Allen (Nothing Down)
Steven Covey (Seven Habits)
Jay Conrad Levinson) (Guerrilla Marketing)
David Allen (Getting things done)
Stanley/Danko (Millionaire Next Door)
Harvey Mackay (Swim with the Sharks)
Peter Lynch (One up on Wall Street)
Michael Gerber (E-myth)
… and so on. While I would not hesitate to recommend all of the above as excellent, I would hesitate to recommend their follow-on books, all of which I found to be wanting in comparison with their predecessors. Though to be fair, I don’t think any of them subsequently called their readers Morons & Losers.
Honestly, I don’t care what RK calls me, or thinks of me, as long as he’s got something new to teach me. But I think that, he hasn’t had anything new to say for a long time now. Don’t take my word for it; read the reviews of the subsequent “Rich Dad” series of books on Amazon, which are not even written by him. Not exactly flattering.
Understand, RK is just trying to make a point. And his central point is that, it’s better to be an investor, with other people doing the work for you, than to be self-employed, working for yourself. I agree with this, but I think it is disingenuous at best, and arrogant at worst, to presume that anyone who cannot make the leap is a loser, or to act as if there is not a logical path of progression in order to get to that point.