Introduction
Every year a lot of graduates pass from top-level universities and prestigious academic institutions. However, only 5% of this scholar Populous can make a good enough living. Most people get stuck in the rat race of getting a job and paying off lease for the rest of their lives.
Any knowledge and training about managing personal finance are non-existent in the educational system. The hyped-up academic career taking so much time and creating significant liability for the students does not provide them with the right tools to deal with real-life problems. Many fresh graduates start small and have a long struggle ahead of them before becoming successful in life.
There is a need for books like Rich Dad Poor Dad that teaches the students about this crucial life skill and rapidly gets out of the financial turmoil. Money is a commodity, but financial constraints have made it into a way of life. This book allows people to understand how they can attain financial independence and let money work as an asset.
Synopsis
Rich Dad Poor Dad is the top-selling personal finance book in the world. Its effortless approach and elaborative content make this book so popular among the readers. Celebrities like Will Smith and Opera Winfrey have publicly endorsed the book.
The book discusses various themes of financial literacy aspects and notices the absence of personal finance education in public academia. From the first to the tenth chapter, Mr Kiyosaki takes the readers on a journey to understand the significance of developing a financial IQ. His writing style is not dominating or antagonistic, but instead, he tries to level with the reader and keep them engaged with examples from the real world. Each chapter has one focal point, representing the reader’s issues or cynicism and attempts to eliminate it.
The book is practically archetype-neutral and relatable for people all around the world. With this book’s help, Mr Kiyosaki attempts to destroy the conventional misconceptions about money like unlimited savings plans and replace them with high-return procedures like investment and managing risk.
About the Author
The book Rich Dad Poor Dad is the brainchild of self-made millionaire Robert Kiyosaki. He is the fourth generation Japanese-American businessman with a peak net worth of $100 million. After becoming a successful businessman, he wanted to let others in on his best-kept business secrets. Soon he started to advocate financial literacy and took a stand on the lack of practicality of the academic curriculum.
Mr Kiyosaki has written many books that provide useful insights for the students and working professionals about the importance of learning and developing financial IQ. His mission is to serve his community and give back to society to show his gratitude. He has worked with the most prominent business names like Donald Trump, Tony Robbins, and Bill Gates.
Rich Dad Poor Dad is his all-time best-selling book and claim to fame. His practical approach and relatable scenario building style is popular and adds a lot of credit to his leadership style. The great thing about the Kiyosaki financial education program is that it is relatable for every age, gender, nationality, and authenticity.
Thesis
The First Five Chapters
Rich Dad Poor Dad is all about empowering people in terms of financial qualification. The rich dad represents a successful businessman with a below-average academic record. On the other hand, the poor dad is the typical specialising, hard-working, and academically superior counterpart of the former.
Mr Kiyosaki tells his childhood when he was trying to learn life skills with his good friend. In detail, he narrates the striking contrast of opinions and advice that both his guardians gave him and urges the readers to adhere to the middle ground.
During the first few chapters, his observations and his rich dad’s reactions to their resolution help the reader get into the shoes of struggling financially. Mr Kiyosaki wants the readers to relate to the incidents of financial issues that everyone faces in life. The book provides many practical examples that highlight the importance of financial literacy in day to day life. For instance, he once asks his students if they can make a better hamburger than Mcdonalds, and most of them raise their hands. Then he asks them if that is the reason, then why are they not as successful as that business? The answer lies in the fact that financial literacy has a lot to do with success than mere aptitude.
He also explained that many people do not realize their lack of economic understanding. The first five chapters are dedicated to the readers to grasp the concepts and advantages of financial literacy fully.
The Last Five Chapters
In the last five chapters, Mr Kiyosaki talks about the part of his life where he had already entered into the experimental phase. After the end of his service in the Navy, he worked on and left many successful careers.
He became the top salesman, and he became the best-selling author. The advice of his poor dad was to get a decent job and settle down like everyone else. Mr Kiyosaki calls this entering the rat race.
He had seen many of his peers and his poor dad himself falling apart because of their heavy reliance on their jobs. According to Kiyosaki’s philosophy, the average employee works hard and makes all the profits for his serving. In a job, you can get fired or terminated at any point. There is no sense of personal growth, achievement, or fulfilment. Most people enter the rat race to pay their bills, and they are too afraid of following their dreams. According to his rich dad’s advice, he understands that this fear results from the lack of financial literacy. People who are unable to manage their expenses spend more and get lesser value for their money. He encourages people from all walks of life and from all age brackets to get proper tools to redefine their financial knowledge base.
According to Kiyosaki, when people get in a job, they work endlessly, and they perform all their lives to chase the money. The more they earn, the more they lose. No matter how much money you are making, you would never achieve financial independence if your expenses are growing. Mr Kiyosaki educates people to let their money work for them by way of investment. He also explains the insider techniques of managing taxes on a personal and commercial level.
Take Away
As a marketing and business management strategy student, I am very well aware of the importance of financial administration. Throwing a lot of money in a business is not going to ensure success. Money makes money. This philosophy is lacking and incomplete. I have seen people with lesser resources doing better than those who have a significant monetary advantage.
A balance sheet is like the pulse of the business. Like an expert doctor, a person in the industry can identify and diagnose the areas of concern and triumph. I agree that our educational career did not have any programs or learning aid that prepare students for developing a financial aptitude. If you make a lot of money but do not know how to spend it, you do not have any advantage over the poor. While reading this book, I could not help but agree with most of the practical examples that represent in the books.
I know that success has many aspects, and managing money is an essential requirement for this qualification. It was easy for me to finish this book in 2 sittings because it is short and straightforward; the subject matter is focused and to the point. The break-up of ten brief chapters helped me focus on one critical aspect of financial literacy at a time. Every chapter has an easy storytelling method that does not let the reader get tired or bored despite the academic subject matter.
I also agree that lack of accurate knowledge induces fear, and the fear becomes a bid roadblock in the way of success. We can make this fear vanish by introducing the light of financial education. Reading the tales and success stories of the biggest name in business like Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, and Bill Gates, I know that these big winners do not shine best in their academic careers, but they struck gold and found the knowledge base that mattered.
With the help of this book, I understood and accepted the importance of financial literacy. I got the idea that knowledge is a greater privilege than wealth and lineage. I noticed that the subject matter was very generic and, at times, vague. This book serves as the sales copy for the financial awareness program of Robert Kiyosaki. I also noticed that he emphasises on the readers to find ways to make their money working for them instead of running after money.
The fact of the matter is that it serves as a nudge for the investment and brokering. I know that money returns can be generous. However, not everyone has first-hand ideas and information about the latest stock market trends, and there are significant risks involved in this regard. I would not personally recommend people to plunge headfirst into the world of investment without proper backup and support.
Another point that I tend to have a partial disagreement about is hard-working. According to the Kiyosaki philosophy, hardworking people are wasting time. In my opinion, hard work is essential, but it is better to work smartly and conserve your energy. Robert Kiyosaki openly admits that he chooses controversial titles and themes for his books to create a big hype in the market and create a significant engagement factor.
Conclusion
Overall, this book has many apparent and hidden lessons that people belonging to all ages and professions can comprehend. The first barrier in the way of success is that people cannot diagnose the real reason for the limitations of their financial prowess. Most of the lessons that we have learned in schools do not apply in the race of practical life. Most people think that getting into massive student debts will make their lives more comfortable and more manageable.
However, the matter is that doctors and engineers also suffer from financial troubles from time to time. If these people do not have the chance to become successful, how can a fresh graduate with generic business information succeed in practical life? The truth is that with more salary, we keep increasing our expenses and have no backups or contingency plans for a rainy day. We do not have perfect financial independence, and we are continually living with the risks of losing our job and all the benefits that come with it. Everything we are trying to own, like a house, a car, and a college degree, imprison us in the endless cycle of debts and loans. These debts keep growing continuously, and we are bound to pay twice or thrice as much in return. That is not all. We keep generating more liabilities with credit cards shopping.
To sum up, we are only causing more penalties, and there is little to no capital in our contingency accounts. Even if we have savings, we have no idea how to multiply it, and we are too scared of getting into investment ventures. According to the concepts explained, our fear of the unknown keeps us away from attaining real success, and we are unable to break away from the vicious rat race. Under these circumstances, we look at the people who have significant financial success to their claim, and we have a chance to learn from their imparting wisdom. Robert Kiyosaki is the most credible and reliable financial coach in the world because he breaks the common misconceptions about money management. He gives his readers hope and drives them to success with the help of practical and positive motivation. At one point in his book, Kiyosaki rightfully quotes that:
“One of the reasons people aren’t rich is because everyone has more excuses than money.”