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• Current

Type: documentary

Status: to read

Authors: Bonnie Biafore Mark Etzkorn Jon D. Markman David S. Nassar Kathleen Sindell Gary Smith

Tags: money business nonfiction investing

2005-09-04

  & 1 users

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: I recommend

Authors: Robert T. Kiyosaki Sharon L. Lechter

Tags: money business finance nonfiction

Description: The rich are different from the rest of us, if for no other reason than U.S. tax and securitiesThe rich are different from the rest of us, if for no other reason than U.S. tax and securities laws allow them to invest in ways that keep us from catching up to them. That's why 90 percent of all corporate shares of stock are owned by 10 percent of the people. Kiyosaki believes it's possible for anyone to move up into that 10 percent, but it takes a different view of investing than most people have: it takes a plan to be a successful investor. And a plan is more than simply buying and selling, or collecting "assets" that bring in no cash and are thus more akin to liabilities. The way most people invest, "they might as well be pushing a wheelbarrow in a circle," he writes. A plan is "mechanical, automatic, and boring," a formula for success that has worked historically for most of those who've used it. Kiyosaki's "rich dad" (actually, the father of his best friend) tells him the simplest analogy is the game Monopoly: buy four green houses, trade them for one red hotel, and repeat until you become rich.

The overall message of Rich Dad's Guide to Investing is that this is an abundant world, full of opportunity for the sophisticated investor. However, it sometimes takes a while to find this point. Much of the book is told in dialogues between young Kiyosaki and his rich dad, and these conversations can ramble. There are rewards for the careful reader--for example, in the middle of a section on the basic rules of investing, Kiyosaki's rich dad compares investor education to toilet training: difficult at first but eventually automatic. But getting to these inspired metaphors means wading through a lot of repetitive dialogue. It's a bit ironic that someone who advocates investor discipline should show so little as a writer. But by the end of the book, even the rambling starts to make sense. By the hundredth time you read that the rich don't work for money, and that you don't need money to make money, both concepts start to make sense. It still looks difficult to apply these ideas, but Rich Dad's Guide to Investing certainly makes the case that they'll work for anyone bold and smart enough to practice them. --Lou Schuler...

2005-09-03

  & 18 users

• Current

Type: educational

Status: I recommend

Authors: Robert T. Kiyosaki Sharon L. Lechter

Tags: money business finance nonfiction

Description: Personal finance author and lecturer Robert Kiyosaki developed his unique economic perspectivePersonal finance author and lecturer Robert Kiyosaki developed his unique economic perspective through exposure to a pair of disparate influences: his own highly educated, but fiscally unstable father, and the multimillionaire eighth-grade dropout father of his closest friend. The lifelong monetary problems experienced by his "poor dad" (whose weekly paychecks, while respectable, were never quite sufficient to meet family needs) pounded home the counterpoint communicated by his "rich dad" (that "the poor and the middle class work for money," but "the rich have money work for them"). Taking that message to heart, Kiyosaki was able to retire at 47. Rich Dad Poor Dad, written with consultant and CPA Sharon L. Lechter, lays out his the philosophy behind his relationship with money. Although Kiyosaki can take a frustratingly long time to make his points, his book is nonetheless a compelling advocate for the type of "financial literacy" that's never taught in schools. Based on the principle that income-generating assets always provide healthier bottom-line results than even the best of traditional jobs, it explains how the former might be acquired so that the latter eventually can be shed. --Howard Rothman, Amazon.com --This text refers to the Paperback edition....

2005-09-03