Rich Dad Poor Dad

Summary

The book is largely based on Kiyosaki's childhood upbringing and education in Hawaii. It highlights the different attitudes to money, work, and life of two men (i.e. his titular "rich dad" and "poor dad"), and how they in turn influenced key decisions in Kiyosaki's life.

Among some of the book's topics are:

Kiyosaki advocated his former mentor and American futurist, Dr. Buckminster Fuller's views on wealth, that wealth is measured by the number of days the income from your assets can sustain you[1][2][3], and financial independence is achieved when your monthly income from assets exceeds your monthly expenses.

Praise and support

Rich Dad Poor Dad has sold over 26 million copies and received positive reviews from some critics. American talk show host and media mogul Oprah Winfrey endorsed the book on her show. Another celebrity supporter is actor Will Smith, who said he is teaching his son about financial responsibility by reading the book. American billionaire business magnate and President of the United States Donald Trump has read and praised the book and compared the book to his 1987 literary debut Trump: The Art of the Deal, which served as an inspirational book to Kiyosaki. Trump later did a literary collaboration with Kiyosaki in 2006 called "Why We Want You To Be Rich, Two Men One Message" and a second book called "Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich-And Why Most Don't" in 2011. American fashion entrepreneur and investor Daymond John has called the book one of his favorites. American rapper Big K.R.I.T. made a song called "Rich Dad Poor Dad" though it had no connection to the book.

Criticism

John T. Reed, a critic of Robert Kiyosaki, says, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad contains much wrong advice, much bad advice, some dangerous advice, and virtually no good advice." He also states, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad is one of the dumbest financial advice books I have ever read. It contains many factual errors and numerous extremely unlikely accounts of events that supposedly occurred." Kiyosaki provided a rebuttal to some of Reed's statements. Slate reviewer Rob Walker called the book full of nonsense, and said that Kiyosaki's claims were often vague, the narrative "fablelike", and that much of the book was "self-help boilerplate", noting the predictable common features of such books were present in Rich Dad, Poor Dad. He also criticizes Kiyosaki's conclusions about Americans, American culture, and Kiyosaki's methods.

Publishing success

The book was originally self-published in 1997 before being picked up commercially to become a New York Times bestseller. It has since sold 26 million copies and become a household name. In his audiobook Choose to be Rich, Kiyosaki said that every publisher turned him down, and Barnes & Noble refused to stock the book initially. He places his focus upon talk shows and radio show appearances, of which The Oprah Winfrey Show had the biggest influence on book sales.