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Robert Kiyosaki Why the Rich Get Richer

To Get Rich, Seek Out Rich Financial Advice

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Good (1564 Ratings): 2.657918/5

Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008, 12:00AM

I've been on television recently discussing the U.S. financial crisis. These shows often feature a panel of so-called financial experts who rarely agree with each other. The reason their advice is different is simply because each expert speaks to a different segment of the population.

Giving Credit

For example, Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey, and Larry Winget speak to people who are deep in credit card debt. Their advice is excellent, direct, practical, and to the point. I should know -- in the late 1970s, I was one of the debt-ridden people they're speaking to. I was deeply in debt because my business was suffering and I was using credit cards to live on. Instead of paying off my credit card, I'd get a new credit card and use that one to pay off the old credit card. I, too, once used a home equity loan to invest in my business -- and lost it all.

At my lowest point, I was nearly $700,000 in debt. One evening, I attempted to check into a motel in upstate New York and my credit card was declined. I slept in the car that night. Many people might say that this was a horrible experience, but that isn't true -- it was a wake-up call. It was clearly time to look in the mirror and face who I really was. I realized that if I wasn't going to be tough on me, the world would take on the job.

Today, older and wiser, I have tremendous respect for the power of debt and the value of credit. Credit is another word for trustworthiness. I'm currently millions of dollars in debt, but it's good debt invested in income-producing real estate. While millions of homeowners are threatened with foreclosure, my investment real estate is doing very well. In fact, I'm doing even better because more people are renting than buying.

The Strata of Financial Advice

If you're deeply in debt like I was and want to get rich someday, I suggest you start by following the advice of Orman, Ramsey, and Winget. For a certain portion of the population, their advice is very rich indeed.

But there are other types of financial advice, some of it not nearly as beneficial. The lowest kind assures people that the government will take care of them. This is what the people who are counting on Social Security and Medicare have been led to believe. The problem is that the U.S. government is the biggest debtor in the world, and those depending on it to take care of them will only become poorer.

Another type of bad financial advice tells us to get a safe job, save money, live below our means, buy a house, get out of debt, and invest for the long term in a well-diversified portfolio of mutual funds. On those financial TV shows, I get into the most head-butting with the so-called financial experts who subscribe to this philosophy. That's because, according to the Census Bureau, in 1999 the average U.S. income was $49,244. By 2006, the average income declined to $48,201. This means that U.S. workers haven't had a pay raise for seven years. So much for the advice about getting a safe job -- it's the opposite of rich advice.

Diversify at Your Peril

Moreover, in January 2008 the Federal Reserve Board dropped the interest rate twice over a period of just eight days, by a record 1.25 percent. If my crystal ball is accurate, I expect another .5 percent drop sometime later this year. Savers are actually losers, then, because interest rates are low and inflation is high. So urging people to save money isn't rich advice, either.

Finally, the S&P stood at 1,352.99 in March 2008, which is below its mark of 1,362.80 in April of 1999. So much for the advice of investing for the long term in a well-diversified portfolio of mutual funds -- that's also not rich advice.

Warren Buffett has said that diversification is for people who don't know what they're doing. And my rich dad once told me, "Diversifying is like going to a horse race and betting on every horse. The only way you win is if the darkest of dark horses wins." So my concern is that people who follow this second type of financial advice may actually wind up poor in the long term.

Get Rich, Stay Rich

So there's different financial advice for different people, and the price of poor advice is that millions will be poor if they follow advice that isn't aimed at them.

To become rich, I recommend investing in your financial education. There's a difference between that and financial advice. A solid financial education allows you to know the difference between good advice and bad advice, rich advisers and poor advisers.

If you want to become rich -- and remain that way -- it's important to know what financial advice is best for you.

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617 Comments

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Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, September 8, 2009, 2:50PM ET Report Abuse
- Overall: 3/5
cool
Brain - Monday, May 18, 2009, 4:37PM ET Report Abuse
- Overall: 3/5
This is an excellent post, one of my fav's from Robert. Set your self up for the transfer that's at hand. I am open to network because I understand my network determines my (net-worth) my email is simpromo@yahoo.com and my name is Brian Simmons; for those who see what I see coming....
freecode - Friday, January 23, 2009, 1:00PM ET Report Abuse
- Overall: 1/5
Yes, lots of peopel followed Bernie Madoff's advice. He was rich beyond his means and the "Wizard of Wall Street." It didn't work so well for all those smart rich people when the scammer was in their bank accounts and no one stopped him. If you want to get rich, work at it. If you want to be happy - work honestly. If you want to be miserable, focus only on money. There is more than one way to be rich and the best sort of rich is happiness. Having money and being a miserable conniving sod just means you can die miserable and alone. Have a nice day. Don't worry, but don't take advice unless you really know someone well enough to hold them accountable and can get justice. All the more reason we need the rule of law now more than ever.
Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, January 19, 2009, 4:17AM ET Report Abuse
- Overall: 5/5
gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood jooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooob
Frostedto - Saturday, January 3, 2009, 2:43AM ET Report Abuse
- Overall: 3/5
Ah good another article for me to crush the nay sayers of the internet...well not all of them because a few have some good points. I'd really like to lace into Mr. leonardwayne for a brief moment. RK's nuts aren't owned by me banks that lent him millions I'm sure considering he probably holds all his real estate in L.L.C.'s and LP's and has planned well his asset protection. Besides, that comment alone tells me your with all of your financial adviser know how that your just as near sighted as many that take up arms to what Robert has to say. For if you were better in the know, you'd realize that when you start getting into real estate like Robert is banks don't loan on the individual but the asset's performance an if you as the "manager" of the let's say L.L.C. that controls said property make the property in question perform better then it has in the past with an executed business plan, banks will lend. An of course if you screw it up well, the bank forecloses on it and they sell it off to whom ever wants it. Either way it goes the bank gets something back, but considering your a financial adviser, you know that right? An good for you for helping out your clients that listened to "so-called" advisers. Those are the types of people that will follow advice blindly, I'd even go as far as to saying those were the same types of people that listened to their stock brokers when Enron went under. Because buy and hold works all the time in the stock market lol. An for my last bit against this guy, I don't see why anyone would listen to you in the first place other then for some entertainment. I mean your a former stock broker for what ever reason and your currently a financial adviser for CA? Wait isn't CA on the verge of being bankrupt? Or is that another over exaggerated story that make the news interesting? I'd say for you take those offshore millions and show CA how it's done since you've clearly have experience in helping people who get bad financial advice from so called advisers. As for this article it's not one of the greatest that's come from the man but if you've followed what he's said and done research on it, it's nothing we haven't heard before. Keep up the good work though Robert as not all of us are as informed as most of your subscribers are. END RANT.

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