Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! [Paperback]

while i find kiyosaki's (RK) earlier 2 books (rich dad/poor dad and CF quadrant) very motivating and helpful in changing my mindset, i am finding his message repetitive. there is nothing substantially new in this book. pleasant fun inspiring reading, but bottom line: vague generalities, nothing that can specifically be used, other the motivational stuff. it's kind of like crack, it's a hard habit to get off reading his stuff, but, in the end, i think his advice is awfully dangerous stuff. i became rather skeptical of what he was writing when he started strongly pushing multilevel marketing (MLM) towards the end of CFQ, truly slimy stuff that MLM. looking into this guy's story some more, i'm learning that this guy's book only started taking off when Amway started pushing it, thus he feels he owes them something. then there's all this stuff about the rich dad being a fake. people who have looked into the story can't figure out who he is. he has said rich dad died, then changed his story that he is still alive and in hiding. people in hawaii have tried to figure out who rich dad is, but basically it seems that either the guy is a figment of RK's imagination, or the accomplishments of "rich dad" have been widely overstated. RK also tried to pass it off that rich dad was a "composite" of several people he knew. after that, i lost all respect for this guy, he's really just another Carleton Sheets. people who have tried to research RK's real estate dealings (all supposed to be on the public record) state that his records can't be found, and RK's answers to specific seem to be extremely evasive. his statements in his books about his real estate deals seem to be very exaggerated, possibly completely fictional. this guy is a quack, his books are how he makes his money now. that said, believe it or not, i would STILL recommend the first book in his series(RD/PD) for the general financially uneducated public (like me), because it is STILL a good book, from the point of inspiration. of course, i didn't know he was such a quack at the time. anyway, i'll never buy any more of this guy's products, he's stolen enough money from me. i regret buying this last book.

I have read many books on investing and picked the ears of mnay successful investors as well as so called experts. But aside from Peter Lynch's excellent books, I have never found so much powerful information as I did in Rich Dad's Guide to Investing.

Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter have produced another winner right where Rich Dad Poor Dad and Cashflow Quadrant left off. This is must reading for investors who want to make money, not just circulate it.

I have a read a number of the negative reviews and I think I understand their criticism, so I wanted to give my perspective and why this book is so important to me. What Kyosaki brings front and center in this book is the fact that the way an investor looks at a business (he creates) is as a vehicle to generate income using OTHER people's assets. The CEOs of the last three startups I worked for pitched ideas to OTHER investors and VCs which then gave them MONEY to start the business. They took some of that money as a salary, some as dividends and used this money to invest in. The power in this is that they didn't work really hard for someone else, save their money and invest, they took other investor's (and some of their own) money hired other people to work for them and invested the dividends and salary.

Additionally, he makes clear that there is risk in investing, but the best way to reduce this risk is to increase what he calls your financial intelligence. What he means by this is the knowledge and wisdom about the whatever investment vehicle you are using that you will gain by reading about it, taking advise from experts in the field (seminars, classes) and probably most important doing it making mistakes and learning from those mistakes.

He makes it clear in the book what his rich dad told him: "most people will try these things, not do very well and give up", "the best advise to give the average investor to be more successful is not to be average", "focus less about having the best product or service or idea and instead focus on having the best SELLING . . ."

He also states in several places very valuable pieces of information that gave me insight into how he thinks and works. He stated how he became rich by learning about owning corporations and LLCs and LLPs and used them to invest in real estate. He gave a due diligence list that he uses to evaluate apartment buildings. He even confesses at his 30% success rate in investing in different investment vehicles.

The most important thing I learned from playing CF 101 was that you have to play the game to be rich. I have become rich in the game and gone bankrupt sometimes, but I would not have any chance at financial freedom if I did not play at all.

So I would recommend you use this book as a guide and not a hand book. It will help to give you some of the emotional intelligence to deal with the pressure and risk involved with investing. But if you don't start or you give up you will never be rich.