Thread: Investing with an Eye on Fraud Prevention

Originally Posted by Fendaril

What was the first thing that convinced you kiyosaki was a charlatan.

It was a process with Kiyosaki, and one that "ground my gears" the longer he continued to publish the same drivel while contradicting himself. A lack of specifics, a lack of understanding of the tax code, and inconsistencies of a 9 year old remembering verbatim wisdom imparted on him by his fakeo rich dad that day, much less 30 years later. I started with Rich Dad Poor Dad and found it motivational which is something, but like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Million_Little_Pieces and other Oprah book club selections it belonged in the fiction section.

Incidentally RDPD never mentioned MLM even though Kiyosaki was a failed Amway distributor. He started to LVE network marketing once they started buying his books which is exactly how he plundered his loot. I initially heard about the book from an Amway rep attempting to prospect me in the business section of a Barnes and Noble.

To give you a short example, I have a friend that runs a successful business and decided to buy a rental property as an investment. A move right out of RDPD and a zillion other get rich quick books.
Although he had it inspected, there was electrical work not up to code missed to the tune of about $5000. In Kiyosaki's world, maybe he sues the inspector, maybe he wins a judgement, and maybe the guy willingly pays. In the real world my buddy ate the $5000 and lost his first years profit.

He used a management company, the first significant problem that cropped up required hours of my friend's time to sort out. This never happens in Robert's world. After the first year his tenants moved out and the carpet needed to be replaced along with a few other repairs before it could be rented. There goes profit for year two. At this point in RDPD my buddy would be retired and selling that house for 3X what he paid.

It's not that I think real estate is a bad way to go, it's that there is real world and fantasy land. Kiyosaki is preying on working people running up a bunch of credit card debt to pay for his mediocre training and sometimes dangerous advice.
Contrary to "rich dad" I consider it very sound planning for many people to stay in school (academic and/or technical) get skills that are in demand and save money in vehicles like index funds that take next to ZERO time to manage. For $50 a month any investor could have fractional ownership in 5000 companies and never have to replace a shred of carpet.


That he's ramping up his stock and option market rhetoric in lieu of folks taking a well planned balanced approach that he could have given them 20 years ago(assuming he even had a clue) only serves to further my belief he is a charlatan.